Digby Fairweather
Digby Fairweather
Main page

Digby Fairweather

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Digby Fairweather

Richard John Charles "Digby" Fairweather (born 25 April 1946) is a British jazz trumpeter, author, and broadcaster.

Before becoming a professional musician, Fairweather was a librarian and has since retained an interest in jazz bibliography and archiving.

He led his first band, Dig's Half Dozen, in 1971 and recorded in 1973 with Alex Welsh. Four years later, he was a member of the band Velvet, with Ike Isaacs, Len Skeat, and Denny Wright, and after that, a member of the Midnite Follies Orchestra and the PizzaExpress All-Stars. In the early 1980s, he started a band that performed music by Nat Gonella. He worked as a sideman for George Chisholm, Alex Welsh, Tiny Winters, and Brian Priestley. In the 1980s and 1990s, he led the Jazz Superkings, the Great British Jazz Band, and the Half Dozen. During the 1990s, he was part of the Salute to Satchmo.

Fairweather founded the Jazz College charity with Stan Barker to introduce improvisation in schools. He established the Association of British Jazz Musicians, The Jazz Centre UK, and the National Jazz Archive. He also wrote Jazz: The Essential Companion (1987) with Brian Priestley and Ian Carr. In 2000, the book was renamed The Rough Guide to Jazz.

Fairweather's musical style has been influenced by Louis Armstrong, Ruby Braff, Billy Butterfield, Bobby Hackett, Red Nichols, and Nat Gonella. Digby's Half Dozen toured and recorded with singer George Melly in the later years of his career (2003–2007). Fairweather's band toured with singer Paul Jones in their presentation "Rocking in Rhythm" in 2007.

Apart from his playing and group leading, Fairweather has long pursued a parallel career as a jazz broadcaster and writer. From 1985 to 1988, he worked and recorded with Brian Priestley's Special Septet and Tony Milliner's Mingus Music and wrote the book How to Play Trumpet. By 1990, he had embarked on a dual vocation as broadcaster for BFBS, the BBC World Service, Jazz FM (1991–92), and BBC Radios 2 and 3 (1992–98), including occasionally deputising for Humphrey Lyttelton on his show Best of Jazz and successively presenting Jazz Parade and Jazz Notes.

In 2016, Fairweather founded The Jazz Centre UK, a registered charity (no. 1167421) whose aim is to promote, preserve, and celebrate the culture of jazz in all its forms.

Source:

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.