Keith Nichols Cotton Club Orchestra

Born on 13 February 1945 in Ilford, Essex, England, Nichols took up the trombone at school, directed the student ensemble, and simultaneously captured the All-Britain junior accordion title. He has since mastered nearly every instrument in the groups he directs yet remains strongest on piano and trombone. In 1969 he appeared with Dick Sudhalter’s Anglo-American Alliance, then formed his first independent units in the early 1970s, among them the New Sedalia. He next guided the Ragtime Orchestra through meticulously researched readings of classic material and subsequently traveled to the United States to record with the New Paul Whiteman Orchestra. During this period he supplied charts to the New York Jazz Repertory Company, Dick Hyman, and the Pasadena Roof Orchestra. By 1978 these experiences enabled him to establish the Midnite Follies Orchestra alongside Alan Cohen, an ensemble devoted to the repertoire of the 1920s and 1930s as well as newly composed works in the same spirit. Recognized as a leading specialist in ragtime and earlier jazz idioms, Nichols devotes constant energy to ensuring their continued presentation. In the middle of the 1980s he performed alongside Harry Gold on bass saxophone and directed the Paramount Theatre Orchestra before assembling his own Cotton Club Band. He remains active in the new millennium, fronting his ten-piece orchestra, the Blue Devils, for both live appearances and recordings.