( * Lonnie Donegan Presents...and His Jazz Band )
Chart entered : 23 February 1961
Chart peak : 13
Number of hits : 14
More trad jazz here. I don't know what the Donegan endorsement is all about ; he's not on the record and it certainly hasn't been counted in his hits total.
Kenneth Ball was born in Essex in 1930. He left school at 14 to work in an advertising agency and spent part of his wages on trumpet lessons. He became a professional musician in 1953 working with various bands until he formed his own - Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen in 1958
This appears to have been their first single on Pye Jazz. "Samantha" ( originally "I Love You, Samantha ) was originally written by Cole Porter for the film High Society in which it's sung by Bing Crosby to Grace Kelly's character. Here it's sung by Kenny himself though he lets his trumpet do the talking for the last minute. As previously stated this stuff is pretty alien to me but I'd sooner listen to Kenny's music than Acker Bilk's noodling or the arch silliness of The Temperance Seven who set my teeth on edge ( Thank God they don't qualify !). Perhaps it's just fond memories of the cat band in The Aristocats but there's an excitement here that I can to some degree appreciate.
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