Serious

Serious learnt with great sadness yesterday of the passing of the Barbadian trumpeter Harry Beckett. Only a month ago, Harry made what has turned out to be one of his last live appearances, as a special guest on the Big band Britannia concert at the Barbican - the warmth of the audience response when he came on stage acting as a emotional reminder that he was a highly respected and much-loved figure in British jazz. Backstage, his inimitable spirit and sense of humour was much in evidence - one of the scene's great characters.

Harry arrived in London UK in 1954. When we were researching Big Band Britannia, we realised just how central a part he'd played as British jazz evolved from the 60s to the present day.  He'd worked with just about every British composer of note - the New Jazz Orchestra, Stan Tracey, John Dankworth, Mike Gibbs, Graham Collier, John Surman, Mike Westbrook as well as with the Brotherhood of Breath and the Jazz Warriors.  Equally important, he was a talented composer and leader in his own right, and a soloist of immense range and imagination.

We're honoured to have worked with such a fine musician, and our thoughts are with his family and friends.