Harry Beckett

Harry Beckett (2007), Photo: Richard Kaby

Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett (born May 30, 1935 in St. Michael Parish, Bridgetown , Barbados , † July 22, 2010 in London ) was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player .

Live and act

For music lessons on the Caribbean island in 1954, he came to the UK, and played in nightclubs, such as the West African Rhythm Brothers of Ambrose Campbell . In 1961 he had the opportunity to contribute to the film All Night Long with Charles Mingus . In the mid-1960s he was part of Herbie Goins and the Nightimers . For many years he was a member of the groups of Graham Collier and Stan Tracey and later also of Mike Westbrook , Keith Tippett and John Surman .

Since 1970 he has led (partly together with Kathy Stobart ) his own groups (usually between a quartet and a sextet), with which he regularly recorded. In the early 1970s he worked with fusion guitarist Ray Russell and Ian Carr's jazz rock band Nucleus , but also with Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (and later with the Dedication Orchestra ). Then he also played in Elton Deans Ninesense , where he replaced Mongezi Feza . In the 1980s he appeared regularly with Dudu Pukwanas Zila and with Working Week and was a member of Pierre Dørges New Jungle Band for many years (with which he also recorded albums, such as The Jazzpar Prize , 1991). With the Robert Wyatt Soupsongs project by Annie Whitehead and the Jazz Against Apartheid project founded by Johnny Dyani , he repeatedly performed in Central Europe.

Beckett is an excellent interpreter of ballads with his lyrical, sometimes sardonic playing and his emphatically warm, soulful trumpet tone. With its own way of phrasing, rhythm and timbres, it is unmistakable. At the same time he excelled as an imaginative improvising soloist and was also active as a composer. In addition to his work on the jazz scene, Beckett was also active as a studio musician (e.g. for Jesus Christ Superstar and for the CCS rock big band of Alexis Korner as well as with Jack Bruce , Keef Hartley and Jah Wobble ). A month before his fatal stroke, he was still performing with the Big Band Britannia and the Guy Barker Orchestra.

Prizes and awards

In 1972 Beckett won the Melody Maker Jazzpoll as the UK's top trumpeter.

Discographic notes

Harry Beckett with Tony Marsh (right) 2007; Photo: Andy Newcombe

• Flare Up (Jazzprint, 1970) with John Surman, Mike Osborne , Alan Skidmore
• Themes for Fega (1972, RCA / Vocalion) with Alan Skidmore, Mike Osborne, Frank Ricotti , John Taylor , Chris Laurence , John Webb
• Live, Vol. 2 (West Wind, 1987) with Chris McGregor , Courtney Pine , Clifford Jarvis
• Passion and Possesion (ITM, 1991) duos with Django Bates , Joachim Kühn , Keith Tippett
• All Four One (Spotlite, 1991) with Chris Batchelor , Jon Corbett , Claude Deppa , Alastair Gavin, Fred T. Baker , Tony Marsh
• Images of Clarity (Evidence, 1992) with Didier Levallet
• Before and After (Spotlite, 1999) with Chris Biscoe
• The Modern Sound of Harry Beckett ( On-U Sound , 2008)
• Maxine (ITM, 2010)

Lexigraphic articles

• Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz music. 1700 artists and bands from the beginning until today. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-476-01584-X .
• Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 1: A – L (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16512). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16512-0 .

Web links

Commons : Harry Beckett  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Homepage with extensive discography
• Findings in All About Jazz with Auswahldiskographie (English)
• Obituary in The Guardian , July 26, 2010