TRIBUTES

RALPH SALMINS

“For me, Bobby Orr, Phil Seamen and Tony Kinsey were the triumvirate of heavyweight jazz drummers. They were real hotshots doing amazing work and playing fantastic gigs. Early on in my career, I was lucky enough to work with two incredible jazz stalwarts, pianist Brian Dee and double-bassist Len Skeat, and I learnt so much about Bobby from those guys, because the three of them had played together.

“The first time I got to meet Bobby myself was when I was booked to play percussion with the Andy Ross band on one of the BBC’s original Come Dancing shows. Bobby was playing drums. I was barely out of college, but