Tiny Winters (Frederick Gittens, 24 January 1909 – 7 February 1996) was an English jazz bassist and vocalist who worked in the bands of

Roy Fox Roy Fox (October 25, 1901 – March 20, 1982) was an American-born British dance bandleader who was popular in Britain during the British dance band era. Early life and career Roy Fox was born in Denver, Colorado, United States in 1901. He ...

Bert Ambrose Benjamin Baruch Ambrose (11 September 1896 – 11 June 1971), known professionally as Ambrose, was an English bandleader and violinist. Ambrose became the leader of a highly acclaimed British dance band, Ambrose & His Orchestra, in the 1930s. ...

Lew Stone Louis Stone known professionally as Lew Stone (28 May 1898 – 13 February 1969) was a British bandleader and arranger of the British dance band era, and was well known in Britain during the 1930s. He was known as a skillful, innovative an ...

and

Ray Noble Raymond Stanley Noble (17 December 1903 – 3 April 1978) was an English jazz and big band musician, who was a bandleader, composer and arranger, as well as a radio host, television and film comedian and actor; he also performed in the United S ...

Career

Winters joined Roy Fox in 1932 and stayed with the group when arranger Lew Stone took over as leader due to Fox's illness. He stayed with Stone until 1937 by which point he was also performing with

Nat Gonella Nathaniel Charles Gonella (7 March 1908 – 6 August 1998) was an English jazz trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist, and mellophone, mellophonist. He founded the big band The Georgians (Nat Gonella), The Georgians, during the British dance band era ...

's 'band within a band', the Georgians. In 1934 he recorded with

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first ...

during the saxophonist's 1934 visit to England and began leading his own bands from the late 30s. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, he was part of a group led by George Chisholm that were regularly featured in the Black and White Minstrel Show, while continuing to freelance in various groups as well as with his own Palm House Trio. Winters continued to perform live in the 1980s and 90s often with trumpeter

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 ...

. In the 1990s he was awarded the

Freedom of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...

References

1909 births 1996 deaths 20th-century English singers British jazz double-bassists British male double-bassists English double-bassists English jazz singers English male singers British male jazz musicians Singers from London 20th-century double-bassists 20th-century British male singers {{double-bassist-stub