Statement on Dame Cleo Laine

The Trustees and volunteers of The Jazz Centre UK wish to express their profound grief following the death of their patron and British jazz icon Dame Cleo Laine, on July 24th 2025 at the age of 97. They would also wish to extend their deepest sympathies to son Alec and daughter Jacqui. In a personal message to The Jazz Centre Jacqui said: “we are broken-hearted but our mother had become so frail and the quality of her life had much declined in the last year. She is free now and has gone home to our Dad, Sir John Dankworth”.

A personal tribute to Dame Cleo by Digby Fairweather (plus an unpublished interview from his BBC archives) will be published in the next edition of The Jazz Centre house magazine ‘Centrepiece’.

The Jazz Centre UK collection includes memorabilia of Dame Cleo Laine, an original famous portrait of her by Duncan Shoosmith and heritage artefacts from the Dankworth family.