Morris
Morris

Name Matthew Wright Comment: Alf Lumby died some years ago. During the 1950s and 60s he worked at Dobells Jazz Shop. When I worked for Collets Jazz Shop (later Ray’s Jazz) in the 70’s and 80s, he would drop by for a chat, do a bit of browsing and occasionally come for a drink round the corner in the Two Brewers. He was immensely knowledgeable and had a huge jazz collection, having started in the 30's buying Vocalion 78's from Morris’ Record Shop in Tottenham Court Road. He saw the saxophonist Coleman Hawkins with Jack Hylton’s Band, which had Jock Scott (Ronnie Scott’s father) in it, at the Holborn Empire in 1938. During the Second World War, he saw action at El Alamein and played boogie woogie piano in service canteens in Cairo. After the war, he was a member of Club Eleven. He would have been a hundred next January. (May 26, 2017)