Musical memoirs of the British music scene in the '60s & '70s

1963 was quite a year...and not just for the Beatles!

This was the year when times definitely were 'a-changing' in Britain. The year when the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and a few other aspiring groups, were setting the UK music scene alight; while in America, pop idol Elvis was about to be launched as a Hollywood film star in a series of rather dubious musicals.

Meanwhile, at a large Edwardian pub in Blackheath, South East London, a small group of avid jazz aficionados were hatching big plans. They had been running a pretty successful jazz club called the "Jazzhouse" in the first floor 'banqueting suite' of  the Green Man public house, an imposing early 19th century building at the top of Blackheath Hill (long since demolished to make way for an apartment block). It opened every Sunday evening and featured a resident band of five or six semi-pro musicians led jointly by saxophonists Ian Bird (tenor sax) and Clive Burrows (baritone sax), with 3 other guys taking care of the management side.  After operating successfully for a while, they had decided to up the ante a bit by featuring a 'star' guest each week.  Some of those names are now legendary - saxophonists Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes & Joe Harriott, for example.  Other 'name' musicians, though well known on the jazz scene, wouldn't get much recognition outside of the relatively small, but fervent, followers of modern jazz.  Talented musicians like Don Rendell, Ian Carr, Shake Keane, Bob Efford, Tommy Whittle, Jimmy Skidmore etc. could all be relied upon to draw an enthusiastic audience of....oh, around a hundred fans.  Not exactly big-time, but it meant that the club could afford to pay the guest musician a reasonably competitive (at that time) £5 fee; hand over £3 rent to the pub landlady and pay for a small ad in Melody Maker each week. This usually left around £1.50 each for the house band and the club managers...one of whom was me.

After a while, we decided to open a second club, in nearby Bromley, at the Hackwood Hotel, but this venue turned out to be much less successful and folded after just a few weeks. Another venture, this time a bit further afield, at the Hilden Manor Hotel in Tonbridge, initially went quite well, but then some severe winter snows put the 'kibosh' on attendences and it too folded.  These disappointing events put a bit of a dampener on the 'big plans', so we re-grouped and decided to concentrate on building up the original Blackheath club. This was helped indirectly by the timely intervention of Manfred Lubowitz, a local jazz pianist in the process of morphing into a pop-star whose group was collectively known as Manfred Mann. Starting out as a jazz/blues group called the Mann/Hugg Blues Brothers, it soon changed musical direction to join the rapidly burgeoning rhythm & blues movement, (though ultimately, real commercial success wasn't achieved until later, when they became an out-and-out pop group). Anyway, Manfred turned up one night with a  suggestion that we open an R&B club on a Friday night, which would feature his band every other week, alternating with similar outfits like the Graham Bond Organisation (at that time featuring Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker), Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds, Alexis Korner, the Downliners Sect etc.  So confident was Manfred that it would be a success, he offered to play for a straight 50% of the door take, with no guaranteed fee. Initially, we were  slightly sniffy about the concept and didn't jump at the idea right away, but his suggestion came at a time when we had been thinking of forming a rehearsal big-band to give young musicians a chance to gain experience of reading parts and ensemble playing.  If we could make a bit of money from the R&B night, with its wider audience appeal, it could be used to help fund the project. 

   To cut a long story...we did open the club and yes, it was a success and actually made money, as Manfred predicted. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, it had to close after just a few months.  Nevertheless, in the brief time it existed, we banked enough money to get the rehearsal band up and running.  After several sessions, the members of the band felt so confident of their progress that they were ready (and eager) to present their music to a live audience. This eventually took place at the afore-mentioned Jazzhouse on the 22nd December 1963...and thus, the New Jazz Orchestra was born. The rest is history - albeit a relatively brief one.  Initially, the band went on to greater things...with well-received performances at the Richmond Jazz & Blues Festival, Guildford Jazz Festival and many other venues. They also recorded a couple of (now very sought-after and collectable) albums: "Western Reunion" in 1965 and "Dejeuner sur l'Herbe" in 1969. Then, in 1970, they performed a ground-breaking concert in combination with jazz-rock group Colosseum at the Lanchester Arts Festival, which was so successful that it was followed by a tour of several more concerts around the UK, all to critical and audience acclaim.

But I digress.  The main point of this story is that the responsibility of booking those other groups for the short-lived R&B night fell to me, which meant my having to contact the various Agencies who represented them. In order to do this successfully, I had to learn how to negotiate fees with the bookers - percentage deals whenever possible, as they reduced the financial risk to the club.  This eventually led, in April 1965, to one of them (the London City Agency) offering me the opportunity to get into the music business as a 'booker', which I jumped at.

A relatively small operation run by two ex-trad jazz band leaders, Johnny Jones and Barry Dunning (London City Stompers), their main artist was a well-respected R&B band called The Artwoods. Though not a big name themselves, they did include a future star in the line-up, namely Jon Lord (Deep Purple etc). They also brought over American legends-to-be like John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, Jesse Fuller for tours, so it's possible that they were a little ahead of their time, in a way.

Anyway, after learning the ropes, I took to the role of booker like the proverbial duck to water, quickly developing a good relationship with most of the other agencies and, more importantly, with the many club promoters as well as the Social Secretaries at the colleges and universities around the country. During that time I developed an especially good rapport with one promoter, Art Chisnell, who ran the very successful club at Eel Pie Island in Twickenham three nights a week, eventually persuading him to appoint me his 'sole booker'. This was an extremely valuable coup, as it meant that every band that played the venue thereafter had to be booked through me...much to the chagrin of the other agency bookers, as they had to split their 10% commission with our agency!

