Petit Fleur

By Chris Barber's Jazz Band

	1959
	Chris Barber born April 17^th, 1930 in Welwyn Garden City
	Chris Barber is already featured on this site by being the bass player on 'Rock Island Line' (see 1956). He is one of few artists to chart in the 1950s and still be regularly performing now. As the 1950s gave way to the 1960s, the UK chart accommodated quite an eclectic mix of musical styles. The Chris Barber Band were responsible for introducing traditional jazz which was to prove a very popular part of the UK chart scene during the early sixties.
Petite Fleur, a beautifully crafted instrumental played by Monty Sunshine on clarinet, was to be the band's only top ten single. Nevertheless, it led the way for a long period of trad hits from other artists, notably the bands of Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball. The latter was accused of diverging too far from the path of 'true trad'; an absurdity, for if the likes of Louis Armstrong had not diverged from 'true blues' then jazz would never have been invented. It was a ridiculous charge when one considers that Kenny Ball was still keeping traditional jazz in the UK charts as late as 1967. Nor were the Chris Barber band stuck in a rigid groove. Barber did much to promote other related musical forms by incorporating them into his repertoire. Blues was always well represented through association with traditional artists like Muddy Waters, Louis Jordan and more recently, Dr John. He would also include mainstream as well as traditional jazz in his popular stage act. The band would have two more minor chart entries, the last being 'Revival' in 1962 which reached #43. Despite lack of further success on singles, Chris Barber's Jazz Band remains one of the greatest British musical institutions of the early 21^st century.