LONDON -- British bandleader, composer and jazz saxophonist Sir John Dankworth has died. He was 82.
His wife, jazz vocalist Dame Cleo Laine, announced his death during a concert at the theater they founded on the grounds of their Buckinghamshire home, northwest of London.
Dankworth died Saturday in a London hospital after having been ill for several months.
Born in Woodford, Essex, in 1927, Dankworth began by playing the clarinet, but after discovering the music of Charlie Parker switched to the saxophone.
He met Laine while auditioning singers for his jazz band. They married in 1958 and had two children, who are both musicians.
Dankworth was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 for services to music.
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