However, after about 15 months or so, out of the blue, I got an offer to move to the Rik Gunnell Agency, a much bigger, more successful agency, where I would be booking out better known artists like Georgie Fame,      Geno Washington, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Long John Baldry, Zoot Money's Big Roll Band etc., as well as the very first dates for Fleetwood Mac, at that time an out-and-out blues band. The time I spent working there helped to establish my standing among the other agencies.

Then, around the end of 1967, I was offered the position of General Manager at the prestigious Bron Organisation, which was an agency, management and publishing company representing international stars like Gene Pitney, the ubiquitous Manfred Mann (hello again!), who by now had a string of chart hits under their belt; the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Uriah Heep, Osibisa, Gentle Giant and jazz rockers Colosseum, with whom I had a personal involvement, due to my long-standing friendship with drummer and founder-member, Jon Hiseman (RIP).

My career continued through the rest of the '60s and into the '70s, including four great years (1972-'76) working as International Manager for Charisma Records, an independent record label run by Tony Stratton-Smith, who was something of a music biz maverick.  (I have written about this episode in a separate 'post'). 

My last few years in the music business were spent as a freelance journalist, working mainly for European magazines, interviewing a variety of interesting artists like Harry Nilsson, Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Johnny Winters, Spencer Davis, Bob Weir, most of Genesis and Lalo Schifrin (an eminent composer of film scores), all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, with the birth of a daughter early in 1979, I decided I'd had enough of the nomadic music biz life and took the family westward, away from London, to the beautifully scenic and peaceful Wye Valley, where, for the next 20 years, I ran an antiques and collectables business, which didn't exactly make a fortune...but it was less stressful, quite enjoyable and thus gave my cholesterol levels a chance to return to normal!

So, to recap...1963 was most definitely a momentous year...not just for those four 'mop-topped' Liverpool lads, but also for a naive young music-loving South London boy who  always wanted a career in music, but never dreamed that it would become a reality for him!

                          ======================

CODA: Do I miss the music biz? Yeah, a bit.  But, as the Rolling Stones once sang: "It's all over now..."

 

 

 

 

 

Monty Python's first ever 'Live on stage' performance took place on the 31st January 1971 at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. This is the story behind that momentous occasion!

 

"Live Python found at Belgrade Theatre, Coventry!"

And now for something completely different...

The 1971 Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) Arts Festival bill included many well-known artistes on the 10 day programme of events, including Elton John, Ralph McTell, Caravan, blues legend Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup, Leon Russell as well as Andre Previn (conducting the London Symphony Orchestra) and jazz legend Ronnie Scott; but the high point of the student-run mixed media festival that year was, without doubt, the first 'Live on Stage' performance of Monty Python's Flying Circus. 

So, how did a modest little Polytechnic in Coventry come to be favoured with such a major coup?  Here's how it came about:

I had already been the Festival's booking consultant for the previous year, working closely with Ted Little, the student entertainments organiser. We made a good team, as he was always open to my ideas and suggestions, though quite firm of mind when it came to making final decisions as to which acts were selected. I guess he must have been satisfied with my efforts, as he retained my services for the following year.

At some point during the planning of the 1971 programme, he asked if it would be possible to book a couple of the Monty Python team to perform a couple of sketches from the cult TV show, as they were immensely popular with the students.  I was pretty doubtful, since none of them, as far as I knew, had ever made any live appearances as Python characters hitherto and I was fairly sure that they only produced their unique humour for the TV show.  However, I promised that I would try to find out if any of them might be interested in performing at the Festival. I had no idea who their agent was, but, as luck would have it, there happened to be an indirect conduit to one Python ear. It went like this: I had a little band going at the time...a quintet playing jazz and dance music around the club/college circuit and we had an American singer by the name of Jean Hart.  She happened to be the girlfriend (and later, wife) of  the comedian Bill Oddie who had, on one occasion, 'sat in' with the band, singing (if memory serves) a credible version of "Summertime". He knew most, if not all, of the Python team, so I asked him (through Jean) if he knew how I could go about contacting their representative.  Word came back from Bill with, to my astonishment,  an offer to introduce me to Eric Idle and in due course a date was set to meet with him at his apartment.  Being something of a fan myself, it was with considerable trepidation, awe and downright nerves that I presented myself on the day, but Eric very quickly put me at my ease with his relaxed and friendly attitude. He asked a few searching questions about the Festival's organisation, its history, what dates we had in mind etc. I mentioned a few 'names' of artistes that had already been booked for that year  as well some of those who had appeared in the previous 2 years and described how well-run it was. At this point, I was expecting him to indicate who, if anyone, might be up for taking part, when he said something that made me struggle to contain my excitement.  It was along the lines of: "Well, your timing couldn't be more fortuitous (he might even have used the word 'serendipitous') as we've been talking about the possibility of doing something live on stage and, if we did, it would definitely be somewhere away from London,  in case it didn't work for us. Now, if you can find out whether the Belgrade Theatre is available for, say, a 3 night run, that would certainly increase the odds of us agreeing to do it, as we've all worked there before and know that it would be an ideal venue to try out a live show."

 

Where it happened.

In something of a daze, I promised to get back to him a.s.a.p. then left. I called Ted Little right away, to give him the astounding news.  He didn't seem to take it in at first and kept asking which of the Pythons was I talking about. I told him "All of them...the 'tout ensemble'.. the whole "Flying Circus!"  After they brought him round, he immediately checked the Belgrade's  available dates and phoned me back to say that he could get the Sunday 31st January, Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd of February, just a few days into the Festival. I passed this on to Eric and, quite quickly, the dates and the deal were agreed. For the life of me, I can't remember the fee or any other contractual details, except that the shows would start at 12 midnight and that the fee was extraordinarily reasonable. In a cloud of euphoria, I passed the good news on to Ted.  Tickets went on sale a few days later...and all three nights sold out in about 20 minutes!

