For the better part of half a century, Brian Lemon, who has died aged 77, was the jazz pianist of choice for British all-star groups, as well as for visiting American instrumentalists, a player feted on both sides of the Atlantic for his sensitivity as an accompanist and his creativity as a soloist. There seemed no limit to Lemons capacity to play something ear-catching, in the writer Dave Gellys words, whether in impromptu groups or more organised ensembles that is, until chronic osteoarthritis in his hands put an end to his pianistic career 10 years ago.
Lemon was born in Nottingham, where his mother, Selina, and father, Leonard, were semi-professional dance-band violinists who both worked for the cigarette manufacturer John Player & Sons. Inspired by Fats Waller and later by Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson, Brian studied the piano with Reg Conroy, a local teacher, and was soon proficient enough to perform in palais bands in his home city. Aged 19, he moved to London in 1956 to join Freddy Randalls lively Dixieland band, moving on a year later to the tenor-saxophonist Betty Smiths quintet, with which he made his recording debut in 1957.
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