Keith Nichols (13 February 1945 – 21 January 2021)^[1] was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist and arranger, a player of the piano, trombone, reeds, and accordion.

Biography

Born in Ilford, Essex, England,^[2] Nichols was a child actor and an award-winning accordionist in his youth. He began by playing ragtime tunes, gaining notice in the 1970s in London when forming the band New Sedalia.^[2] Nichols also formed the Ragtime Orchestra in the mid-1970s,^[2] along with Mo Morris, Richard Warner and Paul Nossiter. Nichols recorded and gigged with Bing Crosby, and Dick Sudhalter^[3] during this period. Over time, he moved on to Dixieland jazz, Swing, and orchestral Jazz, including the oeuvres of Paul Whiteman and Duke Ellington.^[2]

Nichols was also a frequent sideman for the EMI record label and an arranger for the New York Jazz Repertory Company, Dick Hyman and the Pasadena Roof Orchestra.^[2] In 1978, he helped lead the Midnite Follies Orchestra^[3] with Alan Cohen. Other artists Nichols worked with include Digby Fairweather, Harry Gold, Richard Pite and Claus Jacobi. He died of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom on 21 January 2021, at The Royal London Hospital.^[4]

Discography

Paramount Theatre Orchestra (1984) (LP, Stomp Off)

• Lolly Pops

Dreamland Syncopators

• Territory Jazz (1987) (LP, Stomp Off)

Julian Vincent and Keith Nichols

• Morton to Mozart (1989) (CD, Poppy HXP012)

Keith Nichols' Cotton Club Gang and Janice Day with Guy Barker

• I Like To Do Things For You (1991) (CD, Stomp Off)^[3]

Keith Nichols and the Cotton Club Orchestra

• Syncopated Jamboree (1991) (CD, Stomp Off CD 1242)
• Henderson Stomp (1993) (CD, Stomp Off CD 1234)^[3]
• Harlem's Arabian Nights (1997) (CD, Stomp Off CD 130)^[3]

Keith Nichols' Little Devils

• The Charmful Little Armful (2003) (PEK)^[3]

Keith Nichols and the Blue Devils

• Kansas City Breakdown (2004) (CD, Stomp Off CD 1387)^[3]

Keith Nichols' Earthbound Spirits

• Harlem Madness (2004) (CD, PKCD-237)^[3]

Keith Nichols' Collegians

• Collegiate Rhythm (2006) (CD, PEK PKCD-299)^[3]

Mike Lovell and Keith Nichols

• Dixieland at the Thornton Little Theatre (2006) (CD, PEK)^[3]

Keith Nichols' Jazz Artists and Northern Sinfonia

• A Tribute to Paul Whiteman (2007) (CD, Lake Records LACD245)^[3]

Thomas "Spats" Langham / Keith Nichols / Richard Pite

• London Omnibus (2010) (Jazz Repertory Company)

The Nichols-Duffee International Jazz Orchestra

• One More Time (2013) (CD, Lake)^[3]