KENNY BALL

Kenneth Daniel "Kenny" Ball (born 22 May 1930) is a British jazz musician best known as the lead trumpet player in Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. Born in Ilford, Essex, England. Ball began his career as sideman in bands before forming his own Trad jazz band in 1958. Ball and his band have enjoyed the longest unbroken success for bands of their original generation of the traditional 1960s, where their hits like "Samantha" and "Midnight in Moscow" remain popular in dixieland and trumpet circles today. Ball's status rivals contemporaries Acker Bilk and Chris Barber. In March of 1962 Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen reached #2 on the US Billboard charts, with "Midnight in Moscow". Ball continued to tour in the 2000s and has charted no fewer than 14 Top 30 hit singles in the UK alone, the most by any jazz artist.      User-contributed text is available under read more...