Terry Lightfoot born 21 May 1935

Terry Lightfoot (21 May 1935 – 15 March 2013 was a British jazz clarinettist and bandleader, and together with Chris Barber, Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball was one of the leading members of the trad jazz generation of British jazzmen.

Terrence Lightfoot was born in Potters Bar (then in Middlesex, now in Hertfordshire). He first heard jazz and swing music at the age of 8 via Glenn Miller's wartime broadcasts and his parents 78 rpm records of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw etc. However, the sounds didn't quite register at this time! His first musical experience was as a boy songster in a junior variety troupe. There were also piano lessons and attempts at the cornet with the town band before jazz took hold and he moved to clarinet to fill a hole in the Enfield grammar school jazz band.

Self-taught but enthusiastic, he prospered and formed his Wood Green Stompers, while working briefly on a local newspaper and then in accounting. Good enough to act as support to the bands of Chris Barber and Humphrey Lyttelton at the Wood Green jazz club, north London, the Stompers achieved their apogee at the Conway Hall in central London on a bill that included Lyttelton and the vocal belter Sophie Tucker.

The Stompers broke up in 1953, with Terry being called into the RAF for his two years of national service. During this time he made his broadcasting debut in a program called The Forces Show, performed weekly from the old Scala Theatre in Tottenham Court Road, London. This show was especially designed to showcase talent from within the HM forces. After auditioning with the 
show's resident Humphrey Lyttelton Band, he duly broadcast with an all-star band which included Eric Delaney (drums), Eddie Calvert (trumpet) and George Chisholm (trombone) in its line-up.

On his demob from the RAF in September 1955, following a brief exploratory visit to Europe with a group of fellow budding musicians, 20 year old Terry formed the first band to operate under his own name - 'Terry Lightfoot's Jazzmen'. They worked at jazz clubs in the London area on a semi-professional basis. Two years later the band became a fully professional outfit and in 1957 recorded its first album with a line-up which included a 17 year old drummer by the name of Ginger Baker, destined to become a rock superstar with 'Cream'.

Also, in 1957 the band appeared on the first ever British all-night carnival of jazz at London's Royal Albert Hall, toured extensively with skiffle king Lonnie Donegan, US country star Slim Whitman and 'beat' stars of the day Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. In 1959, there was added recognition when they opened for New Orleans trombonist Kid Ory on his UK concert tour. Then came their inclusion in Richard Lester's spirited 1962 movie It's Trad, Dad!, the band's featured number Tavern in the Town gaining a chart entry, one of several Lightfoot tunes to become a minor hit.

                              

With success came more success, the band appearing at the Beaulieu jazz festival, Hampshire, in 1961 and enjoying residencies on top BBC radio shows such as Easybeat, Saturday Club and Sunday Break. Later there were many TV appearances including six seasons of the Morecambe and Wise Show and Des O'Connor's
 first series. In what was an immensely productive period for Lightfoot, the band toured regularly with visiting American jazz artists, recorded often and earned a much-prized role in 1965 as support band for the Louis Armstrong All-Stars UK tour.

"Jazzed out" after 10 years of continuous touring, Lightfoot and his wife, Iris, then ran a pub for a year. Back in music, he joined Ball's hugely popular band as clarinettist, touring the world. Newly enthused, Lightfoot re-formed his band, which carried on much as it had before, with many overseas visits, often to military camps, their mix of bright, accessible jazz, comedy vocals and down-home fun as attractive as ever.

In 1978, Lightfoot took over the Three Horseshoes pub in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, calling in favours from his many friends and promoting live jazz at the venue for some five years before again responding to the call of the road.Thereafter, Lightfoot concentrated on themed concert presentations billed as The Special Magic of Louis Armstrong or From Bourbon Street to Broadway. As ever, his sidemen were of the highest calibre, most notably the trumpeter Ian Hunter-Randall – a Lightfoot man for 25 years – and the trombonists Ian Bateman and 
Roy Williams, with Lightfoot adding alto and soprano saxophones to his more usual clarinet.

He also toured extensively with his youngest daughter, Jazz Singer Melinda Lightfoot and in 2011 leading his family as ‘Three Generations on One Stage’ at the prestigious Laine Dankworth Centre, The Stables Theatre, Wavendon. Terry continued touring until the summer of 2012. He died in Milton Keynes General Hospital on 15 March 2013, aged 77, after suffering with prostate cancer.

(Edited from Peter Vacher @ The Guardian & terrylightfoot.com)