Freddy Randall

English jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Also played some cornet. Born May 6, 1921 in Buckhurst Hill (now London), England, died May 18, 1999 in Teignmouth, Devon, England. Freddy started his musical education with the violin. At 16, a love of jazz led him to the trumpet, and within a year he was sitting in with local bands. That led to his first own band--an amateur group called "The St. Louis Four". In 1940, he joined the Army. He continued his trumpet studies after getting out of the army in 1943 he joined Freddy Mirfield and His Garbage Men. After leaving Mirfield's band, Randall formed a professional band of his own, hitting upon the increasingly popular Dixieland revival into an old-time Jazz. After retitring from music because of lung strain, he ran his own hotel then a nursing home, reforming his band in 1963, retiring again soon after, then returning in the 1970s, co-led with Dave Shepherd. As a group, they were featured at the Montreux Festival. He retired from touring in the late 1970s, playing local gigs into the 1980s with his own quintet and recording with Benny Waters in 1982. He final retired from music in 1993.