Jazz composer, saxophonist Sir John Dankworth dead at 82

LONDON - Sir John Dankworth, the British jazz composer, saxophonist and band leader, has died. He was 82.

Jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine - who married Dankworth in 1958 after they met during an audition for a spot with his band - announced her husband's death before the finale of an anniversary concert at The Stables, the theater they founded together.

Monica Ferguson, the theater's chief executive officer, said Sunday that Laine believed Dankworth would have wanted the evening to go ahead.

Ferguson said Laine told the artists before the concert, " 'I'll go on and I'll have a lump in my throat and I might crack.' But she didn't crack." Dankworth died Saturday in a London hospital after several months' illness.

Born in Woodford, Essex, in 1927, Dankworth began his career with a clarinet bought by his mother. "I loved music, but I didn't want to be taught music, or learn anything, until my parents gave me up for lost, really, and that was when I was about 15," he told the BBC. "Then I eventually just heard some jazz."

Starting out as a fan of Benny Goodman, Dankworth switched to the saxophone after hearing Charlie Parker. In the early 1950s, Dankworth was auditioning singers for his ensemble when he met Laine. They wed and had a son, Alec, and daughter Jacqui, both jazz musicians.

Laine was made a dame in 1997, and Dankworth was knighted in 2006 by Queen Elizabeth II for services to music.

Along with performing and composing - his film score credits include"Darling," "Modesty Blaise" and TV's "The Avengers" theme - Dankworth was musical director for jazz greats including Oscar Peterson, Nat "King" Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, according to The Stables Web site.