Tony Crombie

Anthony John "Tony" Crombie (born August 27, 1925 in London ; † October 18, 1999 in London ) was a British jazz and rhythm & blues musician ( drummer , pianist , band leader and composer).

Live and act

Crombie, whose mother worked as a silent film pianist, began playing drums as a teenager. In the band of saxophonist Harry Robbins he performed at the London Mazurka Club (1941) and the Number One Rhythm Club (1942). In the next few years he worked with Carlo Krahmer (1943), with Johnny Claes and with Tito Burns , before going on tour in Ireland with his own band in 1947. In 1948 he accompanied Duke Ellington and Ray Nance on their tour of Great Britain together with bassist Jack Fallon . With Krahmer, Ronnie Scott , Johnny Dankworth , Dennis Rose, Laurie Morgan and Pete Chilver , he was one of a circle of musicians at Club Eleven (1948–1950) who joined the bebop . Over the next few years he toured with Annie Ross , Lena Horne , Bobby Breen and Carmen McRae . In 1954 and 1955 he was part of Victor Feldman's band . At the same time he was leading an orchestra with which he also made modern jazz recordings with Dizzy Reece , Joe Temperley , Les Condon and Annie Ross ( Annie by Candlelight , 1956). With this formation he also toured internationally.

In 1956 he switched to rock and roll and founded The Rockets , to which bassist Jet Harris belonged at times ; his recording “Teach You To Rock” is considered the first British R&R recording and was in the UK Top 30 in October 1956 . He toured Iceland with the Rockets in May 1957 . 1958 The Rockets turned to the jazz scene; it now belonged to Scott, Red Mitchell and Tubby Hayes to the band.

In 1959 Crombie founded his band Jazz Inc. (with Stan Tracey, among others ). In 1960 he played longer in Monte Carlo . He then became the drummer for the house band at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club , where he accompanied Ella Fitzgerald , Coleman Hawkins , Ben Webster and Jimmy Witherspoon . He later worked with organists Mike Carr and Georgie Fame, as well as Alan Clare.

Crombie also composed for television, for example for the crime series The Man from Interpol . Miles Davis recorded his composition "So Near, So Far" for his album Seven Steps to Heaven (which Joe Henderson also covered on So Near, So Far (Musings for Miles) in 1992). Other tracks such as “That Tune” and “Restless Girl” were recorded by Stéphane Grappelli , with whom he often worked in Alan Clare's trio; Saxophonist Paul Gonsalves recorded his track "Deb's Delight".

He was in the Golders Green Crematorium in London cremated , where his ashes is located.

Discographic notes

• Tony Crombie And His Orchestra - 1954 (Decca LK4087) (JMC9). (Republished on Jasmine as Modern Jazz At The Festival Hall )
• Rockin 'with The Rockets - 1957 (Columbia 33S 1108)
• Man from Interpol Soundtrack Music from the NBC TV Series - 1960

Filmography (selection)

• 1960: The House of a Thousand Screams (The Tell Tale Heart)
• 1960: The Spider's Web
• 1960: Eva under the naked sun (The Nudist Story)

Lexical entries

• John Chilton , Who's Who in British Jazz London 2005; ISBN 978-0826472342

Web links

• Tribute page ( Memento from February 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
• Obituary The Scotsman
• Tony Crombie in the Internet Movie Database (English)