Background
Chilton was born in London to working-class parents (his father was a musical hall comedian) and was evacuated to Northamptonshire, where he began playing the cornet at the age of 12.
Chilton was born in London to working-class parents (his father was a musical hall comedian) and was evacuated to Northamptonshire, where he began playing the cornet at the age of 12.
During the 1960s, he also worked with popular bands, including The Swinging Blue Jeans and The Escorts. He switched to trumpet at 17 and after doing national service in the Royal Air Force (1950–1952) he formed his own jazz band, playing at Butlins in Skegness with a troupe that included comedian Dave Allen. He worked in Bruce Turner"s Jump Band from 1958-1963.
A movie of their exploits called Living Jazz (1961) was made by director Jack Gold.
Chilton later appeared in Alex Welsh"s Big Band. He played piano on some popular recordings in the 1960s while also working for Mike Daniels" Big Band.
In the late 1960s, he formed his own Swing Kings band which backed some leading American jazz musicians who toured Britain, including Buck Clayton, Ben Webster, Bill Coleman and Charlie Shavers. He also recorded The Song of a Road, one of the radio ballads of folk singers Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in the 1950s for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He later worked with Wally Fawkes, also known as the cartoonist "Trog", and in January 1974 formed John Chilton"s Feetwarmers, who began accompanying British jazz singer and writer George Melly.
Together they made records and toured the world for nearly 30 years including trips to America, Australia, China and New Zealand.
In 1983 and 1984 they had their own British Broadcasting Corporation television series called Good Time George. They appeared on countless other television shows, including Parkinson, The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club, Aspel, This is Your Life and Pebble Mill at One. Chilton was also a songwriter and composer and one of his songs, "Give Her A Little Drop More", was used in the film Street Elmo"s Fire (1985), sung by the Hollywood Brat Pack including Demi Moore and Rob Lowe.
His Who"s Who of Jazz was described by the poet Philip Larkin as "one of the essential jazz books".
Jazz magazine Down Beat called him "a master of the craft of research". The Jazz Rag described Chilton as "one of the world"s top jazz writers".
Foreign his books on Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong, he was given the freedom of New Orleans. In March 2007, Northway Books published his autobiography, Hot Jazz, Warm Feet.
John Chilton continued to play trumpet with the clarinetist Wally Fawkes in London until he died in 2016.
Chilton is survived by three children and lived in London. Hot Jazz, Warm Feet. London: Northway Books, 2007.