Duncan Lamont

Born on 4 July 1931 in Greenock, Scotland, Lamont began his career as a trumpeter and fronted a Scottish ensemble that earned notice from Melody Maker in 1951. Time spent in London included appearances with Kenny Graham’s Afro-Cubists, yet he remained busy north of the border through the early 1950s. During those years he changed to tenor saxophone and established himself as a jazz session musician on the new instrument. Engagements followed with an array of prominent British dance and jazz outfits led by Basil and Ivor Kirchin, Ken Mackintosh, Jack Parnell, Geraldo, Eric Delaney and Vic Lewis, the last of whom took him on an American tour in 1958. The 1960s found him working alongside Pat Smythe and Kenny Baker, maintaining a busy freelance schedule, and joining an ensemble assembled for Benny Goodman’s European tour. While frequently directing his own small groups, Lamont also performed regularly in large ensembles and studio orchestras directed by Kenny Wheeler, Gil Evans—who held Lamont’s compositional gifts in high regard—Bobby Lamb and Raymond Premru, Nelson Riddle, Henry Mancini, Benny Carter and Bill Holman.

Among the vocalists he has supported, whether on the road or in recording studios, are Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney and Paul McCartney. Beyond performance, Lamont has written numerous songs, among them the award-winning “I Told You So,” later recorded by Trudy Kerr and others, “Carousel” for Nancy Marano, “Not You Again” for Cleo Laine, and “Manhattan In The Rain” for Joyce Breach and Norma Winstone. Larger-scale pieces include “The Young Person’s Guide To The Jazz Orchestra,” “Soho Suite” and “Sherlock Holmes Suite,” the last created in partnership with Spike Milligan. He has also supplied music for children’s television, notably the Grammy-nominated theme for Spot, as well as several Walt Disney videos. For more than ten years he conducted a big band whose proceeds supported cancer research. In 1999 he received the John Dankworth Jazz Award for sustained artistic achievement. A technically assured and intellectually probing soloist, Lamont has long commanded respect among fellow musicians for his writing, and at the beginning of the new century that body of work began to attract the broader attention it merits.