Mike McKenzie

Oscar Grenville Hastings McKenzie (17 September 1922, British Guiana – December 1999, Spain), known as Mike McKenzie, was a Guyanese jazz pianist, bandleader, vocalist, composer and arranger, who performed in London from the 1950s to the 1980s. He covered a wide repertoire, from Habanera and Calypso, to trad jazz, swing and jazz standards. He led The Mike McKenzie Trio, Quartet and Quintet; Mike McKenzie's Habaneros; Mike McKenzie and his Rhythm; and The Mike McKenzie All Stars.

Early years

McKenzie was taught piano by his mother from the age of seven, and violin by his father from the age of 16. He played regularly in Georgetown, then moved to London in 1949.

1950s and 1960s

At the beginning of the 1950s, McKenzie was working with producer Denis Preston at both the BBC and for the Melodisc and Parlophone record labels. Preston rapidly established McKenzie as a regular recording artist and contributor to radio and television broadcasts for at least a decade. Preston had an ear for putting together musicians from different genres and had a production company that licensed his recordings to commercial record labels:

McKenzie's line ups similarly featured a fusion of instrumentalists: Joe Harriott, Shake Keane, Bertie King, Humphrey Lyttleton, Denny Wright and Jack Fallon, and vocalists George Browne, Marie Bryant and Lili Verona.

McKenzie also featured in the founding of the Black British carnival tradition. On 30 January 1959, The Mike McKenzie Trio performed with Cleo Laine at the first Caribbean Carnival (West Indian Gazette Carnival) at St Pancras Town Hall, a precursor to the Notting Hill Carnival. Prior to that, in 1957, he had appeared in a BBC radio programme, Caribbean Carnival: The British West Indies Show. Every year, from 1954 to 1961, he represented the West Indies on a series of BBC Radio programmes celebrating music from the Commonwealth.

He performed, either solo or with a combo, at London venues as well as the Moss Empires circuit. They included the Colony Room Club in Soho (1950–c.1970), Hungaria Restaurant in Regent Street (1955), The Milroy and The Empress clubs in Mayfair and Le Caprice restaurant in St James's. In 1964, he appeared in a documentary filmed in a pub in the Isle of Dogs, accompanying its proprietor, Queenie Watts, performing the Sinatra classic "The Best Is Yet to Come".

McKenzie freelanced or featured as a sideman with groups such as those of Lord Kitchener, Joe Appleton (1950), Humphrey Lyttleton (with whom he toured and recorded in 1952), Fela Sowande's BBC Ebony Club Band (1953) and Lonnie Donnegan, with whom he guested.

1970s and 1980s

On 28 November 1972, McKenzie started a four-year residency at The White Elephant on the River in Chelsea, accompanied by Johnny Hawksworth and Stuart Livingston, followed by seven years at The Dorchester, and finally in the 1980s, nine years at The Savoy, eventually playing from his wheelchair. |

In popular culture The lyrics of "Tomato" (1952) and "Little Boy" (1953) are quoted in Frank Norman's 1959 novel, Stand on Me.

Media appearances

1953–66 TV and film appearances as self 6 June 1953: Commonwealth Cavalcade: A programme specially devised for Coronation week, with leading artists from the British Commonwealth of Nations, BBC. 4 May 1954: Jazz Session, The Humphrey Lyttleton All-Stars, introduced by Denis Preston from the Ballroom at Streatham Ice Rink, BBC. 25 January 1955: Is Jazz Music?: A programme about one of the controversial aspects of modern entertainment. Berkeley Smith asks the questions and Denis Preston provides the answers", feat. Mike McKenzie, from the Ballroom of the Streatham Ice Rink, London, BBC 3 March 1957: The Jack Jackson Show, ATV. 1964: Portrait of Queenie, Eyeline Films. Documentary of singer & publican Queenie Watts, shot at The Iron Bridge Tavern, East End.

1984 with Lizilu LU001 "Spell It Out": Side One: Sweet Music (McKenzie)/ I Believe in Love (McKenzie)/ Can I Buy You A Dream (McKenzie/Alec Hyams)/ Love Me Now (McKenzie)/ Something Else (McKenzie) {1984} – Lizzie & Mike McKenzie; produced by Mike and John McKenzie; Lizilu/ Mellow McKenzie Songs

Compositions and arrangements

Can I Buy You A Dream, Mike McKenzie, Alec Hyams Closing Time, Wally Fawkes, arr. Mike McKenzie (in 6 piano transcriptions from the Humphrey Lyttleton & Paseo Jazz Band Library, arr. Mike McKenzie) Hop Frog, Humphrey Lyttleton, arr. Mike McKenzie I Believe in Love, Mike McKenzie Jazz Jubilee, Mike McKenzie Love Me Now, Mike McKenzie Mama Creole, Mike McKenzie, Elizabeth McKenzie Mike's Tangana, Mike McKenzie, Denis Preston Shake's Highlife, Mike McKenzie Small Hour Fantasy, Humphrey Lyttleton, arr. Mike McKenzie (in 6 piano transcriptions from the Humphrey Lyttleton & Paseo Jazz Band Library, arr. Mike McKenzie) Something Else, Mike McKenzie Strange Love, Mike McKenzie, Elizabeth McKenzie Sweet Music, Mike McKenzie