Dennis Armitage
British artist (1928-2005)
Dennis Armitage (; 28 May 1928 – 5 November 2005) was a British pianist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and painter. He was a member of the Hazy Osterwald - Sextett (1951–1966) and mainly played the saxophone, although he learnt to play the piano at an early age.
Life
Armitage was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, in 1928 and received piano lessons at the age of seven, performing at important events in Leeds at the age of fifteen. A year later, he would perform in his first big band.
While serving in World War II, Armitage was a member of the band of the Buff Regiment, touring England for two years. In 1951, he moved to Zurich, Switzerland (where he lived for the rest of his life) and became a member of the Hazy Osterwald - Sextet. He toured with them internationally, gaining him and his group popularity. This lasted for fifteen years (1966) when he decided to work as a soloist, composer, and arranger, as well as working for various radio and television companies (such as the Schweizer Radio DRS). As a composer, Armitage created several compositions for brass bands. He later worked as a jazz pianist in the Lucerne Festival and held jazz events in Lucerne.
The public source identifies “Dennis Armitage” as british artist (1928-2005). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Dennis, Armitage and British.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1188956. VIAF identifies the subject as 6637915. The Library of Congress control number is n95021169. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1928, 2005, 1951 and 1966.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dennis Armitage” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.