Tommy Whittle obituary

Tommy Whittle, right, playing tenor sax in his quintet at the Marquee club, Wardour Street, London, in 1958, alongside Eddie Thompson on piano and Harry Klein on baritone sax. Photograph: Eric Jelly/Peter Vacher

Peter Vacher
theguardian.com, Wednesday 23 October 2013 15.01 BST
The tenor saxophonist Tommy Whittle, who has died aged 87, was as relaxed in the demanding session world as he was on the jazz bandstand. Having earned his spurs in dance-hall bands as a youngster, he became a member of the Ted Heath orchestra in the late 1940s. In parallel, he kept the jazz flame alive, always finding time to play club dates and running a series of successful jazz clubs involving the best local musicians. A "polished stylist", in the words of the cornettist Digby Fairweather, Whittle at his best was arguably one of Britain's finest jazz musicians.

Once his commercial assignments had diminished, Whittle returned to full-time jazz performance with his second wife, the singer Barbara Jay, whom he married in 1967. His desire to play and willingness to travel continued until failing health intervened late last year.

Whittle was born in Grangemouth, Scotland, and, after some family prompting, tried the harmonica and the banjo before alighting on the clarinet. Introduced by the painter Alan Davie, then a student, to the local rhythm club, he began to attend jam sessions and listen to recordings by Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins.

When Davie went into the army, Whittle borrowed his saxophone. Evidently a quick learner, he played briefly with a local band before his parents sent him to stay with his grandparents in Chatham, Kent, hoping to wean their 16-year-old son away from professional music by finding him a serious job. But a chance encounter with the drummer Ronnie Verrell led to a booking with the Claude Giddins band in Gillingham, which often featured guest stars from London, including the expatriate Belgian trumpeter Johnny Claes.

After playing with Claes for a few weeks, Whittle joined the veteran bandleader Lew Stone. On the London freelance scene, he performed with the reedman Carl Barriteau and then with Harry Hayes at Churchill's Club, a combo that included the pianist George Shearing.

Already making a name for himself as a soloist in classy circles, Whittle joined the Heath band in 1947, replacing Ronnie Scott, and stayed with this high-profile, well-paid outfit for the next five years. They did road trips, frequent recording dates, London Palladium concerts and an appearance in the 1950 movie Dance Hall. It was when Heath insisted that he repeat the same solos every night that Whittle made his bid for freedom by playing in the drummer Tony Kinsey's trio at Studio 51 in Soho.
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