John Bunch
b. 1 December 1921, Tipton, Indiana, USA. After studying piano as a child, Bunch began playing semi-professionally while barely in his teenage years. Through listening to records he learned to appreciate the work of musicians such as Fats Waller, Count Basie and Duke Ellington. As he later recalled for interviewer Martin Richards, while still a child he was taken to hear the Basie band, which then included Lester Young, Jo Jones and Jimmy Rushing. Despite this early start, Bunch remained on the fringes of the jazz scene until he was well into his '30s. Part of the problem lay in the effects of the Depression on his family and his need to try to earn a living. With America's entry into World War II, Bunch enlisted in the air force, was shot down and served out the war in a prison camp. In the post-war years Bunch's early tuition was shown to be inadequate and his poor reading ability meant that he was unable to gain a place in a music college. However, he persisted in his ambition to become a professional musician and endured several years scuffling for low pay until he began to make an impact on the Los Angeles jazz scene, where he worked with Georgie Auld. In the mid- to late '50s he became well-known through his work with the bands of Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Maynard Ferguson and Buddy Rich. In the '60s and '70s he recorded and sometimes played club and festival dates with several leading jazzmen, including Goodman, Zoot Sims and Gene Krupa and also led his own group. From the mid-60s into the early '70s he was also active outside jazz, serving for more than seven years as Tony Bennett's musical director. In the '80s he continued his round of recording sessions and live performances, usually in company with important mainstream artists, among them Joe ‘Flip’ Phillips and Scott Hamilton. Highly regarded by his fellow musicians, Bunch is one of an unfortunately long list of jazzmen whose work is not as well-known to audiences as his talent deserves. Festival appearances in many parts of the world in the late '80s and early '90s, and some excellent records, may help to change that state of affairs.