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| Melody Maker Readers Poll (1949)... |
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For 74 years the "Melody Maker" was the weekly 'trade paper' for the dance band and jazz musician as well as all those interested in the modern music scene. One of it's continuing features and talking points were the annual Readers Polls where readers voted under different categories for individual musicians, singers, big bands and a host of other categories. The annual jazz polls were a major event in the jazz world but were also an important historical record of the state of British jazz through the years and preserve some of the historical perspective on British Jazz. This page carries the full results of the 1949 poll published on December 17th, 1949. (There was no MM Poll in 1948) |
At a glance it will be seen that, whereas a few tried and trusted favourites retain their honoured position, in a great many other sections surprising "re-assessments" have taken place. One newcomer to Poll honours - though his successes are not unexpected - is, Johnny Dankworth, whose double victory in the Alto and Musician of the Year sections (the latter a new department in the various MM categories, undoubtedly represents the greatest individual triumph of the year. Bop specialist Johnny has completely ousted Harry Hayes - alto star whose supremacy had been unchallenged over the four previous years. |
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 Johnny Dankworth Musician of the year 1 Johnny Dankworth 2 Kenny Baker 3 Jackie Armstrong 4 Humphrey Lyttelton 5 Ray Ellington 6 Bob Farnon 7 Freddy Gardner 8 Ralph Sharon... Alto sax 1 Johnny Dankworth 2 Ronnie Chamberlain 3 Les Gilbert 4 Freddy Gardner 5 Harry Hayes 6 Dougie Robinson 7 Joe Crossman... Bass 1 Charlie Short 2 Coleridge Goode 3 Joe Muddel 4 Jack Collier 5 Sammy Stokes 6 Jack Fallon 7 Tim Bell 8 Jimmy Honeyman 9 Frank Donnison 10 Hank Hobson 11 Len Bush 12 M. Bass 13 Jack Seymour... Guitar 1 Pete Chilver 2 Dave Goldberg 3 Ivor Mairants 4 Laurie Deniz 5 Vic Lewis 6 Bert Weedon 7 Lauderic Caton 8 Malcolm Mitchell 9 Ike Isaacs... Miscellaneous 1 Tito Burns (accordion) 2 Stephane Grappelly (violin) 3 Ron Chamberlain (sop sax) 4 Tommy Pollard (vibes) 5 Robin Richmond (organ) 6 Roy Marsh (vibes) 7 Dave Shand (baritone sax) 8 Lorna Martin (accordion) 9 Les Baker (violin) 10 Harry Gold (bar sax) 11 Freddy Gardner (baritone sax)... Arranger 1 Ken Thorne 2 Bob Farnon 3 Alan Bristow 4 Norman Stenfalt 5 Wally Stott 6 Johnny Dankworth 7 George Evans 8 Eric Jupp 9 Edwin Holland 10 Roland Shaw 11 Stanley Black 12 Woolf Phillips 13 Denny Vaughan 14 Peter Yorke... |
Trumpet 1 Kenny Baker 2 Albert Hall 3 Humphrey Lyttelton 4 Freddy Randall 5 Leon Calvert 6 Reg Arnold 7 Hank Shaw 8 Eddie Calvert 9 Dave Wilkins 11 Bobby Benstead 12 Johnny Shakespeare 13 Stan Roderick 14 Alan Franks 15 Reg Driscoll 16 Cy Ellis 17 Freddy Clayton 18 Jimmy Watson... Clarinet 1 Sid Phillips 3 Nat Temple 3 Frank Weir 4 Henry Mackenzie 3 Nat Temple 4 Frank Weir 5 Harry Parry 6 Carl Barriteau 7 Keith Bird 8 Dougie Robinson 9 Ronnie Chamberlain 10 Wally Fawkes 11 Johnny Dankworth 12 