Humphrey Lyttelton discusses his first impression of American music

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Humphrey Lyttelton discusses his sideline as a cartoonist

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Humphrey Lyttelton discusses the 1950s

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Q: “What did you think when you first were able to hear American music? Did you think what you were doing was more or less valid than what you thought? Was your mind changed?”

A: Humphrey Lyttelton: “My mind changed to this extent that I had done a certain amount of writing my own things for my band simply because in those days we had one 78 single a month and if it's sensible to put a thing like ice cream or carousel on one side ...”

Interviewer: “On one side.”

Humphrey Lyttelton: “and 'want to go round' on the other rather than just doing twelve of our blues variations and simple tunes. I actually wrote quite a lot of compositions and so I got into the habit of writing for my band and when the Americans started to come over, especially bands like Basie and Ellington and that kind of thing, it made such an impression on me to hear them in the flesh for the first time.”