Chisholm's engineer father was a drummer and his mother a pianist. At the age of 14 he began playing piano at the Delmarnock Road Cinema in
Glasgow accompanying silent films, later taking up the trombone. He performed at the Tower Ballroom and Glasgow Playhouse in the early 1930s. In 1936 he moved from Scotland to London, where he played in dance bands led by
Bert Ambrose and Teddy Joyce, and joined the resident band at the Nest Club, 12
Kingly Street in Soho, performing and occasionally recording with US jazz musicians such as
Coleman Hawkins,
Fats Waller and
Benny Carter during their visits to London. According to the
Penguin Jazz Guide, Chisholm "had few peers on the slide horn outside the US at this period". His 1930s recordings include a session with the Jazz Five –
Tommy McQuater (clarinet), Benny Winestone (clarinet, tenor sax), Eddie Macauley (piano),
Tiny Winters (bass) and Dudley Barber (drums) – in October 1938. He also recorded with
Danny Polo's Swing Stars during this period, and with Fats Waller at the
Abbey Road Studios in 1939. In 1940, during the
Second World War, Chisholm signed on with the
Royal Air Force and joined the RAF Dance Orchestra (known popularly as
the Squadronaires), Chisholm moved into radio, television and film work in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a core member of
Wally Stott's orchestra on BBC Radio's
The Goon Show. He made several minor acting appearances in the show, for example as Chisholm MacChisholm the Steaming Celt in the 1956 episode "The Macreekie Rising of '74". He was also part of the house band for the children's programmes
Play School and
Play Away. He also sang and was a storyteller on
Play School occasionally. Chisholm's recorded legacy is slight, but there are some later recordings of a 1973 date alongside
Kenny Baker,
Tony Coe,
Tommy Whittle and others. There is also a 48 track sampling of his work spanning 1937 to 1962 issued as a centenary tribute in 2015. During the 1980s Chisholm continued to play, despite undergoing heart surgery, He was appointed an
OBE in 1984. ==References==