Mike Cotton

Michael Edward 'Mike' Cotton (born August 12, 1939) is an English jazz and R&B trumpeter, flugelhornist, harmonicist, vocalist and bandleader born in Tottenham, North London, perhaps best-known for leading his band under the names The Mike Cotton Jazzmen and The Mike Cotton Sound. The band backed several artists at various times, including Sugar Pie DeSanto, Gene Pitney, Stevie Wonder, Doris Troy, The Four Tops and Solomon Burke. Cotton was good friends with The Kinks, and for a brief period of time Cotton also played with them (The Mike Cotton Sound or some of its members often backed The Kinks both in concert and in the studio in the early to mid-1970s), but returned to playing jazz. In the 1962 film, The Wild and the Willing, the Mike Cotton Jazzmen appear in a scene performing. In May 1965 member Dave Rowberry left the The Mike Cotton Sound to join The Animals, and among those who auditioned to take his place were Elton John and Joe Cocker; ultimately the position went to Eric Delaney. The Mike Cotton Sound's bassist, Jim Rodford, would join Argent in the late-1960s and then The Kinks in 1978.

Albums

 * The Mike Cotton Sound (Columbia)

With Andy Cooper
 * Andy Cooper's Euro Top 8 (TIM AG)

Singles

 * "Swing That Hammer" (1963) - UK #36