Bert Courtley

Herbert "Bert" Courtley (born September 11, 1929 in Moston , Lancashire , † September 13, 1969 in Croydon , Surrey ) was a British jazz trumpeter (also flugelhorn ).

Live and act

Courtley toured Scandinavia with the Royal Kiltie Juniors in 1947 and then played in the big band of Tommy Sampson ; the following year he was part of Teddy Foster's band, then in 1950/51 he was part of the saxophonist Kathy Stobart's band , whom he married in 1961. At the same time he worked with Vic Lewis (with whose orchestra the first recordings were made in 1951), then with Geraldo , and in 1954 with Eric Delaney . In 1956 he toured the UK on Jazz Today with Phil Seamen , Kenny Wheeler , Kenny Napper and Eddie Harvey . In the same year he performed with the Courtley-Seymour Orchestra , which he conducted together with bassist Jack Seymour , in London's Royal Festival Hall (" Struttin 'with Some Barbecue "). In 1957 he was a winner of the Melody Maker and a member of an All-Stars formation. In the following years he played with Humphrey Lyttelton , John Dankworth , Kenny Baker , Ronnie Ross , Tommy Watt and in 1959 in Laurie Johnson 's Brass Orchestra.

Courtley recorded four tracks under his own name (including “Bertrand's Bugle” and the standard “Sweet and Lovely”) for Decca ; his band in the studio included pianist Eddie Harvey. With Don Rendell he formed the bebop- oriented formation The Jazz Committee (with Eddie Harvey, Pete Blannin , Jackie Dougan ), which performed successfully in London clubs in 1958/59 and recorded a self-titled EP , including Courtley's composition "Founder Member" . In 1959 he was a member of Woody Herman's Anglo-American Herd , where he played in the Trumpet Section alongside Reunald Jones , Nat Adderley and Bill Harris . In 1960 he played jam sessions at the Cavern Club with Ronnie Scott and Pete King ; In the fall of 1961 he led his own sextet in West Germany, which also included Dick Heckstall-Smith , Colin Purbrook and Ginger Baker . In 1962 he appeared with Dave Brubeck , Kenny Napper and Johnny Scott in Basil Dearden 's Shakespeare adaptation All Night Long . In the early 1960s he was still working in the big bands and ensembles of Harry South , Dave Lee , Dill Jones , Ted Heath , Tubby Hayes , Monty Sunshine , Johnny Keating , Ken Jones and Steve Race . In the field of jazz he was involved in 76 recording sessions between 1951 and 1966. a. also with Cleo Laine , Don Savage , Georgie Fame and The Beatles (" Penny Lane ", 1967). In 1967/68 he still led a studio big band that mainly recorded film music ("Blues for Jumbo").

Courtley was a drug addict and died at the age of forty of liver failure as a result of long-term use of the opium-containing drug Chlorodyne .

Lexical entries

• John Chilton Who's Who of British Jazz , Continuum International Publishing Group, London 2004, ISBN 0-8264-7234-6

Web links

• Portrait of Ron Simmonds
• Bert Courtley at Discogs (English)
• Bert Courtley at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ In 1960 he was listed in the Melody Maker Jazz Poll British Section (after Humphrey Lyttelton and Kenny Baker) as the third best trumpeter; see. Fifteen Critical Years of The Melody Maker British Jazz Polls (1960–1974)
2. ↑ The Jazz Committee at Discogs (English)
3. ^ Spencer Leigh: The Cavern Club: The Rise of The Beatles and Merseybeat . 2015
4. ↑ Dick Heckstall-Smith, Pete Grant: Blowing the Blues: Fifty Years Playing the British Blues . 2004, p. 35
5. ↑ Bert Courtley in the Internet Movie Database (English)
6. ↑ Kenneth Womack: The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four . 2016, p. 391
7. ↑ Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed May 19, 2017)
8. ↑ Jazz and Drugs in Jazzinternatione ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.