Tenor saxophonist
Pat Crumly remains best remembered for his long stint at the helm of the
Ronnie Scott's Legacy Band, earning acclaim for an inventive, lyrical sound eminently worthy of the legendary jazzman whose group he now led. Born in Oxford, England on February 9, 1942,
Crumly first studied clarinet at age 14, adding alto saxophone to his arsenal two years later. During his time at Oxford University, he also became proficient on soprano and tenor while leading a student jazz group that regularly backed the headliner soloists who performed on campus. From 1971 to 1975
Crumly hosted a jazz program on BBC Radio Oxford, concurrently leading his own group,
Edge -- for a time he replaced tenorist
Don Rendell in
John Dankworth's band, and even taught at
Dankworth's Buckinghamshire summer school.
Crumly achieved new visibility upon relocating to London in 1979, and over the next few years he toured in support of pop singers like
Jack Jones and
Cleo Laine. He also served an extended stint in the orchestra of the West End stage production of
the Who's Tommy, and in 1981 spent three months playing at the infamous South African resort Sun City.
Crumly toured behind a latter-day incarnation of British Invasion legends
the Animals in 1983, returning to the road behind their frontman
Eric Burdon the following year. Soon after he formed his own fusion unit, Strata, which toured Cuba in 1987. An Arts Council grant enabled
Crumly to compose and record a suite for sextet titled
Third World Sketches, and in 1992 he released
Behind the Mask, trailed two years later by
Flamingo. By this time
Crumly was also a frequent headliner at saxophonist
Ronnie Scott's famed London jazz club, and was such a favorite of
Scott himself that he was regularly spotted in the audience at
Crumly's performances. When
Scott died in late 1996,
Crumly was asked to assume saxophone duties in the quartet that was renamed the
Ronnie Scott's Legacy Band. In addition to residencies at
Scott's club, the group regularly headlined London's 606 Club and in 2006 toured Athens,
Crumly also freelanced, touring Beirut and Kurdistan behind Iraqi singer
Ilham Al Madfai, and taught music. He died while on vacation in Tropea, Italy on September 28, 2008. ~ Jason Ankeny