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Sunday, June 01, 2008

Cambell Burnap passes.

From Mike Pointon comes this sad news;-
This morning, following a short illness, Campbell Burnap died.
I had a long association with Campbell, which more or less started with the Legends of American Dixieland Tour in 1989, with Wild Bill Davison and Art Hodes. Campbell was featured on most of the dates on what became the last tour both the American octogenarians. He was a fine jazz singer with a magnificent voice and in my view he could have had a career as a singer had he been so inclined. As well as his trombone playing career in such top UK bands as Terry Lightfoot’s and Acker Bilk’s, Campbell’s warm, rich voice, combined with his passion and knowledge for swinging jazz , made him a natural choice for presenting informed and intelligent jazz shows on BBC Radio. The birth of Jazz FM in the 80s, promised much and delivered little. The station did offer a further glimpse at the skills of this fine broadcaster with his excellent show, ‘Mainstem’, which not only played great recordings from the past, but gave exposure to new CDs, which most other stations ignored. British traditional jazz has lost many legendary figures during the past year, George Melly, Dick Charlesworth, Humph and today Campbell. Somewhere in heaven there must be a hell of a jam session going on". - I first had contact with Campbell when he rang to ask for a list of NW gigs to bring a balance to his programme after we lost "Tony's Tradtime" on JazzFM. We have been in occasional contact ever since and Barbara & I were lucky to meet up with him, first at Maghull, and then at Rawtenstall' s Rhythm Station where we sat with John & Jasmine Lawrence who brought Campbell over. It was to be John's funeral when we were to meet again for the final time. In all that time he never forgot Barbara's name and always asked about her. We are deeply saddened to hear this news about a gentleman and a musician who still had a lot to give. - Fred