RIP Mike Pointon - April 25, 1941 - Nov. 1, 2021

Mike Pointon, who has died at the age of eighty, first picked up a trumpet and set about learning to play piano before turning to the trombone. He was a teenage dep in Ken Colyer's band from where he would go on to play with a who's who of the international jazz scene. A Londoner, Pointon played with the Blue Crow Jazzmen and the Perdido Street Six in the Croydon area. Over the years the much respected trombonist worked with Sammy Rimington, Keith Smith, Barry Martyn, Clive Wilson, Albert Nicholas, Wild Bill Davison, Art Hodes, Bent Persson, Mezz Mezzrow and many others. 

In addition to his musical accomplishments, Pointon was a noted author and historian contributing to numerous publications (most recently writing in the October issue of Just Jazz magazine), compiling albums and penning liner notes for Upbeat Jazz and other record labels.

In 2011, Pointon, together with co-author Ken Smith, won the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group's Jazz Publication of the Year award for Goin' Home: The Uncompromising Life and Music of Ken Colyer.  Russell