Al Fairweather

Infobox Person
name = Al Fairweather
birth_date = Birth date|1927|6|12
birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland
death_date = Death date and age|1993|6|21|1927|6|12
death_place = Edinburgh, Scotland
known_for = British Jazz Musician

Alastair (Al) Fairweather (June 12 1927 – 21 June 1993) was a British jazz musician, born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Educated at the city's Royal High School and Edinburgh College of Art [cite web | url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2007/10/26/2070858.htm | title="Painting by Al Fairweather of Sean Connery exhibited at Royal College of Art" | publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation | accessdate=2008-04-12] , Fairweather served his National Service in Egypt.

It was after being demobbed in 1949 that Fairweather started a band with his old schoolfriend Sandy Brown [cite web | url=http://www.sandybrownjazz.co.uk/whoswho.html#F | title="Sandy Brown Who's Who " | publisher=Sandy Brown McJazz | accessdate=2008-04-12] , and in 1953, the pair went south to London along with Stan Greig. There they recorded a number of sides for Esquire Records as the Sandy Brown and later Fairweather-Brown All Stars, and played amongst other places at the newly built Royal Festival Hall.

When Brown went back to Scotland to complete his architecture studies, Fairweather joined the Cy Laurie Jazz Band. His powerful, Louis Armstrong-inspired lead was a perfect foil for Laurie's Johnny Dodds approach. From 1966 to 1968, he worked for clarinetist Acker Bilk.

Following a second career as a teacher in Harrow, London, Fairweather returned to Edinburgh in 1987, where he remained and played until his death in 1993 at the age of 66.

References

*cite book |last=Yanow |first=Scott |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Trumpet Kings: The Players Who Shaped the Sound of Jazz Trumpet |year=2001 |publisher=Backbeat Books |location=San Francisco |isbn=0879306084|pages=154

External links