Multi-instrumentalist helped forge the skiffle craze with Lonnie Donegan and recorded with Paul McCartney
Chris Barber, the
British trombonist, double bassist and trad jazz bandleader who influenced the path of mid-century pop, has died aged 90. He had dementia. His death was confirmed by his
UK press representative.
Born in Hertfordshire and taught
music at London’s Guildhall School, Barber was a champion of trad jazz, the raucous New Orleans style that had waned by the early 1950s as bebop became more fashionable. He helped to reignite the style’s popularity, and became known as one of the Three B’s, alongside Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk, who also separately revived trad jazz.