Chris Barber

Trombonist, vocalist, and bandleader Chris Barber spearheaded the Anglo-European trad jazz movement during the late '50s and early '60s and devoted decades to preserving and expanding the jazz tradition on 1954's New Orleans Joys, which spawned the Lonnie Donegan skiffle classic "Rock Island Line." He also scored a Top 20 U.K. hit in 1959 with "Petite Fleur," a cover of the Sydney Bechet composition, and in 1982, his Barbican Blues made the jazz and blues charts simultaneously, as did 1986's Music from the Land of Dreams. Barber went out of his way to make music with U.S. blues legends like Big Bill Broonzy, Brother John Sellers, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Muddy Waters, and Sonny Boy Williamson. This cross-pollination dramatically affected the lives and careers of budding British rockers such as the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, Jimmy Page, and John Mayall. Barber issued more than 100 albums during his lifetime.