Needless to say, every show was a fantastic success.  The student audience was ideal, as they were a proven fan base which already knew most of the sketches, sometimes word-perfect. Not that this in any way diminished their noisy enjoyment of them. I recall vividly that, on the first night, the entire front row of the gallery was wearing 'Gumby' style knotted handkerchiefs...to the astonishment of the first Pythons onstage.

An interesting coda to this story is that, a couple of weeks before the premiere, I received a phone call from the plummy-voiced P.A. of an illustrious music biz heavyweight (no names, no pack-drill!) who, after ascertaining that I was, indeed, the person responsible for this 'showbiz' coup, informed me that Mr. ******** would 'like a box, for the first night' !  After a deep breath and summoning my most innocent of tones, I asked: "What kind of box would he like? Orange do?".  Well, that went down like the proverbial lead balloon.  A few moments of silence, then: "You do realise that it's Mr ******** we're talking about?" To which I politely replied: "Even if it was the Queen Mother, I still couldn't get you a seat, let alone a box. It's completely sold out."  A gasp of incredulity and frustration, followed by the crash of the phone being slammed down at his end.   I have to admit that I got a degree of quiet satisfaction from the exchange, which just added to my immense feeling of pride at helping to bring about the very first 'Live on Stage' appearance of Monty Python's Flying Circussss!   

1971 Lanchester Arts Festival Programme

 

When Jimi Hendrix first hit town...and played for peanuts.

                                                            

The first time I saw Jimi Hendrix play was sometime in October 1966, at the Cromwellian Club, a late-night drinking venue west of Knightsbridge. It catered for a motley crowd of music biz types... including musicians, agency/management people, TV/radio presenters, music press journalists and the like...together with a variety of trendily garbed 'liggers' (musician's term for the multitude of 'wannabees' who seemed to have nothing else to do in life than hang-out at gigs and other places frequented by the pop and rock fraternity).

He was being squired around by Chas Chandler, former bass-player with the Animals, who was now turning his hand to management and had just met 'Jimmy' (as it was then spelled) in New York and was so blown-away by his skill as a guitarist that he decided to bring him back to London. He was astute enough to know that the  quickest and best way to launch an unknown, but mightily talented, artist was to impress all the aforementioned 'music biz  types' by taking him round the key clubs they frequented, like the Cromwellian, Speakeasy, Bag o' Nails (venue for the first official press launch), the Scotch of St. James etc., and either have him sit-in with the band, or just get up and play solo in the interval. This strategy paid off brilliantly in the long-term, but brought little or no immediate income.

My recollection is that he played on his own that first time at the 'Crom', though it's completely possible that my memory could be playing tricks on me and it was actually with the recently formed Experience line-up. One thing I am sure of is that everyone was blown away by his unique and flamboyant talent, myself included, although I did feel that with with such an amazing guitar-playing ability, he didn't really need to show off by playing with his teeth...but then what did I know!!!

At the time, I was working for the Rik Gunnell agency as a booker and a few days after that night, John Gunnell said he'd agreed with Chas. to put Jimi on at our club, the Ram Jam in Brixton, on the 10th December as the support act for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, a kind of trial gig. Assuming they would do well, he told me to follow this up with another appearance, this time as the main attraction, a few weeks later. So, I got in touch with Chas and pencilled in the second date for February 4th in a 'double' with our other club, the Flamingo in Soho, normal practice for all head-lining acts. Of course, the first appearance was well-received, so I went ahead and confirmed the February date.

Now, although the music press had already reported on some of the 'showcase' gigs he had played,  Jimi was, at that time, still relatively unknown as far as the wider general public was concerned, so I negotiated the second deal on that basis, which Chas...eager to get as much exposure for Jimi as possible in these early stages, was more than happy to accept. I think the contract was drawn up with a fee of £75 (the double) for the second date, still several weeks ahead. In the event, this proved to be extremely fortuitous, as in the interim period, Jimi's first UK single "Hey Joe", which had been released the week after his Ram Jam support spot, was climbing steadily up the charts.  By the time of the appearances at the Ram Jam and Flamingo, it was at #6 in the Record Retailer (the 'official' chart), with the Melody Maker, I think, putting it at number one!

Chas. was, I recall,  pretty miffed at the time, as he hadn't asked for a 'chart clause' to be included in the contract (often insisted on by agents and managers if they thought that the artist had a record out that might chart by the time of a gig taking place), so the contracted fee stood.  With the Flamingo, it didn't really have that much effect, as the club was fairly small and had a limited capacity...but the Ram Jam, a much larger venue, with a different and younger audience, the difference was considerable. Usually, the crowd would be around a few hundred, depending on how big a 'name' was playing...but of course, with all the publicity surrounding the meteoric chart rise of the single, combined with the press reports and 'word-of-mouth', the club was packed to the gills and the box 0ffice 'take' was probably a record (no pun intended)!

However, after that, the Jimi Hendrix Experience took off like a rocket...especially in the USA and that was the last time he played at the club!

Postscript:

Once the Experience took off, I didn't see Jimi again until September 1970 at the ill-fated Fehmarn Festival in Northern Germany, just a couple of weeks before his untimely death.

The Festival was incredibly badly organised, the weather was horrendous, with heavy rain deterring many of the acts from appearing because of the danger of electrocution, though Jimi did play, I believe.  I didn't get a chance to speak to him...indeed on the bus that took us to the site, he sat alone and his demeanour seem to indicate that he didn't want to talk to anyone.  He looked pretty sick and as far as anybody could see, no-one from his entourage was around.  The following is an excerpt from Jon Hiseman's biography "Playing the Band":

Colosseum flew to Hamburg, where they met up with Hendrix and Canned Heat. Jon relates what ensued: “We got to the site about 8.30pm and the rain was coming down in sheets. The local police had rigged up searchlights, I assume to control the crowd. The storm was unrelenting, with a force nine gale driving the rain horizontally across the stage. There was no food or drink; the whole thing was a nightmare. Finally, Sly and the Family Stone decided to brave the elements and set up on stage to a forest of crouching umbrellas. Then, with the amps on and the band ready to go, the canopy over the stage tore and most of the band’s backline was drenched in rainwater." 

