Harry Beckett
b. 30 May 1935, St Michael Parish, Barbados. Resident in the UK since 1954, trumpeter Beckett has associated with many leading post-boppers and fusionists, including Graham Collier, in whose band he worked for about 15 years, beginning in the early '60s. In 1961 Beckett worked with Charles Mingus in London, appearing in the film, ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT. Throughout the '60s and '70s, he led his own small groups, notably Joy Unlimited, and also played with John Surman, Mike Westbrook, Mike Gibbs, Stan Tracey, Dudu Pukwanaand Chris MacGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath. He also touched the mainstream during engagements with Ronnie Scott and John Dankworthand made occasional forays into jazz-rock with Keef Hartley. In the '80s he worked extensively with students and on his own compositions, touring worldwide. Beckett's playing on both trumpet and fluegelhorn is characterized by a fluid lyricism shot through with dazzling and sometimes fierce bursts of free inventiveness. His 1985 PICTURES OF YOU was one of the first albums on the short-lived Paladin label and in the same year he recorded ANGOLAN QUARTET as a member of the Johnny Dyani Quartet. In the late '80s Beckett was for a while eminence grise with the young Jazz Warriorsand also played frequently with Courtney Pine. In the early '90s a longtime association with Elton Dean took a new twist as the pair joined up with Enrico Fazio (bass) and Fiorenzi Sardini (drums) to form the Anglo-Italian Quartet, which made its first UK tour in 1991 and released its debut album (on the Italian Splasch label) in the same year.