He's turning 90, but Tommy the jazzman's still leader of the band

JAZZMAN Tommy Sampson celebrates his 90th birthday.

BORN in Newhaven on April 28, 1918, Tommy Sampson started playing cornet with the Leith Salvation Army band at the tender age of five.

By the age of 14 he had already become a competent soloist and made his first broadcast in 1933 with George Watson's College Dance Band on Children's Hour.

In 1939, he joined the Ordnance Corps, which led to him being commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1940. He saw action in North Africa and was captured by Italian forces at the fall of Tobruk in 1942.

Inspired by the big American modern jazz bands, Sampson led POW camp jazz orchestras in Italy and Germany, entertaining prisoners and keeping their spirits up.

In 1945 he was repatriated to Scotland, where he led the Scottish Command Dance Orchestra until he was demobbed in June 1946.

He then formed a 17-piece band in January 1947 to play at Leith's Eldorado Ballroom.

This band – reputed to have been the best in Britain at the time – toured extensively and made three BBC broadcasts before it broke up in 1949.

In the 1950s, Tommy arranged a choir for The Black and White Minstrel Show.

Tommy also sang with The Sapphires until 1954 and was featured on Frankie Vaughan's early recordings, including Green Door.

His extensive experience saw him later take over the BBC Welsh Dance Orchestra and Choir and on his return to Scotland he reformed a band that played in the Glasgow area until the early 1990s.

Tommy is still performing today, and has made several appearances at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival, as well as giving his time to charity fundraising and The Salvation Army.

He said: "I've been lucky to have a wonderful career with fantastic musicians. My first band was formed in 1947 and the band I'm playing with now is every bit as good."

Tommy married Lisa, a nurse from Norway, in 1962 and the couple have a daughter, Helle, 43.

The bandleader, who now lives in Dunfermline, will celebrate his 90th birthday on April 28 with a concert at the Queen's Hall, featuring his current 16-piece big band.

The show will also feature many world-class guests who are travelling to Edinburgh for the night, including Bruce Adams, Paul Eshelby, Gordon Campbell and Jay Craig.