Melody Maker Readers Poll (1961)...

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 1961 poll published on February 17th 1962.		1961 This was the year when the 'trad' musicians began to disappear from the listings. In previous years Terry Lightfoot and Chris Barber's bands were highly placed but they disappeared from the 'small combo' poll and there was not a banjo to be seen in the 'miscellaneous instrument' section. Tubby Hayes continued to improve his status this year and was voted 'Musician of the year' for the first time as well as displacing Bill Le Sage to win top spot in the 'vibes' section. He was also top 'small combo' and 'tenor sax'. In addition to his four top spots he was 'placed' in five other sections - flute, alto sax, baritone sax, arranger and composer - a true 'tour de force'.
Musician of the year 1 Tubby Hayes 2 Johnny Dankworth 3 Joe Harriott 4 Bruce Turner 5 Humphrey Lyttelton 6= Sandy Brown 6= Kenny Ball 8= Don Rendell 8= Ronnie Ross 10 Ted Heath... Trombone 1 George Chisholm 2 Keith Christie 3 Ken Wray 4= Don Lusher 4= Johnny Picard 6 Eddie Harvey 7 John Mumford 8 Tony Millner 9 Chris Barber 10 Roy Crimmins... Vibes 1 Tubby Hayes 2 Bill Le Sage 3 Lennie Best 4 Martin Slavin 5 Peter Shade... Bass 1 Johnny Hawkesworth 2 Kenny Napper 3 Lennie Bush 4 Spike Heatley 5 Jeff Clyne 6 Malcolm Cecil 7 Coleridge Goode 8 Brian Brocklehurst 9 Jack Fallon 10 Pete Blannin... Arranger 1 Johnny Dankworth 2 Dave Lindup 3 Kenny Graham 4 Tubby Hayes 5 Johnny Keating 6= Harry South 6= Eddie Harvey 8 Alan Roper 9= Jimmy Deuchar 9= Stan Tracey 9= Joe Harriott... Vocal group 1 Polka Dots (The Polka Dots won outright)	Johnny Dankworth Big band 1 Johnny Dankworth 2 Ted Heath 3 Downbeat Big Band... Clarinet 1 Vic Ash 2 Sandy Brown 3 Tony Coe 4 Wally Fawkes 5 Henry MacKenzie 6 Archie Semple 7 Acker Bilk 8 Monty Sunshine 9 Bruce Turner 10 Dave Shepherd... Alto sax 1 Joe Harriott 2 Bruce Turner 3 Johnny Dankworth 4 Tony Coe 5 Harold McNair 6 Graham Bond 7 Peter King 8 Alan Branscombe 9 Tubby Hayes... Baritone sax 1 Ronnie Ross 2 Harry Klein 3 Joe Temperley 4 Tubby Hayes... Drums 1 Phil Seamen 2 Allan Ganley 3 Tony Kinsey 4 Bill Eyden 5 Eddie Taylor 6 Lennie Hastings 7 Kenny Clare 8 Ronnie Verrell 9 Jackie Duggan 10= Ronnie Stephenson 10= Eric Delaney...	Small combo 1 Tubby Hayes 2 Humphrey Lyttelton 3 Joe Harriott 4 Bruce Turner 5 Ash-Klein Jazz Five 6 Scott-Deuchar Quintet 7 Don Rendell 8 Fairweather-Brown 9 Dudley Moore 10 Jazzmakers... Tenor sax 1 Tubby Hayes 2 Danny Moss 3 Don Rendell 4 Ronnie Scott 5 Jimmy Skidmore 6 Tony Coe 7 Tommy Whittle 8 Bobby Wellins 9 Art Ellefson 10 Dick Morrissey... Piano 1 Dudley Moore 2 Terry Shannon 3 Eddie Thompson 4 Dill Jones 5 Stan Tracey 6 Lennie Felix 7 Dave Lee 8 Brian Dee 9= Fred Hunt 9= Ian Armit... Other instruments 1 Shake Keane (Flugelhorn) 2 Max Geldray (Harmonica) 3 Ron Snyder (tuba) 4 Kenny Baker (Flugelhorn) 5 Ronnie Chamberlain (Sop sax) 6 Frank Holder (Bongoes)... Composer 1 Johnny Dankworth 2 Tubby Hayes 3 Kenny Graham 4 Joe Harriott 5 Sandy Brown 6 Stan Tracey 7 Dave Lindup 8 Harry South 9 Humphrey Lyttelton... Male singer 1 Matt Monro 2 George Melly 3 Bobby Breen 4 Cab Kaye 5 Clinton Ford 6 Danny Williams...	Tubby Hayes Trumpet 1 Humphrey Lyttelton 2 Jimmy Deuchar 3 Kenny Baker 4 Bert Courtley 5 Shake Keane 6 Al Fairweather 7 Les Condon 8 Eddie Blair 9 Kenny Ball 10 Bobby Pratt... Flute 1 Johnny Scott 2 Tubby Hayes 3 Harold McNair 4 Phil Goody... Guitar 1 Dave Goldberg 2 Diz Disley 3 Ken Sykora 4 Bert Weedon 5 Dennis Newey 6 Ike Isaacs 7 Bill Bramwell 8= George Kish 8= Judd Proctor 8= Tony Pitts... New Star 1 Dick Morrissey 2 Graham Bond 3 Dudley Moore 4 Harold McNair 5 Dave Castle 6 Gordon Beck 7 Shake Keane 8 Bobby Wellins 9 Michael Garrick... Female Singer 1 Cleo Laine 2 Shirley Bassey 3 Rosemary Squires 4= Helen Shapiro 4= Elaine Delmar 6 Ottilie Patterson...

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