http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Archie_SempleArchie Semple - Revision history2026-05-11T23:04:48ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.1http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=Archie_Semple&diff=6706656&oldid=previmported>Sfjohna: /* Biography */2025-04-22T12:23:05Z<p><span class="autocomment">Biography</span></p>
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{{Infobox musical artist<br />
| name = Archie Semple<br />
| image =<br />
| caption =<br />
| image_size =<br />
| birth_name = Archibald Stuart Nisbet Semple<br />
| alias =<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1928|3|1}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Edinburgh]], Scotland<br />
| origin =<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1974|1|26|1928|3|1}}<br />
| death_place = [[London]], England<br />
| instrument = Clarinet<br />
| genre = [[Jazz]]<br>[[Trad Jazz]]<br />
| occupation = [[Musician]]<br>[[Bandleader]]<br />
| years_active = 1950s-1974<br />
| label =<br />
| associated_acts = [[Alex Welsh]]<br>[[Freddy Randall]]<br>[[Roy Crimmins]]<br />
| website =<br />
| current_members =<br />
| past_members = <br />
}}<br />
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'''Archibald Stuart Nisbet "Archie" Semple''' (1 March 1928 – 26 January 1974)<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=2224}}</ref> was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[jazz]] clarinetist and [[bandleader]], active principally within the [[trad jazz]] idiom.<br />
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==Biography==<br />
He was born in [[Edinburgh]], Scotland.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Semple played locally in Edinburgh at the start of his career, often with his trumpeter brother John. He moved to [[London]], England, and led several of his own bands before joining [[Mick Mulligan]] in 1952.<ref name="AMG">[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/archie-semple-mn0000599020 Archie Semple Biography] ''[[AllMusic]]'' Retrieved 26 May 2020.</ref><br />
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He then worked with [[Freddy Randall]] during the 1953–54 season and then with [[Roy Crimmins]] and [[Alex Welsh]] from 1955 to 1963,<ref name="LarkinGE"/> becoming one of Welsh's most important sidemen. He recorded as a leader in the late 1950s and early 1960s as well, but retired due to health problems caused by heavy drinking in the middle of the decade.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> His influences included [[Edmond Hall]] and [[Pee Wee Russell]].<ref name="AMG"/><br />
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He has been regarded as a 'very distinctive player with a rich and quirky musical imagination'. Many regarded Semple as a strong presence on the British traditional jazz scene at the time.<ref name="AMG"/><br />
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He made very few recordings under his own name, although a session was recorded which comes mainly from the archives of the [[77 Records]] label, a British record company and label set up in 1957 by Doug Dobell, the proprietor of 'Dobell's Jazz Record Shop' at 77 Charing Cross Road, London. Five LPs were released under his name, the first in 1960 being ''Jazz for young lovers'' recorded on Columbia, then in 1962 the LP ''The Archie Semple Quarter'' (77/LP/10) of which only 100 copies were pressed on 10" vinyl. A further two LPs also recorded in 1962 on Columbia were ''Easy Living'' and ''The Twilight Cometh'',<ref>Richard Morton Jack (2024). ''Labyrinth: British Jazz on Record 1960-75'', Lansdowne Books. pp. 44-5</ref> with the last, ''The Clarinet of Archie Semple'' recorded in 1964 with [[Fred Hunt (musician)|Fred Hunt]] on piano and [[Dick Hawdon]] on trumpet (77 LEU 12/6). Due to a low number pressed, they did not enjoy wide circulation which helped Semple's 'cult status'.<ref name="AMG"/><br />
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In 1964, whilst on the stage of the Richmond Jazz Festival, Semple suffered a catastrophic nervous breakdown. Semple retired from playing aged 36 in 1965 and died in penury, from chronic alcoholism, nine years later in London aged 45 in January 1974.<ref name="LarkinGE"/><ref>[https://www.sandybrownjazz.co.uk/profilearchiesemple.html Profile and History Archie Semple] ''Sandybrownjazz.co.uk'' Retrieved 26 May 2020.</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==Other sources==<br />
*Clarrie Henry, "Archie Semple". ''[[The New Grove|Grove Jazz]]'' online.<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Semple, Archie}}<br />
[[Category:1928 births]]<br />
[[Category:1974 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Scottish jazz clarinetists]]<br />
[[Category:Musicians from Edinburgh]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Scottish musicians]]</div>imported>Sfjohna