Chris Barber

Did You Know?

• Barber was a motor racing enthusiast who first raced at Brands Hatch in 1957 driving a Lotus Mark IX.
• His close friends included Lotus founder Colin Chapman and Ken Tyrrell.
• Barber was married four times, including to blues singer Ottilie Patterson and to Renate Hilbich, with whom he had two children.

Early life

Barber was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, on 17 April 1930. His father was an insurance statistician who later became secretary of the Socialist League, and his mother was a headmistress. He began learning the violin at age seven and attended Hanley Castle Grammar School until 15. After the war, he studied at St Paul's School in London and then spent three years at the Guildhall School of Music, where he met Alexis Korner.

1950s

In 1950, Barber formed the New Orleans Jazz Band, a non-professional group that included Korner on guitar and Barber on double bass. He left his insurance job in 1951 and became a professional musician the following year. With clarinetist Monty Sunshine, he formed a band in late 1952 that included trumpeter Pat Halcox. The band made its Copenhagen debut in April 1953. Chris Albertson recorded sides for the Storyville label, including tracks by the Monty Sunshine Trio. Their first recording session produced the LP New Orleans Joys, which included "Rock Island Line" performed by Donegan; released as a single under Donegan's name, it launched the British skiffle boom. The short documentary Momma Don't Allow (1956) features the band with Ottilie Patterson. Barber married Patterson in 1959.

1960s

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Barber arranged the first UK tours for blues artists Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, and Muddy Waters. This helped spark young musicians such as Peter Green, Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones. In January 1963, NME reported the biggest trad jazz event in Britain at Alexandra Palace, which included Barber. In 1964, he added blues guitarist John Slaughter to the band. A recording of the Lennon–McCartney composition "Catswalk", retitled "Cat Call", was released as a single in October 1967. In 1969, Barber signed to Marmalade Records and released Battersea Rain Dance, featuring Paul McCartney and Brian Auger. The band was popular in Germany and released Live in East Berlin in 1968.

Later career

Barber and his band recorded Drat That Fratle Rat (1972) with guitarist Rory Gallagher, described as a trad jazz/blues rock fusion album. The band toured with Russell Procope in 1976 and with Dr. John in 1981. In 1986, Barber commissioned and co-wrote a Concerto for Jazz Trombone with Richard Hill, premiered at the Palast der Republik in East Berlin. He recorded Under the Influence of Jazz with The London Gabrieli Brass Ensemble in 1991. In 1998, he began expanding his band to play early Duke Ellington music, and after a 2000 tour of Australia and New Zealand, he grew the band to 11 members, renaming it the Big Chris Barber Band in 2001. He published his autobiography Jazz Me Blues in 2014 and retired on 12 August 2019. The band continued under Bob Hunt. Barber was awarded an OBE in 1991, an honorary doctorate from Durham University in 2006, the Blues Louis in 2013, and the German Jazz Trophy in 2014. Pat Halcox retired in 2008 after 54 years with Barber, the longest continuous partnership in jazz history.