Henry Lowther in conversation with David Eastaugh

Lowther's first musical experience was on cornet in a Salvation Army band. He studied violin briefly at the Royal Academy of Music  but returned to trumpet by 1960, though he sometimes played violin professionally. In the 1960s, he worked with Mike Westbrook (beginning in 1963 and continuing into the 1980s), Manfred Mann, John Dankworth (1967–77), Graham Collier(1967), John Mayall (1968), John Warren (1968 and subsequently), Neil Ardley (1968), and Bob Downes (1969).

Lowther appeared for some time with the Keef Hartley Band, playing with him at Woodstock, the music festival held in New York in August 1969.