Judd Proctor

A belated happy birthday to Judd Proctor, born on 2 January 1931. Proctor was the guitarist with the Ray Ellington Quartet, which provided a musical interlude to nearly every episode of the show throughout the 1950s. Proctor was with the band for five or six years from the mid-50s.

An accomplished session musician, Proctor went on to tour with former Goon Show musical director Stanley Black’s band, and has appeared on records released by Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, and Henry Mancini (Pink Panther theme composer), among others.

This blog has a more in-depth profile of Proctor, who apparently had “the fastest left hand in the business”. Some of his music can be found on Spotify.

(For the non-guitarists out there, most guitarists use their left hand to press down on the strings on the ‘neck’ of the guitar, and the right hand to strum or pick the strings, hence a fast left hand is associated with very fast playing. In fact, you need both hands to be fast for speed to be effective. Signed, an amateur – and slow – guitarist.)

Proctor died in August 2020 aged 89. There’s a Facebook page posting occasional links and memories to preserve his legacy.

Image sourced from Wikipedia