[Dixielandjazz] The Guardian --- Tommy Whittle

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

Tommy Whittle obituary
Tenor saxophonist equally at home in jazz combos, dance bands and session music
    *  
    * Peter Vacher 
    * theguardian.com, Wednesday 23 October 2013 15.01 BST 
 
Tommy Whittle, right, 
playing tenor sax in his quintet at the Marquee club, Wardour Street, 
London, in 1958, alongside Eddie Thompson on piano  and Harry Klein on 
baritone sax. Photograph: Eric Jelly/Peter Vacher
The tenor saxophonist Tommy Whittle, who has died aged 
87, was as relaxed in the demanding session world as he was on the jazz 
bandstand. Having earned his spurs in dance-hall bands as a youngster, 
he became a member of the Ted Heath orchestra in the late 1940s. In 
parallel, he kept the jazz flame alive, always finding time to play club dates and running a series of successful jazz clubs involving the best 
local musicians. A "polished stylist", in the words of the cornettist 
Digby Fairweather, Whittle at his best was arguably one of Britain's 
finest jazz musicians.
Once his commercial assignments 
had diminished, Whittle returned to full-time jazz performance with his 
second wife, the singer Barbara Jay, whom he married in 1967. His desire to play and willingness to travel continued until failing health 
intervened late last year.
Whittle was born in 
Grangemouth, Scotland, and, after some family prompting, tried the 
harmonica and the banjo before alighting on the clarinet. Introduced by 
the painter Alan Davie, then a student, to the local rhythm club, he 
began to attend jam sessions and listen to recordings by Lester Young 
and Coleman Hawkins.
When Davie went into the army, 
Whittle borrowed his saxophone. Evidently a quick learner, he played 
briefly with a local band before his parents sent him to stay with his 
grandparents in Chatham, Kent, hoping to wean their 16-year-old son away from professional music by finding him a serious job. But a chance 
encounter with the drummer Ronnie Verrell led to a booking with the Claude Giddins band in Gillingham, which 
often featured guest stars from London, including the expatriate Belgian trumpeter Johnny Claes.


After playing with Claes for a few weeks, Whittle joined the veteran 
bandleader Lew Stone. On the London freelance scene, he performed with 
the reedman Carl Barriteau and then with Harry Hayes at Churchill's 
Club, a combo that included the pianist George Shearing.
Already making a name for himself as a soloist in classy circles, Whittle 
joined the Heath band in 1947, replacing Ronnie Scott, and stayed with 
this high-profile, well-paid outfit for the next five years. They did 
road trips, frequent recording dates, London Palladium concerts and an 
appearance in the 1950 movie Dance Hall. It was when Heath insisted that he repeat the same solos every night that Whittle made his bid for 
freedom by playing in the drummer Tony Kinsey's trio at Studio 51 in 
Soho.
He was seduced away from full-time jazz when Cyril 
Stapleton approached him in 1952 to join the newly formed BBC Show Band, thus putting him in a position to win both the Melody Maker and New 
Musical Express jazz polls. "I ended up doing three broadcasts a week 
and still maintaining my jazz club work," he said. After three years, 
keen to follow up on this success, Whittle formed his own 10-piece band, a starry ensemble that included the trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and the 
baritone saxist Joe Temperley, touring continuously for the next year or so. Various Whittle groups, quartets or sextets also toured the US, 
including one package with Chuck Berry and the Platters. Whittle guested with the Stan Kenton band on their 1956 UK tour, replacing an errant 
sideman who had been dispatched back to the US.
Thereafter, Whittle was immersed in commercial music – first leading his own group 
at the Dorchester hotel, with the tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins 
alongside – interspersed with session calls and followed by a 
substantial period with the Jack Parnell TV orchestra, based at Elstree Studios.
Committed to constant practice, Whittle became proficient on an arsenal of 
woodwind instruments, ready for whatever session calls came his way. Yet he also managed to keep a highly creditable jazz career going, 
operating his own club at the Hop Bine pub in Wembley, often jousting 
with visiting star soloists, including fellow saxophonists Tubby Hayes 
and Tony Coe.
Eventually, the Hop Bine changed hands and 
Barbara devised the Ella Fitzgerald Songbook show for a trio of singers 
including Barbara, supported by Tommy's quartet. It was extremely 
successful. In parallel, the quietly spoken Whittle led the Pizza 
Express All-Stars, played guest spots with the Ray McVay orchestra and 
was always on hand for any Heath band revivals, while recording 
regularly with his own groups, his playing as distinctive and 
hard-swinging as it had always been.
He is survived by Barbara and his sons, Sean, a pianist and composer, and Martin, from his first marriage.
• Thomas Whittle, jazz saxophonist, born 13 October 1926; died 13 October 2013