Keith Nichols

Keith Nichols
Born(1945-02-13)13 February 1945
OriginIlford, Essex, England
Died20 January 2021(2021-01-20) (aged 75)
London, England
GenreJazz
OccupationMusician
Instrumentspiano, trombone, reeds, accordion
LabelStomp Off

Keith Nichols (13 February 1945 – 21 January 2021) was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist and arranger, a player of the piano, trombone, reeds, and accordion.

Biography

Born in Ilford, Essex, England, Nichols was a child actor and an award-winning accordionist in his youth. He began by playing ragtime tunes, gaining notice in the 1970s in London 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, and Dick Sudhalter during this period. Over time, he moved on to Dixieland jazz, Swing, and orchestral Jazz, including the oeuvres of Paul Whiteman and Duke Ellington.

Nichols was also a frequent sideman for the EMI record label and an arranger for the New York Jazz Repertory Company, Dick Hyman and the Pasadena Roof Orchestra. In 1978, he helped lead the Midnite Follies Orchestra with Alan Cohen. Other artists Nichols worked with include Digby Fairweather, Harry Gold, Richard Pite and Claus Jacobi. He died on 21 January 2021, after contracting COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom while being treated for another condition, at The Royal London Hospital.

Discography

Paramount Theatre Orchestra (1984) (LP, Stomp Off)

Dreamland Syncopators

Julian Vincent and Keith Nichols

Keith Nichols' Cotton Club Gang and Janice Day with Guy Barker

Keith Nichols and the Cotton Club Orchestra

Keith Nichols' Little Devils

Keith Nichols and the Blue Devils

Keith Nichols' Earthbound Spirits

Keith Nichols' Collegians

Mike Lovell and Keith Nichols

Keith Nichols' Jazz Artists and Northern Sinfonia

Thomas "Spats" Langham / Keith Nichols / Richard Pite

The Nichols-Duffee International Jazz Orchestra

References

  1. ↑ "RIP Keith Nichols (1945-2021)". Londonjazznews.com. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 1826. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Yanow, Scott. "Keith Nichols: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  4. ↑ Bebco, Joe. "British Bandleader Keith Nichols has died. – The Syncopated Times". Syncopatedtimes.com. Retrieved 20 January 2021.