It was a short-term musical partnership but it helped to launch several major careers in the British trad jazz movement. Trombonist Chris Barber (1930-2021) had started out as a bassist before switching instruments, led amateur bands for a few years, and in 1952 formed a group that included clarinetist Monty Sunshine, banjoist-singer Lonnie Donegan, bassist Jim Bray, drummer Ron Browden, and trumpeter Pat Halcox. Halcox hesitated about turning professional. He decided against traveling with the group to Copenhagen, preferring to study to become a research chemist, and dropped out of the group in 1953. Ken Colyer soon became the band’s trumpeter and leader.
Ken Colyer (1928-88) already had plenty of experience and a love for New Orleans jazz, working with the Crane River Jazz Band and the Christie Brothers Stompers. While serving in the Merchant Marines, he went AWOL in Mobile, Alabama, heading straight to New Orleans where he played with local legends including the George Lewis band. He was offered the job of playing trumpet with Lewis but was soon caught by the authorities and deported back to England. With Halcox’s departure, Colyer took over Barber’s group which became Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen.
The band lasted a year, recording for Storyville and Decca. Colyer and Barber had different ideas over how they wanted the group to evolve. The trumpeter was mostly interested in the r