At this point, a very nervous stage manager agreed to sign an affidavit stating that it would be too dangerous to perform.  Adding to the general mayhem, a number of German Hell’s Angels were roaming around, looking very menacing. So, it was straight back to the airport, without appearing, and home to the warmth of the recording studio.  During this epic saga, Jon bumped into a very sick Jimi Hendrix several times and was horrified at the state he was in. As far as Jon could see, no one in his entourage seemed at all concerned and it brought back Jon’s worst memories of the Graham Bond era. Tragically Jimi was dead within a few days of returning to London.

 

 

 

 

Otis Redding...gentle giant.

 

A bit like my 'meeting' with Dick Gregory (see earlier post), I had but a fleeting acquaintance with Otis Redding, but the occasion stayed with me for over five decades. It was on the occasion of his appearance at the London Finsbury Park Astoria on the 22nd March 1967, headlining the Stax/Volt Review concert.  This concert has often been described as one of the 'best gigs ever' (Q magazine amongst others) and I wouldn't disagree with that...it was an awesomely high-energy performance by the best soul artistes in the world!

My Otis 'moment' actually took place after the concert, when some of the artists were invited down to the Bag o' Nails club in Soho, which was one of the clubs run by the Gunnell Brothers (Rik and John) for whom I worked at the time. I had just arrived at the club, when Otis appeared in the foyer... took off his overcoat and handed it to our cloakroom girl, turned to me and asked what was the usual amount to tip.  I replied that it was up to the customer, but a 10 shilling note (nominally 50p, but roughly the equivalent of £4 in today's values) was certainly enough to put a smile on her face!  He grinned and pulling out a handful of notes, thrust £5 into her hand (worth around £40 today). The astonished girl tried to tell him it was way too much, but he just smiled and went on into the club.  I left the club soon after and never saw him again...but I never forgot the experience.  He was the personification of friendliness, courtesy and kindness, totally unaffected by his fame and popularity. A genuine 'star',  in every sense of the word!  Of course, no-one could know at that time that his amazing career would be cut short just nine months later, when he, along with his manager and four of the Bar-Kays, died when their light aircraft crashed into a lake near Madison, Wisconsin on the 10th December 1967.  He was just 26.

 

DECEMBER 1963: ORCHESTRAL ENCOUNTERS OF A NEW JAZZ KIND.

Almost 60 years ago now, in a South East London jazz club called the "Jazzhouse", a bunch of young, mostly semi-pro, musicians got together and formed a rehearsal band. The original idea was the brainchild of Clive Burrows, the baritone sax -playing co-leader of the club's house band, together with tenorist Ian Bird. After several weeks of  hard work rounding up the 15 musicians to join the band, writing arrangements and rehearsing them, Clive and the band were keen to show their progress before a live audience. Appearing as the "Bird/Burrows Big Band", they played two gigs; the debut appearance, naturally enough, had to be at the "Jazzhouse" Blackheath, where the 'home crowd' gave them a wildly enthusiastic reception. Then 4 months later, they played a fund-raising concert at the Widmore Hall, Bromley, which, though it was to a much smaller crowd, was almost as warmly received. After this promising start, there came a bit of a bombshell, when Clive announced that he had decided to accept an offer to turn 'pro' with Zoot Money's Big Roll Band. This, of course, meant that that he could no longer continue with his pet project and the band suddenly found itself leaderless (Ian Bird having dropped out earlier). At this point, there was considerable doubt that the band could even survive, but after just a few weeks, composer/arranger Neil Ardley, a self-confessed disciple of Gil Evans, was invited to be the band's musical director and, as neither 'Burrows' or 'Bird' were any longer involved, a name-change was necessary. After toying with the somewhat pretentious names like 'Neoteric', the band members democratically settled on the "New Jazz Orchestra", not so much because the music was particularly new...more that the band's existence was.

The NJO (as it became generally referred to) was to play an important role for many young British musicians of the time, as it provided an opportunity for them to gain experience of reading arrangements and ensemble playing, which would be useful in advancing their jazz careers. Indeed, several of its members did go on to a degree of fame (if not fortune), including Ian Carr, Michael Gibbs, Jon Hiseman, Barbara Thompson, Trevor Watts, Henry Lowther, John Mumford, Dave Gelly and legendary pianist/composer Mike Taylor, to name but some. There were other well-known names who played (or sang) with the NJO on and off over the ensuing years, including Jack Bruce, Norma Winstone, Don Rendell, Dick Heckstall-smith, Harry Beckett, Michael Garrick and Frank Ricotti.  Being the NJO's musical director also contributed to Neil Ardley's reputation as a composer and arranger of note, which would ultimately lead to him becoming something of a cult figure in the history of British jazz.

As it turned out, the NJO's existence was relatively brief, lasting less than 10 years. It started off promisingly, with them winning the somewhat grandly named 'All England Jazz Contest' held as part of the 1964 Guildford Jazz Festival, followed by being 'runners up' the National Amateur Jazz  Contest, held under the auspices of the National Jazz Federation, at Richmond the same year .

                                                 
                                            Marquee gig 1965

These achievements brought them to the attention of the musical press, especially Melody Maker, who gave them valuable editorial support with some great write-ups.  Further 'rave' reviews from other very impressed music journalists led to more gigs at clubs like the Marquee, London...Mother's Club in Birmingham, as well as several universities and colleges up and down the country. These concerts were fairly well paid, but as the fee was shared by approximately 18 to 20 participants, nobody took home more than a couple of pounds. 

