Kenny Baker MBE (1 March 1921 – 7 December 1999) was an English jazz trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn player, and a composer.
Kenny Baker was born in Withernsea, Yorkshire. Both his parents were musical and he credited his mother with giving him a thorough musical grounding in theory and harmony at a very early age. This stood him in good stead when he wanted to arrange and compose. He began by playing piano, sax, violin and piano-accordian before switching to tenor horn and then cornet. While in Withernsea he played in the Gospel Mission Band and by the age of 17 was leading his own band at the Queens hotel.
When the family moved to Hull he played local gigs as well as playing in the West Hull Silver Band. In 1940 he came to London with comedian Sandy Powell for a three week season at the London Coliseum. He worked in the theatre first with Lew Stone for the revue Under your Hat and then in the Jack Buchanan show Top Hat and Tails. He worked with Ambrose, Maurice Winnick and Ken "Snakehips" Johnson before joining the RAF in 1942. Here he began his big band training playing in the RAF Fighter Command Band and also the American Base Command Dance Band. He also called up, when available to do forces programmes with Ambrose, the Squadronaires, Geraldo and Sidney Gross until his discharge from the RAF.
Baker was first heard on record in a British public jam session in 1941 and quickly established a strong reputation in London clubs. He was brass band trained and had faultless technical command. In 1945 the young Baker was lead trumpeter with Ted Heath's post war orchestra, and with Jack Parnell is credited with stopping Ted Heath having the "sweet" band that he wanted. They consistently brought a jazz feel to the music. Baker was a featured soloist in the Ted Heath band, he was by now a virtuoso performer and recorded "Bakerloo Non-Stop" for the Decca record label in 1946. He played a tenor saxophone solo on "Johnny Gray", the piece recorded by both Baker and the drummer Jack Parnell. He remained with Heath until the end of 1948, occasionally returning for one off performances through to the 1990s.
In the 1950’s he led and recorded with a variety of bands including probably his best jazz group the 'Baker's Dozen' that had a regular late night broadcast on the BBC from 1952 for many years with the Light Programme series Let's Settle For Music. By now he was constantly in demand as a freelance in the theatre, for broadcasts, films as well as playing theatres as a solo variety act.
In this period he played with many top USA stars including Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Billy May, Bobby Hackett, Bing Crosby, Billy Eckstine and even Billie Holiday at London's Festival Hall in 1954. He he was regularly performing in studios with his numerous jazz recordings appearing as a quartet for Parlophone, and groups of all kinds for Nixa and others.
A notable appearance on soundtrack for Baker was a long hot trumpet solo mimed by Kay Kendall (who like Baker was a native of Withernsea, a small Yorkshire coastal town) in the 1954 film Genevieve. He regularly emerged to play at jazz clubs often with co-trumpeter John McLevey. Baker's skills brought him wider prominence, starting in 1955 when he appeared at Blackpool with the up-and-coming comic pair of Morecambe and Wise.
He also went on to share top billings with other big comedy variety acts of the day, such as Tommy Trinder, Benny Hill and Ken Dodd. Appearing on the BBC's Big Band Special in 1962, leading British jazzman John Dankworth said, "Everybody regarded him on a different level to any other trumpeter in the British Isles. He was a world class performer."
His career saw him play with alongside Frank Sinatra, Petula Clark, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Tony Bennett. He also performed on James Bond soundtracks and with The Beatles. In addition, he was also heard on hundreds of TV programmes including The Muppet Show, through his involvement with the Jack Parnell Orchestra, which played for the now-defunct ATV company. In 1962, he recorded a light jazz set with Petula Clark at the Pye Studios at Great Cumberland Place, live and late at night with the Kenny Baker Trio.
He often appeared on BBC Radio's Sounds of Jazz programme introduced by Peter Clayton in the 1970s with recordings made at the Maida Vale Studios in London and broadcast late on Sunday evenings. He formed the 'Best of British Jazz', which was a show with Don Lusher and Betty Smith. This group toured regularly in 1976 and after the death of Harry James in 1983, he was asked by the James Foundation to take over their orchestra; a request he declined. His group, Baker's Dozen, reformed in 1993 for four sell-out nights at Ronnie Scott's in Birmingham, releasing an album of the set on Big Bear Records, The Boss Is Home (1994).
He was presented with the best trumpet player title for the third time at the BT British Jazz Awards in 1999. He was also awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1999. He was active until just a few months before his death He died in a hospital close to his home at Felpham, West Sussex, at the age of 78 after suffering from a viral infection for more than three weeks. (Edited from Henry Bebop & Wikipedia)
Here’s a clip of Kenny Baker playing "Mean to me" at the Royal Albert Hall in the mid 1990's. Kenny was a member of Laurie Johnston's London Big Band who were joined for the concert by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.