Keith Ronald Christie (6 January 1931 – 16 December 1980) was an English

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

trombonist. He was the brother of Ian Christie.

Career

Christie began playing at age 14 and attended the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

. He formed a band with his brother in the late 1940s, and soon after the pair joined the band of

Humphrey Lyttelton Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family. Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...

. Christie served in the military early in the 1950s, then reconvened to lead an ensemble with his brother, the Christie Brothers' Stompers, featuring

Ken Colyer Kenneth Colyer (18 April 1928 – 8 March 1988) was an English jazz trumpeter and cornetist, devoted to New Orleans jazz. His band was also known for skiffle interludes. Biography He was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, but grew up ...

and Dicky Hawdon. In 1953 the group broke up, and Christie went on to work with

John Dankworth Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE (20 September 1927 – 6 February 2010), also known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinettist and writer of film scores. With his wife, jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, he ...

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, George Chisholm,

Harry Klein Harold Klein (25 December 1928 – 30 June 2010) was an English jazz saxophonist. As a session musician, he played on recordings by the Beatles. Early in his career, Klein played with Nat Gonella in the late 1940s. He then played with Bill Le S ...

, Kenny Baker,

Vic Ash Victor "Vic" Ash (9 March 1930 – 24 October 2014) was an English jazz saxophonist and clarinettist. Biography Ash was born in East London in 1930, and was of Jewish ancestry. He began learning clarinet at the age of 14, then switched to saxes. ...

Wally Fawkes Walter Ernest Fawkes (; 21 June 1924 – 1 March 2023), also known as Trog when signing cartoons, was a Canadian-British jazz clarinettist and satirical cartoonist. After emigrating with his family to Britain from Canada when he was 7 years ...

, and

Tommy Whittle Tommy Whittle (13 October 1926 – 13 October 2013) was a British jazz saxophonist. Biography Tommy Whittle was born in Grangemouth, Scotland. He started playing clarinet at the age of 12 before taking up tenor saxophone at 13, guided by Al ...

. Christie was a member of the trombone section of the

Ted Heath Orchestra Ted may refer to: Names A shortened form of the following: * Edmund * Edward * Thaddeus * Theodore (given name) Art, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Ted, a character in the post-apocalyptic short story ''I Have No Mouth, a ...

from 1957 until the late 1960s, playing alongside

Don Lusher Gordon Douglas "Don" Lusher OBE (6 November 1923 – 5 July 2006) was an English jazz and big band trombonist best known for his association with the Ted Heath Big Band. In a career spanning more than 60 years, he played trombone with a numbe ...

. He also played with drummer

Allan Ganley Allan Anthony Ganley (11 March 1931 – 29 March 2008) was an English jazz drummer and arranger. Career Ganley was born in Tolworth, Surrey, England. A self-taught drummer, in the early 1950s Ganley played in the dance band led by Bert Ambrose. ...

, saxophonists

Ronnie Ross Albert Ronald Ross (2 October 1933 – 12 December 1991) was a British jazz baritone saxophonist. Life Born in Calcutta, India, to Scottish parents, Ross moved to England in 1946 and was educated at the Perse School in Cambridge. He began ...

and

Art Ellefson Arthur Albert Ellefson (17 April 1932 – 2018) was a Canadian jazz saxophonist who worked in the UK during the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Having learned trumpet and euphonium as a boy, he began playing tenor saxophone at 16 and began his career ...

from 1959 to 1962 in the Jazzmakers. He toured the U.S. with

Vic Lewis Victor Lewis MBE (29 July 1919 – 9 February 2009) was a British jazz guitarist and bandleader. He also enjoyed success as an artists' agent and manager. Performing career He was born in London, England to a family of jewellers. Lewis beg ...

in 1960. After a brief reunion with Heath he played with

Jimmy Deuchar James Deuchar (26 June 1930 – 9 September 1993) was a Scottish jazz trumpeter and big band arranger, born in Dundee, Scotland. He found fame as a performer and arranger in the 1950s and 1960s. Deuchar was taught trumpet by John Lynch, who lear ...

(1964) and

Harry South Harry Percy South (7 September 1929 – 12 March 1990) was an English jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, who moved into work for film and television. Career South was born in Fulham, London. He came to prominence in the 1950s, playing wi ...

(1965–66). In 1970–71 he joined

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

on a tour of Europe. During the 1960s and 1970s, he played with

Tubby Hayes Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes (30 January 1935 – 8 June 1973) was a British jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his virtuosic musicianship on tenor saxophone and for performing in jazz groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and trump ...

Paul Gonsalves Paul Gonsalves ( – ) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist best known for his association with Duke Ellington. At the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, Gonsalves played a 27-chorus solo in the middle of Ellington's " Diminuendo and Crescendo in Bl ...

, Ian Hamer,

Stan Tracey Stanley William Tracey (30 December 1926 – 6 December 2013) was a British jazz pianist and composer, whose most important influences were Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Tracey's best known recording is the 1965 album '' Jazz Suite Insp ...

Kenny Wheeler Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, Order of Canada, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he w ...

, Bobby Lamb and

Ray Premru Raymond Eugene Premru (June 6, 1934 – May 8, 1998) was an American trombonist, composer, and teacher who spent most of his career in London, England. Life and career The son of a Methodist minister, Premru was born in Elmira, New York and grew ...

Phil Seamen Philip William Seamen (28 August 1926 – 13 October 1972) was an English jazz drummer. With a background in big band music, Seamen played and recorded in a wide range of musical contexts with virtually every key figure of 1950s and 1960s Brit ...

, and

Tony Kinsey Cyril Anthony Kinsey (11 October 1927 – 9 February 2025) was an English jazz drummer and composer. Early life Kinsey was born in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England on 11 October 1927. He held jobs on trans-Atlantic ships while young, stud ...

. In the mid-1970s he suffered a fall and recovered, but continuing battles with alcoholism resulted in his death in December 1980, at the age of 49.

Discography

As sideman

With

* ''Tubbs'' (Fontana, 1961) * ''Tubbs' Tours'' (Fontana, 1964) * ''100% Proof'' (Fontana, 1967) With

Ted Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath also served for 51 year ...

* ''The World of Big Band Blues'' (London, 1959) * ''Ted Heath Swing Session'' (Decca, 1959) * ''My Very Good Friends the Bandleaders'' (Decca, 1960) * ''Big Band Spirituals'' (Decca, 1963) * ''Swing vs. Latin'' (Decca, 1963) * ''All Time Top Twelve'' (Decca, 1973) * ''The Ted Heath Band in Concert'' (Decca, 1977) With others *

Sidney Bechet Sidney Joseph Bechet ( ; May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important Solo (music), soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Ar ...

, ''We Dig Dixieland Jazz'' (Musidisc, 1965) *

Kenny Clare Kenneth Cloudsley Clare (8 June 1929 – 11 January 1985) was a British jazz drummer. Early life Born in Leytonstone, Essex, England, Clare learnt to play the drums at the age of 13. Career In 1947, Clare joined the Royal Air Force and playe ...

& Ronnie Stephenson, ''Drum Spectacular'' (Columbia, 1967) *

Mike d'Abo Michael David d'Abo (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of Manfred Mann from 1966 to their dissolution in 1969, and as the composer of the songs " Handbags and Gladrags" and " Build Me Up Bu ...

, ''Down at Rachel's Place'' (A&M, 1972) *

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the only B ...

, ''Sound Venture'' (Columbia, 1966) * Georgie Fame, ''The Two Faces of Fame'' (CBS, 1967) *

Sam Fonteyn Samuel Soden (20 May 1925 – 29 August 1991),''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007'' known as Sam Fonteyn, was an English composer and pianist, whose most significant output was for the Boosey & Hawkes Music Library, for wh ...

, ''Big Band Spectacular'' (Columbia, 1966) *

, ''Just Friends'' (Columbia, 1965) *

, ''Benny Goodman in Concert'' (Decca, 1971) *

Johnny Keating John Keating (10 September 1927 – 28 May 2015) was a Scottish musician, songwriter, arranger and trombonist. Biography Keating was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. After studying piano and trombone, he taught himself how to arrange and compose in ...

, ''Swing Revisited'' (Decca, 1963) * Dave Lee, ''Jazz Improvisations of Our Man Crichton'' (Colpix, 1965) *

, ''Big Band Explosion'' (Ember, 1964) *

Bill McGuffie Bill McGuffie (11 December 1927 – 22 March 1987) was a British pianist, who went on to become a film composer and conductor. He also made several television appearances, most notably in '' Softly, Softly'' as a pub pianist. Biography Bill McG ...

, ''The Bill McGuffie Big Band'' (Rediffusion, 1972) *

Steve Race Stephen Russell Race OBE (1 April 192122 June 2009) was an English composer, pianist and radio and television presenter. Early life He was born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, the son of a lawyer, Race learned the piano from the age of five.Spenc ...

, ''Take One'' (World Record Club, 1965) * William Russo, ''Russo in London'' (Columbia, 1963) *

, ''The Latin-American Caper'' (Columbia, 1969) * Stan Tracey, ''We Love You Madly'' (Columbia, 1969) *

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English songwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, '' Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ''Jesus C ...

, ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' (MCA, 1970) *

, '' Song for Someone'' (Incus, 1973)

References

Bibliography

*Henley/Kernfeld, "Keith Christie". '' Grove Jazz'' online. {{DEFAULTSORT:Christie, Keith 1931 births 1980 deaths English jazz trombonists British male trombonists 20th-century English musicians 20th-century British trombonists 20th-century English male musicians British male jazz musicians