For the next few years they continued playing occasional concerts until 1970, when someone had the inspired idea of pairing the orchestra in concert with Colosseum, at that time one of the premier jazz/rock groups in the UK and led by Jon Hiseman, the NJO's original drummer. The Colosseum/NJO debut concert was at the Lanchester Arts Festival, Coventry in January 1970, which sold out so quickly that a matinee concert was quickly announced by the Ents Committee, tickets for which were also rapidly snapped up.

The shows opened with the NJO playing the first half, then Colosseum came on and played their normal set, with the NJO musicians returning to join them for the final two numbers, which Neil Ardley had scored for the whole ensemble, with "Valentyne Suite" closing out the evening.  Not surprisingly, both shows received wildly enthusiastic receptions, prompting thoughts of more such combined concerts and plans were soon made for another six. These took place in May of that year and included an appearance at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hall London; Fairfield Hall Croydon and an one at the Camden Arts Festival. This last concert differed from the others in that it was officially an NJO gig and, for that reason, the programme was comprised entirely of NJO music. However, as the date fell in the middle of the main tour, Neil decided to invite Colosseum members Jon Hiseman, Dave Greenslade, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Clem Clempson, as well as Tony Reeves (the NJO's original bass player and a founder-member of Colosseum) to take part. All these concerts were resoundingly successful and offers for the NJO to combine with other rock groups were received.  Only one, a short tour with Eric Burdon, actually happened and that didn't really work out too well musically...prompting saxophonist Don Rendell, who was with the band at that time, to comment "I don't really want to do this kind of thing...it isn't why I joined this band".

Ironically, only one of these gigs was recorded - the Camden Arts Festival appearance and then only because Neil Ardley wanted it for his personal archive. The tapes remained there until 2008 (four years after his rather premature death at only 66), when they were 'cleaned up' and released as a CD on Dusk Fire. As seven of the tracks are from 'Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe', only recently released on CD, it is of considerable interest to anyone unable to afford the approx. £300 required to buy the original vinyl LP. 

One other, slightly unusual, event happened when Keith Emerson, who was on a break between finishing the latest ELP album and starting another tour of America with them, decided to take the opportunity to record some tracks for a solo album. He wanted a big-band sound, so asked Jon Hiseman if he could round up the NJO musicians to back him. Jon also took care of booking the recording studio (Olympic) and getting Neil Ardley and Alan Cohen to write some arrangements.

The titles recorded were: "Au Privave", a Charlie Parker tune, arranged by Neil to include an eight theme Parker medley - "Honky Tonky Train Blues", arranged by Alan Cohen, which later became a minor hit for Keith (requiring the band to appear on 'Top of the Pops'! A 'first' and a 'last'!).   Finally, with a little time in hand, they laid down a blues by Gary Burton, called "Walter L". This track and "Au Privave" were eventually released as part of Keith's album "Off the Shelf" in 2006.

After this relatively busy phase, gigs became more sporadic and when Neil Ardley decided to start recording under his own name, albeit using several of the NJO musicans, things kind of fizzled out for the band.

During those ten years or so, the New Jazz Orchestra made just two albums under its own name*. The first: "Western Reunion", produced by Ray Horrocks, an experienced producer working for Decca, was recorded 'live' before an invited audience, at their West Hampstead Studios in March 1965 and released in May to considerable critical acclaim.     
                                                                                  

 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

Melody Maker album review.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Programme.....

 

Some four years later, the orchestra recorded their second album, "Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe" (featuring Jack Bruce playing bass) which was released on the Verve label. Both of these original vinyl albums are now highly sought-after collectable LPs commanding substantial sums of money, if in near mint condition. "Western Reunion" was released as a CD in 2006 by Vocalion, but it must have been a limited run, as it is no longer generally available. 'Dejeuner' remained unreleased on CD (for somewhat obscure reasons) until 2014, though the title track was included on Gilles Peterson 'Impressed 2' CD in 2004

As previously mentioned, there were other records that featured many of the NJO's musicians, but recorded under Neil Ardley's name. The first such was "Greek Variations" released in 1970 on Columbia, then re-released as a CD in 2004 by Universal.  Then in 1972 came "A Symphony of Amaranths" on Regal Zonophone, which featured an unusually large ensemble of 27 instruments (including a 5 piece string section led by Jack Rothstein) . One fascinating track on this album has Ivor Cutler reading "The Dong with a Luminous Nose" (an Edward Lear poem, set to music by Neil). Another is an interesting musical setting of the Lewis Carroll poem "Will you walk a little faster" (The Mock Turtle's Song),  impeccably sung by Norma Winstone.  Once again, these albums are desirable and highly collectable in their original vinyl format. Then in 1976 came "Kaleidoscope of Rainbows" (inspired by Balinese gamelan music), followed in 1978/9 by "Harmony of the Spheres" featuring an eclectic line-up which included vocalist Norma Winstone again and noted folk musician John Martyn.

The NJO did get together one more time, in 1993, for a celebratory 30th anniversary concert at the Barbican Centre, London. The line-up included many of the original members, as well as veteran saxophonist Don Rendell and Harry Becket on fluegel horn. The concert was a great success, giving rise to hopes that more such concerts would follow, but sadly nothing came of them.

So the NJO slipped slowly into the annals of British jazz history. There are still quite a few loyal fans (now probably 'senior citizens') that have fond memories of the band...especially if they saw them play live. One of the main things that made the NJO so remarkable was the unbridled enthusiasm of the young musicians who joined primarily for the pure enjoyment of playing with a big band.  The NJO may not have sold as many records or become as well known as, say, the Johnny Dankworth or Harry South orchestras, but it certainly played an important part in developing the musical lives of many, now legendary, British jazz musicians.

