Chris Batchelor, trumpet Tuesday 24 June

We are very sad to announce the death of an old friend of the club, Wally Houser. For more than 40 years Wally was lawyer and consigliore to Ronnie Scott and Peter King. His association with Ronnie Scott's club dates from his negotiation of the original lease for the Gerrard Street club to the sad day he was called to identify Ronnie's body, following the latter's death in 1996.
Wally got to know every jazz giant who played at the club over the period. He was particularly fond of Blossom Dearie - "she was a nuisance, but I loved her" - and had a fund of hilarious stories about her and other legendary names. He was also a useful alto player - which is how he originally met Scott - and for many years played in the rehearsal band led by Stan Reynolds as well as sitting in at local gigs. And he was a very nice bloke. Jim Trimmer
Chris Batchelor is a jazz trumpeter and composer. He gained his first professional experience with Dudu Pukwana's Zila aged 17, at the suggestion of Harry Beckett. He subsequently became a founder member, composer and soloist with Loose Tubes, contributing many pieces to the repertoire of the band from 1984 to 1990. He was also very active at this time as a member of legendary world music trailblazers 3 Mustaphas 3, as well as enjoying a varied diet of gigs with Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Congolese soukous band Taxi Pata Pata and Ashley Slater's Microgroove.
As a sideman, Chris has appeared alongside many international stars, such as Michael Brecker, Sam Rivers, Hermeto Pascoal, John Taylor and the Jazz Passengers with Debbie Harry. He has enjoyed a long-term playing partnership with altoist Steve Buckley in their bands Orchestra Rafiki, Buckley /Batchelor Quartet and most recently with their award-winning international collaboration Big Air, featuring New York based Myra Melford and Jim Black.
The music that Buckley and Batchelor wrote for the Jazz on 3 commission that brought Big Air together subsequently won them a BBC Jazz Award for Best New Work in 2001. Their 2009 release entitled Big Air was described by Brian Morton in Jazz Journal as "the best British jazz record for 20 years". In November 2009, Batchelor was selected to receive the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Composers.
Euan Stevenson - piano
Jeff Williams - trombone
Mark Armstrong - trumpet
David Horniblow - clarinet, saxophone
Phil DeGreg - piano
Ben Costello - Musicians Company Jazz Awards
Andy Cleyndert - bass
Hugo Jennings - piano
Chris Batchelor - trumpet
End of term gig - Guido Spannocchi - alto sax, Pete Whittaker - organ, Alfonso Vitale - drums