Dave Lee Trio 'A Legend in his Lifetime'

Born in 1926 Dave has always been a huge jazz fan. His family moved to South Africa and he played in clubs there from 1947 to 1954, when he was told by the Police to leave as he refused to play with and for whites only. He became the pianist for the Johnny Dankworth band and later their manager. He’s played with many famous jazz stars: Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong as well as being Judy Garland’s accompanist. He started London’s Jazz FM. Playing jazz, blues and boogie-woogie as good as ever with his trio it’s a one off experience of music and jazz stories. Dave Lee’s life has been a life in jazz and blues. But he is also a composer, accompanist and raconteur. In 1942 he won Melody Maker’s poll for best new jazz pianist. His family moved to South Africa in 1947 and soon he was resident musician in clubs in Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg. He refused to play with only white musicians and for white only audiences and was “encouraged” to leave South Africa by their police in 1954. Back in England he luckily started playing piano with the Johnny Dankworth band and later became their arranger and manager. He was session pianist for Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee on their London session disc. After that he was asked to go on tour with the Rolling Stones but sadly was too booked up to go. For six years he was the pianist for Judy Garland on her European tours and he has also accompanied Vera Lynn, Sarah Vaughan, Norman Wisdom, Danny Kaye and Cleo Laine. He’s jammed with Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Bumping into Dizzy Gillespie in London they found an empty club and jammed for hours. He wrote the last song Nat King Cole recorded. He also wrote and recorded Goodness, Gracious Me and Bangers and mash with Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers – Sellers even modelling the Pink Panther’s style on David. He was the regular band leader on the TV show ‘That Was the Week That Was’ working with Millicent Martin. When John F Kennedy was shot he wrote “In The Summer of his Years” about Kennedy in just a few hours with lyricist Herbie Kretzmer. He led the resident band on the radio show ‘I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again’. Dave has recorded lots of stories about his Jazz life: Dave Lee’s Jazz tales can be seen on YouTube. After eleven years campaigning he got London’s Jazz FM up and running. About to be 100, Dave is still playing great and with tons of stories from his long life in Jazz.