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Trombonist and bandleader
Chris Barber spearheaded the Anglo-European trad jazz movement during the late '50s and early '60s and devoted 60 years to the endless celebration of old-fashioned music.
Barber initially broke through in the '50s releasing albums like 1954's New Orleans Joys, which spawned the
Lonnie Donegan skiffle classic "Rock Island Line. He also scored a Top 20 U.K. hit in 1959 with "Petite Fleur," a cover of the
Sydney Bechet song featuring clarinetist
Monty Sunshine. But that's only part of his story. Even as he presided over that transatlantic response to the Dixieland revival,
Barber went out of his way to make music with U.S. blues legends
Big Bill Broonzy,
Brother John Sellers,
Sonny Terry,
Brownie McGhee,
Otis Spann,
Muddy Waters,
James Cotton, and
Sonny Boy Williamson II. This cross-pollination dramatically affected the lives and careers of budding British rockers such as
the Rolling Stones,
the Yardbirds,
Eric Burdon,
Jimmy Page, and
John Mayall.
Donald Christopher "Chris" Barber was born on April 17, 1930, in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, just north of London, England. After studying double bass and trombone at London's Guildhall School of Music, he assembled the
King Oliver-inspired
Barber New Orleans Band in 1949. In 1953 he co-founded a group called the Jazzmen with
Ken Colyer, a cornetist who had just returned from New Orleans where he had worked with clarinetist
George Lewis. In 1954 the group was rechristened
Chris Barber's Jazz Band. Trumpeter Pat Halcox had begun what would amount to a 59-year commitment, banjoist/guitarist
Lonnie Donegan now sang songs from the jazz, blues, and folk traditions, and
Barber sometimes performed on the string bass while
Beryl Bryden stroked a washboard.
Donegan and
Barber are credited with having ignited the mid-'50s U.K. skiffle movement with a 1955 cover of
Leadbelly's "Rock Island Line" that went gold on both sides of the Atlantic. Another of the band's chart-topping hits was its interpretation of
Sidney Bechet's "Petite Fleur," a feature for clarinetist
Monty Sunshine that led to the eventual rise of pop instrumentalist
Acker Bilk. The year 1955 also saw the arrival of
Barber's future wife, vocalist
Ottilie Patterson, a blues-based performer who sang duets with
Sister Rosetta Tharpe when the gospel/swing star sat in with the band in 1957.
Barber's often surprisingly diverse lineup also included Jamaican saxophonists
Joe Harriott and Bertie King.
In 1959
Barber went cinematic by generating music for Look Back in Anger, a film noir exercise in kitchen sink realism directed by Tony Richardson and starring
Richard Burton as a violently misogynistic, emotionally disturbed confection peddler and part-time Dixieland trumpeter (dubbed by Pat Halcox).
Barber made the first of many U.S. tours in 1959, bringing out of the woodwork African-American jazz veterans like pianist
Hank Duncan, clarinetist
Edmond Hall, trumpeter
Sidney DeParis, and rhythm & blues pioneer singer/saxophonist
Louis Jordan.
Barber's 1960s discography includes air shots from the BBC radio archives and live recordings made in Budapest and East Berlin, with gospel and folk material enriching the already fertile ground of the band's repertoire.
As the years passed, a gradually renamed
Chris Barber's Jazz & Blues Band regularly employed blues and rock musicians, blurring the artificially imposed delineations between genres while offering music that was accessible to a wide range of listeners. In 1964, he brought on board blues guitarist
John Slaughter as a full-time member. He also recorded a 1972 album with guitarist
Rory Gallagher, Drat That Fratle Rat.
Barber spent a lot of time performing in Europe during the 1970s, and after the passing of
Duke Ellington deliberately sought out some of
Duke's key soloists in organist
Wild Bill Davis, saxophonist
Russell Procope, and singer/trumpeter/violinist
Ray Nance.
Throughout the 1980s
Barber stayed faithful to his traditional and progressive instincts by teaming up with Louisiana singer, philosopher, and keyboardist
Dr. John. Originally from backgrounds as different as could be, the two made several records together, including 1990's On a Mardi Gras Day, and toured a show called Take Me Back to New Orleans. The 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century found
Barber carrying the torch of trad jazz into his sixth decade of creative professional activity, often expanding his group to include 11 players while consistently delivering music of unpretentious warmth and historic depth.
Barber suffered from dementia in his later years and retired from performing in 2019. He died on March 2, 2021 at the age of 90. ~ arwulf arwulf