Anne Hailes with jazz musician Chris Barber 13 March, 2021 01:00
WHEN your hero dies, it hurts. All the years of admiration, memories, loving and losing, crowd into your mind and I have such memories in spades following the death of jazz man extraordinaire Chris Barber.
I’m of the generation when Dixieland dominated our lives. The names are legendary now: Chris s wife, blues singer Ottilie Patterson; Kenny Ball; Acker Bilk; Jackie Flavelle; Lonnie Donegan; even Van Morrison played with the band - they were a jiver s delight.
Chris was 90 years old and suffering dementia when he died on March 2. His life story was one of music.