* The Camden Arts Festival CD was released as "Neil Ardley's New Jazz Orchestra", with the members of Colosseum being listed as band members..

     ------------------------------------ooo----------------------------------------

CODA

 Jazz musicians are known for their somewhat off-the-wall sense of humour and the guys in the NJO were no exception. I have fond memories of a gig at Goldsmith's College, New Cross, S.E. London when some of the band whiled away the interval in the band-room (a classroom) by coming up with titles of songs for the 'Indian Hit Parade' and writing them on the blackboard. I often wonder what the students thought when they saw the list the following day.

Anyway, here are the ones I managed to recall:

"Chapati's Over",  "Paperback Raita"  "Dhansak in the Dark",  "A Pilau to Dream On";  "The Sari with the Fringe on Top";  "My Poppadum Tol' Me";  "Livin' Dhal";  the slightly dated Scottish ballad "I love a Lhassi";  the unavoidable "Curry me back to ole Virginia";  and (a touch of class here...), the operatic aria "Nessun dorma" or "Naan shall sleep".

Of course, Balti dishes weren't around back then, or more could surely have been added to the list. ("Balti-more Oriole" for one).

 

 

 

Colosseum's appearance at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music, June 27th1970

 

Colosseum's performance at the 1970 Bath Festival was a major step in their rapidly growing reputation as one of the best jazz/rock bands around. Approximately 150,000 fans gave them a standing ovation as the sun went down on  the first day.

 

 

Extract from Jon's biography: "Playing the Band".

It was the summer of 1970 and the festival season was in full swing. On the 27th June Colosseum returned to Bath for their second appearance at the popular festival, with Louis Cennamo on bass. The day hadn’t got off to the best of starts, as Dick had managed to leave his saxophones behind at the hotel, but in spite of having to play on borrowed instruments, he still managed to make his usual fine contribution to what would turn out to be one of their best gigs ever. The typically British summer delivered a mixture of sun, wind and rain, which one musician wag christened; ‘cold Bath with showers’. In fact, some of the showers were quite violent, with lots of electricity in the air, prompting Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane to comment anxiously to Chris Charlesworth of Melody Maker: “It’s too wet and we’ll get electrocuted. They don’t have summers like this in New York!”

The 2 day event had an impressive list of over 20 acts, including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa and Jefferson Airplane. It turned out that the promoters had seriously underestimated the size of the crowd, which resulted in the approach roads being congested. This delayed several of the groups that were appearing, including Colosseum, who were eventually rescued by a farm vehicle trundling across the fields to escort them to the backstage area! These delays had the knock-on effect of rendering the on-stage timetable virtually obsolete, but in any case Jon had developed a savvy strategy for festivals, as Colin Richardson explains: "Jon asked me to try and ensure that they went on around 4.30pm and as the promoter Fred Bannister liked Jon, he was happy to agree.”

 

 

 

 

LINDISFARNE...a canny bunch of lads, as ever there was!

Another in the series of 'memories that have stayed with me'.  This one was prompted by a recently renewed contact with founder-member Rod Clements, bass-player and all-round nice guy. In fact, of all the bands I worked with, I found Lindisfarne to be one of the easiest to get along with, though lead singer Alan Hull could be a bit prickly on occasions .

During 1972, I accompanied them on a tour of Scandinavia, possibly their first I think. It was certainly my first time on the road with them, as I hadn't been with Charisma for very long at that point. Anyway, we arrived at a hotel in Sweden (something is telling me it was in Malmo, but I can't be sure about that) and after checking in, some of the band discovered that the hotel had an indoor pool in the basement, so they decided to take a swim.  After a while I went down to check on them and organise where we were going to eat and found them sitting around the edge of the pool, chatting.  A couple of them thought the acoustics had an interesting echo and then, quite spontaneously, they started harmonising on "Clear White Light" from their first album "Nicely out of tune". Hearing their slightly rough-edged 'a capella' harmony in such unexpected surroundings  was just electrifying! I can still hear them now, in my head, nearly five decades later!  It was one of the most unforgettable moments in my lengthy music biz career....and there weren't many that compared to it.

 

Colosseum with the New Jazz Orchestra plus Jack Bruce & Friends at the Lanchester Arts Festival 1970. (Excerpt from Jon Hiseman's biography.)

A Giant Leap for Colosseum (An Extract from Playing the Band)

 

“This remains one of the best gigs I was ever involved in. I was so proud that all my old mates from Tamworth were there to see it.” Clem Clempson on the Lanchester Arts Festival"

The first few days of 1970 found Colosseum back on the road doing TV and live dates in Europe, including their first gigs in France…2 shows at the famous Paris Olympia, where they received a standing ovation from a euphoric audience. The feeling of satisfaction at having acquitted themselves so well in such a prestigious venue was slightly tempered by having to be up and away early the following morning in order to make it to the next gig, which was at the Winter Gardens, Weston-Super-Mare. Back to earth with a bump!

The heavy work schedule continued, but with a slight difference. Wearing his agent’s hat, Colin Richardson was the booking consultant for the Lanchester Arts Festival, a student-run, mixed media project in Coventry… a role which, the following year, would give him the opportunity to bring off something of a major ‘showbiz coup’…the first ‘live-on-stage’ appearance of Monty Python’s Flying Circus…three shows at the Belgrade Theatre as part of the 1971 Festival programme. For the current year though, he had already booked the UK premiere of Jack Bruce & Friends, featuring American stars Larry Coryell and Mike Mandell, together with ex- Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell. Also on the bill were Colosseum and the New Jazz Orchestra, playing live together for the first time…an idea that partly stemmed from the NJO brass and reed sections playing on the studio version of Butty’s Blues. Given the close musical relationship that had always existed between Neil Ardley and Jon Hiseman, it was a naturally symbiotic combination, which would prove to be both musically satisfying and exciting. For Jon it was all part of the plan, as he told Melody Maker: “When I formed Colosseum I was consciously trying to create an environment in which we could involve a band of this size.” His real ambition went even further: “The ultimate goal is to produce a 20-piece band whose members are individually as well-known as Colosseum. It’s impossible, of course”.

