News from the darkest corners...

Saxophonist Sir John Dankworth, one of the leading figures in British jazz for more than half a century, has died on february 6th. He was 82.

The saxophonist worked closely with jazz legends like Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson during his career. He also wrote the first theme for the classic television series “The Avengers.”

His wife, the singer Cleo Laine, announced the death from the stage during a concert to mark the 40th anniversary of a music venue they founded next to their home in Buckinghamshire, north of London.

Born in Essex, southeast England, in 1927, Dankworth played the clarinet as a boy before entering the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London at 17.

Inspired by the American jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, he switched instruments and soon began composing, arranging and recording music on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 1959, Dankworth and his jazz orchestra began touring the United States and they performed with Duke Ellington, who later became a close friend.

Over the next decade, he wrote scores for 1960s films like “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning” and “Modesty Blaise.” One of his most famous pieces of work was the original theme for “The Avengers,” the British spy drama starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg.

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