John Chilton, British jazz musician and writer, Died at 83

  Music, Writers

John James Chilton was born on July 16, 1932, and died on February 25, 2016.

He was a British jazz trumpeter and writer.

In the 1960s, John also worked with pop bands, including The Swinging Blue Jeans and The Escorts.

He worked in Bruce Turner’s Jump Band from 1958-1963.

One of the movies of their achievement called Living Jazz was made in 1961 by director Jack Gold.

John Chilton played in Alex Welsh’s Big Band.

John played piano on pop recordings in the 1960s while also working for Mike Daniels’ Big Band.

During the late 1960s, John formed his own Swing Kings band which backed some leading American jazzmen who toured Britain, including Buck Clayton, Ben Webster, Bill Coleman and Charlie Shavers.

John Chilton also recorded The Song of a Road, one of the radio ballads of folk singers Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in the 1950s for the BBC.

John Chilton later worked with Wally Fawkes, also known as the cartoonist ‘Trog’, and in January 1974 formed John Chilton’s Feetwarmers, who began accompanying British jazz singer and writer George Melly.

Together, the pair made records and toured the world for nearly 30 years including trips to America, Australia, China and New Zealand.

They had their own BBC television series called Good Time George, in 1983 and 1984.

They performed on countless other TV shows, including Parkinson, The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club, Aspel, This is Your Life and Pebble Mill at One.

John Chilton passed away at 83 yrs old.