Reginald Kell

In 1948 Kell moved to the United States where he pursued a solo career and taught, with pupils including the jazz clarinettist Benny Goodman.

Born in York, England, Kell was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1929, where he studied with Haydn Draper until 1932.

[3] He was the first prominent clarinettist to apply vibrato consciously and consistently to his tone, in which respect he modelled himself on the oboist Léon Goossens.

Inspired by the great singers with whom he came in contact, notably Kirsten Flagstad, Kell sought to emulate their warm expressive sounds on the clarinet.

[3] During the Second World War Kell was principal clarinettist of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, at a time when its members included many of the country's leading players.

[10] Kell retired from playing in his early fifties, and returned to the US in 1959, where he was director of Boosey & Hawkes's band instrument division from 1959 to 1966.