On the night, the New Jazz Orchestra opened proceedings with Dick, Tony and Jon in their ‘big-band’ roles. The Lanchester College newspaper reported: “The Mike Gibbs composition Rebirth, showed what a ridiculously accomplished set of musicians they were, while Dusk Fire, by Michael Garrick, had Tony Reeves playing the best bass solo I’ve ever heard”. The Guardian and Melody Maker echoed this praise in their reviews, MM going on to report: “Jon Hiseman swung beautifully through every number giving one of the most tasteful displays in drumming and stamping his style memorably on everything”. Ronald Atkins of the Guardian was equally impressed: “Few drummers in this country can touch Hiseman for sheer technique, and he obviously takes every chance to vary his patterns.”

This NJO gig was also something of a milestone for Barbara Thompson as she got her first chance to play a solo in public, in a duet with Henry Lowther. Jon recalls: “She played on Mike Taylor’s Study a very hypnotic slow ballad and it brought the house down. I learned the big lesson that night that you didn’t have to go in with a sharp stick to get an audience reaction. I couldn’t apply it to Colosseum as I always had trouble in keeping the tempos down, but I applied it to Barbara’s later career. She was fantastic that night, I was so proud of her.”

After the NJO left the stage, Dave Greenslade and Clem Clempson came on and Colosseum played their set. They kicked off with Lost Angeles, by now considerably longer than the studio version, followed by the old Graham Bond staple Walkin’ in the Park. Next came The Machine Demands a Sacrifice, which featured Jon’s drum solo, inspiring the college paper to write: “For those of you who saw the first solo, the second was even better and for those who saw the second, Jon had been on stage for over six hours when he started”. It’s quite likely that most of the crowd were there to see Jack Bruce, but already they were experiencing some seriously powerful and memorable music…but the best was yet to come! the NJO musicians returned to join Colosseum for the final two numbers, the first of which was Butty’s Blues, featuring some forceful playing from Dick, but the highpoint of the performance was always going to be the closing piece, Valentyne Suite, scored for the augmenting musicians by Neil Ardley. At one point during the performance, Dave Greenslade was suddenly aware of the significance of the moment: “This was amazing for me Jon and Tony, as we had seen all those great big bands all those years ago. And I found myself playing Hammond in the middle of this great brass section - it gave me a great buzz.” The suite’s climactic ending prompted lead trumpet Bob Leaper to hurl his trumpet high in the air, deftly catching it on its return flight. It was a fitting climax to a memorable collaboration. Jon congratulated Clem after the show saying it was the best he’d heard him play and the college paper also singled him out for his outstanding performance. There was good reason for Clem to be so fired up and playing so well that night: “This remains one of the best gigs I was ever involved with. I was so proud that all my old mates from Tamworth were there to see it.” Colin Richardson concurred: “It was an amazing concert…without doubt, one of the highlights of my music biz career.” The Guardian’s Ronald Atkins was amazed by the crowd’s good humour, as they sat shoulder to shoulder in stifling heat: “No one grumbled and no one collapsed; they sat quietly while the music played and clapped and cheered when it stopped. As a veteran of FA cup ties and smoky jazz clubs, I offer them my envious congratulations.”

Dick also considered it a milestone for Colosseum: “Of all the outrageous things to attempt – the NJO incorporated in the set, playing Neil Ardley’s arrangements to some of our recorded numbers. The hall was packed to the rafters and the reception we got started off as enormous and ended up gargantuan.” The Lanchester college paper went into overdrive: “But then, back came the NJO for the final 40 minutes of the best music I have ever heard here…words cannot do justice to the reality. Quite simply, it stopped the show.” The last word is from Jon: “Lanchester was just amazing. We played to a total of 5000 people in the two shows. Dave Gelly told me that was more people than he’d performed to all year.” The success of this collaboration ensured that there would be further such joint concerts later. Jack Bruce’s set was also well-received, with Jon joining the audience to dig it, enthralled by the drumming of Mitch Mitchell. “He was just wonderful that night – his was a talent I much admired but I think he got lost somewhere along the way.”

Colosseum: the Final Hurrah!

