One of our top British trumpet legends is Derek Watkins. Derek has played on so many soundtracks etc that they are far too many to mention. He has been at the very top of the trumpet profession since way before I was born and is still there today. He is reputedly the only person, actors and otherwise, to have been on every Bond film.
The world famous Pearl & Dean theme also features Derek and for many years he was lead with the James Last Orchestra. Derek has become so well known that Sky Arts Plus gave him his own television commercial advertising their subscription package. Despite still playing lead trumpet with the BBC Big Band, Derek has recently been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Sarcoma.
Please take the time to visit Derek’s website for news, updates and how you can help with his Sarcoma charity.
The website also details Derek’s incredible career output.
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Such sad news, he left a lasting impression on me as a young trumpet player. I’m trying to drum up support on Twitter to get the BBC to recognise the contribution Derek made to music in the UK and abroad.
If you could retweet my post from my profile @jamietrumpet I’d be very grateful
I have also written my own tribute which you might be interested to see
http://www.jamiecrook.com/?p=412
Thanks Jamie. I’ll certainly retweet your post…