Date: 1st March 2010
Think Audio Productions was hired by the Dankworth family, to oversee the technical running of the show. Think Audio's Director, Craig Bruce was also asked to handled Monitor Engineering duties for the day.
(BBC News Website)
A memorial service for the jazz star Sir John Dankworth is being held at the Buckinghamshire theatre which he founded with his wife Dame Cleo Laine.
Sir John, known as Johnny, died at the age of 82 in February after being ill for many months.
Dame Cleo announced his death at the 40th anniversary concert of The Stables, the venue they set up in their garden in Wavendon, Milton Keynes.
The memorial was held at The Stables following his funeral.
Monica Ferguson, chief executive of The Stables, said Dame Cleo told mourners at the crematorium that her husband would have approved of the occasion. "She said, 'You know, John would have loved this'," said Ms Ferguson.
"He would have loved being here with all his friends who span generations of people he has worked with over the years. "It's a great party, in a sense."
Dame Cleo, who was applauded for taking part in a concert just hours after her husband died, smiled as she arrived at the theatre. She was accompanied by son Alec, daughter Jacqui and granddaughter Emily Dankworth. Speaking earlier about her late husband, she said: "We were joined at the hip for a very long time. I will miss him."
Sir John's children performed at the celebratory performance this afternoon, which began with the playing of World Jazz Suite, composed by the musician himself. Tributes were paid in the form of poems and music.
Guests at the event included poet Pam Ayres, actress Maureen Lipman, guitarist Bert Weedon, Bill Oddie, Clare Rayner and Bob Holness.
(Stephen Adams of the Telegraph)
He opened his eyes when she and her brother Alec played him some Miles Davis, she said at the celebratory memorial at The Stables Theatre outside Milton Keynes, which the jazz great set up with his wife Dame Cleo Laine 40 years ago. They got no reaction to start with, after playing records by Chick Corea, the American pianist and composer, and Duke Ellington."Then we played a Miles Davis track," she told the audience of some 400 on Monday. "I said, 'It's Miles Davis, you know?' "He half opened his eyes and said, 'I know' and then went back under again."
It was one of many details shared by those who knew Sir John, who died aged 82 on February 6. That day he had been meant to play the saxophone at The Stables in an event to mark its 40th anniversary. But his wife, the singer Dame Cleo Laine, told a shocked audience he had died that afternoon. The family went on to perform regardless - a spirit which continued at Monday's event.
Jacqui, 47, sang to one of the last pieces her father had composed, called It Happens Quietly. The song contained the line 'It happens quietly ... just like a breath of spring on a winter's day." Fittingly, that was the unexpectedly bright and cheerful scene as guests - including actress Maureen Lipman, Bill Oddie and jazz artist Julian Joseph, arrived. They were treated to a panoply of live music such as Sir John's Tomorrow's World theme tune, his Pavane, and Tonight I Shall Sleep by Duke Ellington.
Earlier in the day family and close friends had attended a private funeral at Crownhill Crematorium in Milton Keynes. There, Dame Cleo had read a poem by Joyce Grenfell, Life Goes On. "Weep if you must / Parting is hell / But life goes on / So sing as well," she read.
The family was determined that would be the spirit with which they treated Sir John's passing. His son Alec, 49, a bass player, summed up the feeling as the other musicians paraded out of the theatre playing When the Saints Go Marching In, by Louis Armstrong. "I think we've done Dad proud," he said.