HE became a household name and leader of Britain’s most prolific chart topping jazz band.

Kenny Ball’s landmark recordings of the sixties, such as Midnight in Moscow, catapulted him to worldwide fame.

He died five years ago aged 82 – but he left behind a rich musical legacy which will be remembered at a special tribute night at Eastleigh’s Concorde Club.

It is an apt setting because the jazz star’s links with the club stretch back over many decades to the days when it was running from the back room of The Bassett pub in Burgess Road, Southampton.

In later years Kenny Ball linked up with fellow jazz veterans and Concorde headliners Acker Bilk and Chris Barber for what was popularly known as the 3 Bs.

Barber is the only survivor of that golden jazz triangle.

The Ian Bateman Band will be presenting a tribute to Kenny Ball at The Concorde Club on Wednesday.

Ball was a big part of Ian’s career and they became firm friends as Ian’s career progressed.

Ian was invited to tour Germany with Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen in the early 1990s and was very soon covering for regular trombonist, John Bennett, during a very lengthy period of illness.

After Kenny’s death in 2013, his son Keith Ball continued the band and John Bennett became unavailable due to continued ill-heath.

Ian shared his time between Acker Bilk and his other projects, and played for Keith whenever possible, becoming more permanent after Acker retired in 2014.

In September 2017 Keith announced that he would no longer be running the band and Ian offered to continue the music of Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen in the form of a tribute show.

The show is based on the golden years of the band in the 1960’s.

The Ian Bateman Band will be dipping into a treasure trove of recordings. Ball notched up 14 top 50 hit singles in the United Kingdom alone – the most by any jazz artist- and his records were also big sellers across Europe.

He always had a huge following in America and he got his first taste of Ballmania when he was cornered by fans in Southampton.

It was in 1955 at The Gaumont (now The Mayflower) and Kenny had just shared the stage with the Eric Delaney Big Band.

In a past interview with the Daily Echo, he recalled: “I had sung and did a bit with my trumpet. I came out of the stage door and there were about 20 girls.

“They ripped off my shirt and it is the only time it has happened. So I will always remember Southampton.

“I was quite scared. The roadie rescued me because I could not get away from them as they ripped away my shirt.”

Duncan Eaton