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

Biography

Born in Ilford, Essex, England, 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. Nichols also formed the Ragtime Orchestra in the mid-1970s, along with Mo Morris, Richard Warner and Paul Nossiter. Nichols recorded and gigged with Bing Crosby, and Dick Sudhalter during this period. Over time, he moved on to Dixieland jazz, Swing, and orchestral Jazz, including the oeuvres of Paul Whiteman and Duke Ellington. 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. In 1978, he helped lead the Midnite Follies Orchestra with Alan Cohen. Other artists Nichols worked with include Digby Fairweather, Harry Gold, Richard Pite and Claus Jacobi. He died of while contracting COVID-19 COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom while being treated for another condition on 21 January 2021, at The Royal London Hospital.

Discography

Paramount Theatre Orchestra (1984) (LP, Stomp Off) Dreamland Syncopators Julian Vincent and Keith Nichols Keith Nichols' Cotton Club Gang and Janice Day with Guy Barker Keith Nichols and the Cotton Club Orchestra Keith Nichols' Little Devils Keith Nichols and the Blue Devils Keith Nichols' Earthbound Spirits Keith Nichols' Collegians Mike Lovell and Keith Nichols Keith Nichols' Jazz Artists and Northern Sinfonia Thomas "Spats" Langham / Keith Nichols / Richard Pite The Nichols-Duffee International Jazz Orchestra