Kenneth Napper (born July 14, 1933 in London) is an English jazz double-bassist.
Napper started out on piano as a child and picked up bass as a student at Guildhall School of Music. He entered the British military in the early 1950s, playing with Mary Lou Williams in 1953 during a leave period. After ending his term of duty, he played with Jack Parnell, Malcolm Mitchell, Vic Ash, and Cab Calloway. He was the house bassist at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club for several years and played with many British and American jazz musicians in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including Alan Clare, Ronnie Scott, Stan Tracey, Tubby Hayes, Tony Kinsey, Tony Crombie, Jimmy Deuchar, John Dankworth, Pat Smythe, Phil Seamen, Zoot Sims, Carmen McRae, and Paul Gonsalves. Later in the 1960s he worked with Ted Heath, Tony Coe, John Picard, and Barney Kessel, as well as with Gonsalves, Tracey, and Dankworth. In 1970 he played with Stephane Grappelli and moved to Germany, playing with Kurt Edelhagen from 1970 to 1972. While in Germany he focused more on composition and arrangement; later in the decade he moved to the Netherlands, where he arranged for radio ensembles.
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
James Deuchar was a jazz trumpeter and big band arranger, born in Dundee, Scotland. He found fame as a performer and arranger in the 1950s and 1960s. Deuchar was taught trumpet by John Lynch, who learned bugle as a boy soldier in the First World War and who later was Director of Brass Music for Dundee.
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE, also known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinetist and writer of film scores. With his wife, jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, he was a music educator and also her music director.
Ronnie Scott OBE was a British jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner. He co-founded Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, one of the world's most popular jazz clubs, in 1959.
Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar.
Allan Anthony Ganley was an English jazz drummer and arranger.
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959.
Ronnie Stephenson was an English jazz drummer. He was one of the most in-demand drummers on the British jazz scene in the 1960s.
Anthony John Kronenberg, known professionally as Tony Crombie, was an English jazz drummer, pianist, bandleader, and composer. He was regarded as one of the finest English jazz drummers and bandleaders, occasional but capable pianist and vibraphonist, and an energizing influence on the British jazz scene over six decades.
Christopher Norman "Chris" Pyne was an English jazz trombonist.
Alan Branscombe was an English jazz pianist, vibraphonist, and alto saxophonist.
Keith Ronald Christie was an English jazz trombonist. He was the brother of Ian Christie.
Henry Shalofsky, better known as Hank Shaw was an English bebop jazz trumpeter.
Kenneth John Moule was an English jazz pianist, best known as a composer and arranger.
Anthony John Archer is an English jazz double-bassist.
Philip "Phil" Francis Bates is an English jazz double bassist.
Spike Heatley is a British jazz double bassist.
Simon Richard Spillett is a multi-award winning English jazz tenor saxophonist. He has won the BBC Jazz Awards Rising Star (2007), Jazz Journal's Critics' Choice album of the Year (2009), the British Jazz Awards Top Tenor Saxophonist (2011), the Services to British Jazz award (2016).
Frank Holder was a Guyanese jazz singer and percussionist. He was a member of bands led by Jiver Hutchinson, Johnny Dankworth, and Joe Harriott.
Dave Green is an English jazz bassist.