Eddie Harvey

Lore & Background

Eddie Harvey was born in Blackpool, England, but grew up in Sidcup, where he attended Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School. At 16, he began studying engineering in nearby Crayford and took his first professional job playing trombone with George Webb and his Dixielanders, a pioneering UK traditional jazz band featuring Wally Fawkes and Humphrey Lyttelton. After the Second World War, he joined Freddy Randall and began performing at Club Eleven in London with young musicians including Ronnie Scott and John Dankworth, who were experimenting with bebop. When John Dankworth formed the Dankworth Seven in 1950, Harvey was a founder member, staying until 1953. During the 1950s, he performed and recorded with groups led by Tubby Hayes, Vic Lewis, Don Rendell, and Woody Herman, and began arranging for Jack Parnell's Orchestra. From 1963 to 1972, Harvey was a pianist with the Humphrey Lyttelton band. In the early 1970s, he became interested in teaching jazz. His jazz piano course at the City Lit was one of the first jazz education courses in Europe and led to his writing Teach Yourself Jazz Piano. From 1968 to 1971, he studied at Balls Park College of Education, Hertford, joining a teacher training course with Hal Colin and Pete Blanin. After ten years teaching music at Haileybury College in Hertfordshire, he accepted the newly created role of Head of Jazz at the London College of Music. Later teaching posts included the Guildhall and Royal Colleges of Music.

Reader's Guide

Eddie Harvey's significance lies in his dual role as a performer and educator during a transformative period in British jazz. As a founder member of the Dankworth Seven, he helped bring bebop to UK audiences, and his work with bands like those of Tubby Hayes and Woody Herman placed him at the center of the 1950s British jazz scene. His shift to education in the early 1970s was equally influential: his jazz piano course at the City Lit was among the first in Europe, and his book Teach Yourself Jazz Piano made jazz pedagogy accessible to a wide audience. By later serving as Head of Jazz at the London College of Music and teaching at the Guildhall and Royal Colleges, he helped institutionalize jazz study in the UK. His legacy is that of a bridge between the early traditional jazz scene and modern jazz education, shaping generations of musicians through both performance and teaching.

Did You Know?

• Eddie Harvey was a founder member of the Dankworth Seven in 1950.
• His jazz piano course at the City Lit was one of the first jazz education courses in Europe.
• He wrote Teach Yourself Jazz Piano, published in the Teach Yourself series.
• From 1968 to 1971, he studied at Balls Park College of Education, Hertford.