Keith Nichols

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Keith Nichols

| image =

| caption =

| image_size =

| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|2|13|df=y}}

| origin = Ilford, Essex, England

| instrument = piano, trombone, reeds, accordion

| genre = Jazz

| occupation = Musician

| years_active =

| label = Stomp Off

| associated_acts = Digby Fairweather, Mike Daniels

| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|1|20|1945|2|13|df=y}}

| death_place = London, England

}}

Keith Nichols (13 February 1945 – 21 January 2021){{Cite web|url=https://londonjazznews.com/2021/01/21/rip-keith-nichols-1945-2021/|title=RIP Keith Nichols (1945-2021)|website=Londonjazznews.com|date=21 January 2021|access-date=1 October 2021}} was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist and arranger, a player of the piano, trombone, reeds, and accordion.

Biography

Born in Ilford, Essex, England,{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1826}} Nichols was a child actor and an award-winning accordionist in his youth. He began by playing ragtime tunes, gaining notice in the 1970s in London when forming the band New Sedalia. Nichols also formed the Ragtime Orchestra in the mid-1970s, along with Mo Morris, Richard Warner and Paul Nossiter. Nichols recorded and gigged with Bing Crosby, and Dick Sudhalter during this period. Over time, he moved on to Dixieland jazz, Swing, and orchestral Jazz, including the oeuvres of Paul Whiteman and Duke Ellington.

Nichols was also a frequent sideman for the EMI record label and an arranger for the New York Jazz Repertory Company, Dick Hyman and the Pasadena Roof Orchestra. In 1978, he helped lead the Midnite Follies Orchestra{{cite web|title =Keith Nichols: Biography |website=AllMusic | url ={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p9359|pure_url=yes}}|last=Yanow|first=Scott |access-date =23 April 2010}} with Alan Cohen. Other artists Nichols worked with include Digby Fairweather, Harry Gold, Richard Pite and Claus Jacobi. He died of while contracting COVID-19 COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom while being treated for another condition on 21 January 2021, at The Royal London Hospital.{{Cite web|last=Bebco|first=Joe|title=British Bandleader Keith Nichols has died. – The Syncopated Times|url=https://syncopatedtimes.com/british-bandleader-keith-nichols-has-died/|access-date=20 January 2021|website=Syncopatedtimes.com|language=en-US}}