Alex Welsh

Alex Welsh (9 July, 1929 in Edinburgh, Scotland – 25 June, 1982 in London) was a Scottish jazz musician who played the cornet and trumpet and sang.

Welsh started playing in the teenage "Leith Silver Band" and gigged with Archie Semple's "Capital Jazz Band". After moving to London in the early 1950s, Welsh formed his own band. The group, with clarinetist Archie Semple, pianist Fred Hunt, trombonist Roy Crimmings and drummer Lenny Hastings, was a backbone of British traditional jazz in the 1950s playing a version of 'Chicago style' Jazz. Tunes such as "Music of the Mauve Decade", "Echos of Chicago" and "The Melrose Folio" became standards in the British scene. In the 1960s, Welsh's band invited guest stars such as Earl Hines, Henry "Red" Allen, 'Peanuts' Hucko, Pee Wee Russell and Ruby Braff to perform with them. Welsh toured internationally and played at the 1967 Antibes jazz festival, the 1968 Newport Jazz Festival and 1978 Nice Jazz Festival.

Discography(selected)

* "Dixieland to Duke/The Melrose Folio" (1957/60)
* "Classic Concert", (1971)

External links

* Ian Carr et al: "The Rough Guide to Jazz". Rough Guides, 2004. ISBN 1843532565
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/alex-welsh?cat=entertainment Information to Answers: Biography]