Remembering music royalty John Dankworth

Posted 23rd January 2025

February 6th marks the 15th anniversary since the music world mourned the loss of Sir John Dankworth.
Pulse Music editor Sammy Jones remembers a unique man with a talent to match…

John came from a musical family, but at odds with them, he favoured jazz, not classical.
“That horrified them – it was like being interested in heavy metal in those days, your parents wouldn’t exactly welcome it,” he told me.
Focusing his attention on the clarinet, not even being called to serve in the army hindered his playing – he simply joined the army band.
With service behind him, he auditioned for a ship about to sail to America, which needed its own band.

A young Ronnie Scott auditioned with him, and they both got the job.
“I had never been abroad in my life and all of a sudden I found myself in this mad Broadway atmosphere with yellow cabs and hamburgers. It was like a dream,” John remembered, “It used to take us five days to get there, then we had two days in New York and back we came.”
By 1949, music bible Melody Maker had declared John, ‘Musician of the Year,’ a title he would try to shake.

“I got so fed up with winning those polls that I deliberately tried to lose them,” said the modest man with exceptional talent.
But success would never elude him – his work as a composer was as extraordinary as his playing ability.

When he auditioned a young Cleo Laine for his band, it was the start of a love affair on and off the stage – the couple went on to marry in 1958, moving to Aspley Guise. When The Old Vicarage at Wavendon came on the market, the couple could see potential for a venue on the site.

Cleo and John

Blood, sweat, tears, and plenty of their own cash later, and they achieved their dream – opening The Stables for Milton Keynes.
Their careers were incredible; Cleo – who still lives in the area – recorded with Ray Charles, appeared on the Muppet Show and supported Frank Sinatra during a week of dates at The Royal Albert Hall.

She also received Grammy nominations in the jazz, classical and popular categories. No-one else has achieved that.
Her husband was the Musical Director for UK visits by Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, and for his wife, of course, who wowed in the West End and on Broadway.

John’s music spread way outside of the jazz genre for which he was best regarded – delivering theme tunes for popular small screen hits including The Avengers and Tomorrow’s World.

In the early 2000s, he collaborated with Craig David on Later With Jools Holland, with both heaping praise on John.
Husband and wife perfectly matched one another: Cleo was made a Dame in 1997, and in 2006, John became a Sir when he was given a Knighthood.

That same year, John told me the secret to their enduring relationship: “…the truth is you must have two bathrooms,” he had said, a twinkle in his eye, “Whatever other luxury you can’t afford or don’t have, you’ve got to have two bathrooms, because one bathroom can be the cause of strife, splits, quarrels and homicide!”

John passed away on the same day that The Stables celebrated its 40th anniversary with a gala concert.
The show went ahead as planned, with Cleo announcing the loss of a musical force, her husband, in front of a shocked audience.
“Because The Stables was his baby, we couldn’t not do it,” she said later, and the show became an impromptu tribute to a real legend.

Read more about John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, their fascinating story, and their contribution to the new city, in the book, Milton Keynes – Wired For Sound.

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