R.I.P Humphrey Lyttleton

I learn the sad news this morning that Humphrey Lyttleton died yesterday at the age of 86.

He was a trad-jazz trumpeter of some renown, perhaps the most influential British jazz-man of them all, but probably much better known as a radio broadcaster.

Amongst his own musical achievements was the one-hit wonder ‘Bad Penny Blues’ (produced by Joe Meek) which was a hit in 1956, and was later borrowed almost wholesale by Paul McCartney for the Beatles ‘Lady Madonna’. Amazingly, it was Humph who contributed the trumpet intro to The Byrds’ “So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star”. He was a friend of Jimmy Page and it is sometimes said that he contributed the coda that would become the opening riff to “Moby Dick”.

But it was as the long-time presenter of BBC radio 2’s ‘Best of Jazz’ that Lyttleton will be fondly and forever remembered. He presented the show almost every week from 1967 until his health failed him just a few weeks ago.

He was an old-fashioned gentleman possessed of warmth and wit, and his gentle tones radiated enthusiasm for the music he was playing, and I suppose there will be many, like me, who were first exposed to the sounds of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell et al on Humph’s show.

Of course, he also featured on other radio shows, particularly “I’m Sorry, I Haven’t A Clue’, where his deadpan humour was a great success, and I’m sure every listener thought of him as some sort of personal friend.

There’s a famous quote by Louis Armstrong who referred to the young trumpeter Humph as “That cat in England who swings his ass off”.

Even if none of the above had endeared Humphrey Lyttleton to me, then I would have been a great admirer of his for the fact that he was born into privilege (his father was a house-master at Eton and related to aristocracy) yet he was a committed lifelong socialist who twice refused the offer of a knighthood (from Prime Ministers Callaghan and Major).

Humphrey Lyttleton was a giant of British culture and will be much missed

P.S - Here is ‘Bad Penny Blues’ for your delectation and delight