Reg Owen 13 Billy Amstell 14 Cliff Townshend... Trombone 1 Jackie Armstrong 2 George Chisholm 3 Gordon Langhorn 4 Geoff Love 5 Jock Bain 6 Lad Busby 7 Harry Roche 8 Woolf Phillips 9 Jimmy Wilson 10 Keith Christie 11 Les Carew 12 Jack Irwin... Drums 1 Jack Parnell 2 Peter Coleman 3 Ronnie Verrall 4 Eric Delaney 5 Jock Cummings 6 Max Abrams 7 Ray Ellington 8 Basil Kirchin 9 Norman Burns 10 Micky Greeve 11 Laurie Morgan 12 Derek Price 13 George Fierstone 14 Dougie Cooper 15 Phil Seamen 16 A. Adler 17 Bobby Kevin... Latin-American band 1 Edmundo Ros 2 Roberto Inglez 3 Eddie Calvert 4 Johnny Kerrison 5 Hermanos Deniz 6 Jose Norman 7 Stanley Black 8 Don Carlos 7 Santiago... |
Small band 1 Ray Ellington 2 Tito Burns 3 Harry Gold 4 Humphrey Lyttelton 5 Ralph Sharon 6 Jack Parnell Quartet 7 Alan Dean's Beboppers 8 Johnny Dankworth's Boppers 9 Malcolm Mitchell 10 Sid Phillips 11 Freddy Randall 12 Harry Parry... Tenor sax 1 Ronnie Scott 2 Tommy Whittle 3 Kathleen Stobart 4 Jimmy Skidmore 5 Johnny Gray 6 Harry Gold 7 Keith Bird 8 Freddy Gardner 9 Aubrey Frank 10 Laurie Gold 11 Rex Morris 12 E. Ballerini 13 Don Rendell 14 Henry Mackenzie 15= Bob Burns 15= Danny Moss... Swing Bands 1 Ted Heath 2 Vic Lewis 3 Geraldo 4 Squadronnaires 5 Teddy Foster 6 Oscar Rabin 7 Cyril Stapleton 8 Tommy Sampson 9 Ken Mackintosh 10 Sid Phillips 11 Joe Loss 12 Ambrose 13 Harry Gold 14 Paul Fenoulhet 15 Tito Burns 16 Harry Parry 17 Humphrey Lyttelton 18 Freddy Randall 19 Lou Preager 20 Skyrockets... Male singer 1 Alan Dean 2 Denny Vaughan 3 Bob Dale 4 Benny Lee 5 Lee Lawrence 6 Dickie Valentine 7 Dick James 8 Ray Ellington 9 Franklyn Boyd 10 Reggie Goff 11 Ray Burns 12 Steve Conway 13 Cab Kaye 14 Howard Jones 15 Jack Parnell 16 Mark Pasquin 17 Paul Carpenter 18 Archie Lewis 19 Sam Browne 20 Dennis Hale 21 Denny Dennis... Vocal group 1 Keynotes 2 Kordites 3 Stargazers 4 Radio Revellers 5 Quads 6 Staplejacks 7 George Mitchell Choir... |
Sweet Bands 1 Geraldo 2 Cyril Stapleton 3 Ambrose 4 Ted Heath 5 Bob Farnon 6 Billy Ternent 7 Peter Yorke 8 Joe Loss 9 Oscar Rabin 10 Stanley Black 11 Harry Leader 12 Squads 13 Nat Temple 14 Victor Silvester 15 Syd Dean 16 Maurice Winnick 17 Vic Lewis 18 Eric Winstone 19 George Melachrino 20 Paul Fenoulhet 21 Sidney Lipton 22 Ray Martin 23 Ronnie Pleydell 24 Skyrockets 25 Lou Preager 26 Teddy Foster 27 Lew Stone 28 Felix King 29 George Evans 30 George Crow 31 Carroll Gibbons 32 Ken Mackintosh 33 Jack White 34 Sid Phillips 35 Billy Cotton 36 Paul Adam 37 Roy Bradley... Piano 1 Ralph Sharon 2 Norman Stenfalt 3 Dick Katz 4 Billy Munn 5 Dill Jones 6 Stanley Black 7 Ronnie Aldrich 8 Frank Horrox 9 Steve Race 10 Bernie Fenton 11 Ronnie Price 12 Eric Jupp 13 Malcolm Lockyer 14 David Simpson 15 Maurice Arnold 16= Alan Roper 16= Denny Vaughan 18 Tommy Pollard 19 George Webb 20 Bob MacGuffie 21= Sidney Bright 21= Charlie Kunz... Female Singer  1 Terry Devon 2 Anne Shelton 3 Eve Boswell 4 Jean Campbell 5 Diana Coupland 6 Kip Oldfield 7 Carole Carr 8 Dinah Kaye 9 Dorothy Squires 10 Pearl Carr 11 Elizabeth Batey 13 Marie Benson 14= Joy Nicholls 14= Kathleen Stobart 16 Marion Davis 17 Marjorie Daw 18 Doreen Stephens 19 Nadia Dore 20 Doreen Lundy... |