Bill Oddie, remembered as a devoted jazz collector, has died

Bill Oddie, who lived from 7 July 1941 to 25 July 2026, has died, UK Jazz News reported on August 7 in a personal remembrance written by his neighbor, guitarist John Etheridge. Etheridge, who lived near Oddie in London's South End Green for 48 years, described him as a serious jazz collector who enriched their local cafe, Polly's, by donating classic records; Etheridge also noted that Oddie had worked with several of his own musician colleagues while composing music for The Goodies.

The two performed together twice at their neighborhood's annual street festival, with Oddie singing a swing rendition of "Pennies from Heaven" one year and a rousing "Stormy Monday Blues" the next. Etheridge recalled Oddie's daughter, singer Rosie Bones, performing with Jeff Beck around 2015, an occasion that brought the two neighbors out together to see the band at London's O2.

Etheridge wrote that Oddie became "the object of scrutiny and recognition" whenever he left their neighborhood, something Oddie did not seem to relish, while within their own patch he was simply a familiar, "slightly grumpy" fixture of the landscape.

In a comment posted below the piece, a reader identified as Alan Giles added his own memories of Oddie from radio comedy: he recalled Oddie composing two songs for each episode of the BBC series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again across its nine years on and off between 1964 and 1973, working with musical director Dave Lee, and releasing a 1967 jazz LP for Polydor called Distinctly Odd-ie. Giles wrote that the fame that came with that show, and later The Goodies, seemed to embarrass Oddie, and that he understood Oddie suffered severe depression in his later years.

UK Jazz News gave no cause of death or further detail on Oddie's final years. MusicSuey follows more jazz news on the genre's page.