Keith Ronald Christie was an English jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 trombonist. He was the brother of Ian Christie

Ian Christie

Ian Christie was an English jazz clarinetist best known for playing in a number of trad jazz ensembles of the 1950s....

.

Christie began playing at age 14, and attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...

. He formed a band with his brother in the late 1940s, and soon after the pair joined the band of Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...

, recording copiously. Keith served in the military early in the 1950s, then reconvened to lead an ensemble with his brother in 1951; Ken Colyer

Ken Colyer

Kenneth Colyer was a British jazz trumpeter and cornetist, devoted totally to New Orleans jazz. His band was also known for skiffle interludes.-Biography:...

 was one of their sidemen. In 1953 they broke up this group, and Keith went on to work with John Dankworth

John Dankworth

Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE , known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist...

, Cleo Laine

Cleo Laine

Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range...

, George Chisholm

George Chisholm

George Chisholm may refer to:* George Chisholm , British geographer* George Chisholm , British trombone player and bandleader*George Chisholm...

, Harry Klein

Harry Klein

Harold 'Harry' Klein was an English jazz saxophonist. Despite a long career in jazz music, he is probably best known for playing with The Beatles....

, Kenny Baker

Kenny Baker (trumpeter)

Kenny Baker was born on 1 March 1921 in Withernsea, East Riding of Yorkshire and died 7 December 1999. He was an accomplished player of jazz trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn, and a composer.-Biography:...

, Vic Ash

Vic Ash

Victor "Vic" Ash , is an English jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.Ash began playing professionally in 1951 when, together with Tubby Hayes, he joined the band of Kenny Baker, with whom he played until 1953...

, Wally Fawkes

Wally Fawkes

Wally Fawkes Wally Fawkes Wally Fawkes (born 1924 in Vancouver, Canada (left in 1931 for England) is a British-Canadian jazz clarinetist and, until recently, a satirical cartoonist...

, and Tommy Whittle

Tommy Whittle

Tommy Whittle is a British jazz saxophonist.Whittle was born in Grangemouth, Scotland and started playing clarinet at age 12 before taking up the tenor saxophone at 13. He moved to Chatham, Kent at 16 and in 1943 started playing in the dance hall band of Claude Giddins in nearby Gillingham...

 in the middle of the 1950s.

Christie was a core member of the famous trombone section of the Ted Heath

Ted Heath (bandleader)

Ted Heath, musician and big band leader, led Britain's greatest post-war big band recording more than 100 albums and selling over 20 million records...

 Orchestra from 1957 till the late-1960s, paying alongside Don Lusher

Don Lusher

Don Lusher OBE was a jazz and big band trombonist best known for his association with the Ted Heath Big Band...

. He also played with drummerAllan Ganley

Allan Ganley

Allan Ganley was a respected English jazz drummer and arranger, who played with many famous names....

 from 1959-1962 in the Jazzmakers. He also toured the U.S. with Vic Lewis

Vic Lewis

Vic Lewis was a British jazz guitarist and bandleader.Lewis began playing the guitar at the age of three, and dabbled with cornet and trombone. One of his early bands included George Shearing, then a teenager, among its members...

 in 1960. After a brief reunion with Heath he played with Jimmy Deuchar

Jimmy Deuchar

James "Jimmy" Deuchar was a jazz trumpeter and big band arranger, born in Dundee, Scotland. He found fame as a performer and arranger in the 1950s and 1960s...

 (1964) and Harry South

Harry South

Harry South was an English jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, who later moved into work for film and television....

 (1965-66). In 1970-71 he joined Benny Goodman

Benny Goodman

Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...

 on a tour of Europe. The 1960s and 1970s also saw him playing with Tubby Hayes

Tubby Hayes

Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest British jazz instrumentalists.- Early life :Hayes was born...

, Paul Gonsalves

Paul Gonsalves

Paul Gonsalves, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist best known for his association with Duke Ellington. At the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, Gonsalves played a 27-chorus solo in the middle of Ellington's "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue"...

, Ian Hamer, Stan Tracey

Stan Tracey

Stanley William Tracey CBE is a British jazz pianist and composer, most influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.-Early career:...

, Kenny Wheeler

Kenny Wheeler

Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....

, Ronnie Ross

Ronnie Ross

Albert Ronald "Ronnie" Ross was a jazz baritone saxophonist.Ross moved to England in 1946 and began playing tenor saxophone in the 1950s with Tony Kinsey, Ted Heath, and Don Rendell. During his tenure with Rendell he switched to baritone saxophone...

, Bobby Lamb and Ray Premru, Phil Seamen

Phil Seamen

Phillip William "Phil" Seamen was an English jazz drummer.With a solid background in big band music, Seamen played and recorded in a wide range of musical contexts with virtually every key figure of 1950s and 1960s British jazz...

, and Tony Kinsey

Tony Kinsey

Cyril Anthony 'Tony' Kinsey is an English jazz drummer and composer.Kinsey held jobs on trans-Atlantic ships while young, studying while at port with Bill West in New York City and with local musician Tommy Webster in Birmingham. He had a close association with Ronnie Ball early in his life; the...

. In the mid-1970s he suffered a fall and recovered, but continuing battles with alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

eventually resulted in his early death.