Lennie Felix

Lennie Felix (* 16 August 1920 in London as Leonard Jacobus Felix ; † 29. December 1981 ) was an English jazz - pianist .

Live and act

Felix started playing the piano when he was ten. Influenced by Fats Waller , Art Tatum and Earl Hines , he appeared from 1938 as a jazz soloist as well as in trios and combos. After completing his military service in World War II , he worked in the Far East and Cape Town. In 1950 he became a member of Freddy Randall's band ; he then moved to New York, where he played with Red Allen , Buster Bailey and John Kirby . He turned down Kirby's offer to become a regular member of his band and returned to London, where he joined Harry Gold's band in 1953with whom he went on a tour to East Asia the following year. After his return to Europe, he received an engagement in the Paris jazz club Le Boeuf sur le Toit in 1956 , where he replaced Garland Wilson. 1957/58 he played for Wally Fawkes ; In 1959 he worked in Vienna . He toured the UK and the continent frequently in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1960 he worked with Nat Gonella ( Salute to Satchmo ). From 1961 on he was a frequent guest as a soloist or with a trio in radio and television shows. He died in London as a result of a traffic accident. Felix released several LPs under his own name on the British Columbia, Nixa and Upright labels and took part in recordings by Randell, Wild Bill Davison and Bruce Turner .

Discographic notes

• Lennie Felix & Dick Wellstood (1966/1974)

Lexical entries

• Richard Cook Jazz Encyclopedia , Penguin 2005, ISBN 0-14-100646-3
• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .
• Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .