Keith Nichols (13 February 1945 – 21 January 2021) 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 ...

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

and arranger, a player of the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

, reeds, and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

Biography

Born in

Ilford, Essex Ilford is a large town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a population of 168,168 in 2011, compared to 303,858 for the ...

, England, Nichols was a

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in film, movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associa ...

and an award-winning

accordionist Accordions (from 19th-century German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed in a frame). The es ...

in his youth. He began by playing

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

tunes, gaining notice in the 1970s in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

when forming the band New Sedalia. Nichols also formed the Ragtime Orchestra in the mid-1970s, along with Mo Morris, Richard Warner and Paul Nossiter. Nichols recorded and gigged with

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

, and

Dick Sudhalter Richard Merrill Sudhalter (28 December 1938 – 19 September 2008)Biography ''AllMusic'' was an American jazz trumpeter and writer. Biography Born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, Sudhalter was inspired to pursue a musical career by his ...

during this period. Over time, he moved on to

Dixieland jazz Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

, Swing, and orchestral Jazz, including the oeuvres of

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American Jazz bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 193 ...

and

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

. Nichols was also a frequent sideman for the

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

record label and an arranger for the New York Jazz Repertory Company,

Dick Hyman Richard Hyman (born March 8, 1927) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts ...

and the

Pasadena Roof Orchestra The Pasadena Roof Orchestra (PRO) is a contemporary band from England that specialises in the jazz and Swing music, swing genres of music of the 1920s and 1930s, although their full repertoire is considerably wider. The orchestra has existed s ...

. In 1978, he helped lead the Midnite Follies Orchestra with Alan Cohen. Other artists Nichols worked with include

Digby Fairweather Richard John Charles "Digby" Fairweather (born 25 April 1946) is a British jazz trumpeter, author and broadcaster. Biography Before becoming a professional musician, Fairweather was a librarian and has retained an interest in jazz bibliography ...

Harry Gold Harry Gold (born Henrich Golodnitsky, December 11, 1910 – August 28, 1972) was a Swiss-born American laboratory chemist who was convicted as a courier for the Soviet Union passing atomic secrets from Klaus Fuchs, an agent of the Soviet Union, ...

Richard Pite Richard Pite is a British professional musician (drums, double bass, bass ukulele, tuba and sousaphone) and jazz historian specialising in the jazz of the early-20th century. He is the founder of two music companies: PartyJazz and The Jazz Re ...

and

Claus Jacobi Claus Jacobi (4 January 1927 – 17 August 2013) was the editor of the German news magazine ''Der Spiegel'' from 1962 to 1968. He was arrested during the Spiegel scandal. Jacobi was born and died in Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the F ...

. He died of while contracting

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...

while being treated for another condition on 21 January 2021, at The Royal London Hospital.

Discography

Paramount Theatre Orchestra (1984) (LP, Stomp Off) * ''Lolly Pops'' Dreamland Syncopators * ''Territory Jazz'' (1987) (LP, Stomp Off) Julian Vincent and Keith Nichols * ''Morton to Mozart'' (1989) (CD, Poppy HXP012) Keith Nichols' Cotton Club Gang and Janice Day with Guy Barker * ''I Like To Do Things For You'' (1991) (CD, Stomp Off) Keith Nichols and the Cotton Club Orchestra * ''Syncopated Jamboree'' (1991) (CD, Stomp Off CD 1242) * ''Henderson Stomp'' (1993) (CD, Stomp Off CD 1234) * ''Harlem's Arabian Nights'' (1997) (CD, Stomp Off CD 130) Keith Nichols' Little Devils * ''The Charmful Little Armful'' (2003) (PEK) Keith Nichols and the Blue Devils * ''Kansas City Breakdown'' (2004) (CD, Stomp Off CD 1387) Keith Nichols' Earthbound Spirits * ''Harlem Madness'' (2004) (CD, PKCD-237) Keith Nichols' Collegians * ''Collegiate Rhythm'' (2006) (CD, PEK PKCD-299) Mike Lovell and Keith Nichols * ''Dixieland at the Thornton Little Theatre'' (2006) (CD, PEK) Keith Nichols' Jazz Artists and Northern Sinfonia * ''A Tribute to

'' (2007) (CD, Lake Records LACD245) Thomas "Spats" Langham / Keith Nichols / Richard Pite * ''London Omnibus'' (2010) (Jazz Repertory Company) The Nichols-Duffee International Jazz Orchestra * ''One More Time'' (2013) (CD, Lake)

References

External links

* * * 1945 births 2021 deaths Stride pianists Dixieland revivalist pianists English jazz pianists English jazz trombonists British male trombonists 21st-century British pianists 21st-century trombonists 21st-century British male musicians Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England Stomp Off artists British male jazz pianists Midnite Follies Orchestra members {{jazz-trombonist-stub