Ken Sykora

Ken Sykora was one of Britain's finest jazz guitarists.Jazz guitarist turned broadcaster, Ken Sykora played a major role in the development of the guitar in the UK in 50s, particularly through his popular BBC radio programme, Guitar Club. Like many of the guitar pioneers of the 50s: Ike Isaacs, Diz Disley, Bill Bramwell, Dave Golberg - Ken Sykora has been largely forgotten.

Inspired by Django Reinhardt, Ken Sykora was a self-taught guitarist. Discovered at the age of 19 by Ivor Mairants, he played as a session musician and fronted his own bands, which performed jazz standards, as well as Django Reinhardt style jazz. He featured in the NME & Melody Maker music polls for best British guitarist for 10 consecutive years, from 1954-64, topping it twice in ‘57 and ‘58.

Although Ken left an unforgettable imprint on the people who heard him at the time, his short musical career was played out mostly on radio, at a time when such BBC programmes were not kept. With few examples of his music enshrined on record, both he and his music had gradually been forgotten. It was only after Ken’s death in 2006 that rare recordings of his performances were discovered in his archive.

Ken Sykora was a multi-talented individual and, in 2012 a multi-platform project, The Man with the Jazz Guitar, was set-up to reflect Ken’s diverse accomplishments. To find out more about Ken, please visit: www.themanwiththejazzguitar.com