FURTHER ..AND FINAL UPDATE: 27th FEBRUARY 2015

Tomorrow night, for one of the first and greatest British jazz/rock bands, the end of the road will finally have been reached. What Jon refers to as 'the last hurrah', will take place at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, when Colosseum will walk on stage to a cheering crowd for the last time. The three UK dates I mentioned in my earlier post did eventually come to fruition and a fourth date added, when they were invited to join the "Giants of Rock" bill at Butlin's Minehead on Friday 6th February. Since the band had to be 'up and running' by that date, it seemed logical to fill the gap with a few more European gigs. Thus another 5 dates were booked in Germany and Switzerland, making it roughly a 3 week tour overall. So, at that point, after more than 20 years of playing countless live gigs, recording several new albums, a couple of DVDs and a book, as well as reissues of their early records in CD format, the second incarnation of Colosseum will bow out. They leave behind many loyal fans from all over Europe, some of whom have followed Colosseum for decades, going to their concerts, buying their albums and wearing their tee shirts. Many are genuinely quite distraught at the realisation that they will never see their beloved group again. However, Jon and the band are all agreed that the time is right to call it a day; while they can still hold their heads high and wow their audiences with their unique brand of jazz infused rock. I count myself very fortunate that I was personally involved with the original Colosseum as co-manager from their launch in October 1968 to their break up almost exactly three years later and though I had no role in the band that reunited in 1994 (with exactly the same line-up! How many '70s bands can claim that?) I followed their fortunes through my ongoing friendship with Jon. From time to time I was able to catch up with them, either at gigs or in the studio and was aware of the sad decline of Dick Heckstall-Smith's health and ultimately his death in December 2004. I was quite close to Dick over the years, having first met him in 1967 when he was playing with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and I was their agency booker. Our paths crossed on many occasions apart from the Colosseum days. One in particular stands out, which was when I sat on the Monmouth Arts Festival Committee in the early '80s. I tried to book Zoot Money with Dick as one of the main attractions, but with our modest budget, Zoot immediately priced himself out. So, at Dick's suggestion, I booked the Eddie Martin Blues Band from Bristol, as they had gigged together many times. Needless to say, they blew a storm and totally stole the show. It also gave me the opportunity to catch up with Dick as he stayed over at my place. He was always great company, being incredibly well-informed on a wide variety of topics. I really miss him. Some 12 years on, when the writer Martyn Hanson, (author of books on The Nice and The Groundhogs) approached Jon with the idea of writing his biography, his initial reaction was "Who'd be interested in reading about me"? Fortunately, Martyn wasn't deterred by this typically modest rejoinder and after four years of factual research, several drafts followed by lengthy editing, "Playing the Band - the Musical Life of Jon Hiseman" was published in October 2010, just in time for the band's umpteenth European Tour. To sum up...there is no question that the band can be justly proud of what they have achieved over the years, both musically and as fine role models for all the young musicians that are following in their footsteps. Their influence will still be there through the medium of their recorded music. As for the individual members of Colosseum...some will certainly carry on playing in one band or another and Jon assures me that he is still going to be as busy as ever, running the studio, producing and, of course, helping to care for Barbara. Her fight against PD will continue undiminished and I'm certain that she will be composing innovating music of various genres with the same determination and energy that she has always shown                 

...and a grand time was had by all!

My original post (back in 2011) headlined "Colosseum...the end of the road" should perhaps have had a question mark appended as, true to his oft-repeated mantra 'never say never', Jon has now agreed dates for another Colosseum tour, to take place in October and November of this year. How come? Well, as I wrote almost three years ago, the main reason for the band calling it a day at that time, was Barbara's worsening state of health. The 'new' medication that had been so effective in enabling her to play the 2011 tour dates gradually diminished in efficacy after two years, while at the same time bringing on some really unpleasant side effects, which led to Barbara deciding to discontinue it. According to Jon, this is usually the pattern of Parkinson treatment...promising new drugs start out being very effective, only for the benefits to tail off after 18 months or so and the symptoms to worsen again. Well, towards the end of last year, Barbara commenced yet another new regime of medication and pretty soon felt able to play her saxophones again, as I reported on her Facebook page. Eventually, after checking with the rest of the band, Jon give their German agent the green light to start booking date and an Autumn tour* quickly took shape, to the delight of their many loyal fans around Europe. So, a few months after Jon and Barbara's 70th birthdays, Colosseum will take to the road again, playing 25 concerts in four countries over a 4 week period. They kick off the tour on the 23rd October in Northern Italy, playing the Steinegg Festival and will finish up exactly one month later in Hungary, at the Petöfi Hall in Budapest. At the time of writing, there are also three UK concerts pencilled in for February 2015: London (Shepherd's Bush Empire) has now been confirmed, while with the other two...the Stables, Wavendon (Milton Keynes) and Wolverhampton (the "Robin 2") terms have been agreed, but contracts were still to be exchanged. Of course, this also means that Colosseum could now finish recording the 'Anno Domini', their final album (later changed to the somewhat ironic title "Time on our side") for release in time for the tour, along with the band's ever increasing range of merchandise.

via colinrichardsonjazz.typepad.com

The reality surpasses the expectation...!

Originally posted October 2010

How satisfying it is when something you have been working on for over two years - correcting, honing, more correcting and then finessing...finally becomes reality and you hold the finished book in your hands. 

"Playing the Band" ended up being bigger than originally planned...452 pages instead of around 350, mainly because Jon wanted to include over a hundred photos (many of which had never been published before), as well as adding a drum mini-tutorial and a computer appendix. Then a much more comprehensive index  added several more pages. Jon also decided that, in the interest of readability, the type size should be increased, as well as the line-spacing.  Up goes the production cost and, of course, the cost of shipping it, so the book's price had to be upped a bit to cover these unforeseen extra expenses.  So now the cover price is £16.95, a bit higher than we wanted, though various discounting means that, in all likelihood, no-one will actually have to pay the full price.

Early sales on Colosseum's current European tour have been promising and with another 16 dates to go, it looks like it will do well over there...and so it should, as the band have always had a larger fan-base in Europe (especially the German speaking countries) than in the UK. These fans have remained staunchly loyal to the band all these years, helped, no doubt, by the frequent appearances of Jon, Barbara Thompson, Chris Farlowe and Clem Clempson, who have been touring on and off there with various groups for more than four decades.  As well as Colosseum, Barbara's band Paraphernalia built up an incredible following through the '80s & '90s and both she and Jon enjoyed further exposure, playing with the all-star band United Jazz and Rock Ensemble (aka "the Band of Bandleaders"...definitely worth checking out!) during that period.

So, this comprehensive biography of Jon Hiseman's life in music covers all the bands he was involved with from the early '60s on.  If you're at all interested in how the British jazz-rock and blues scene evolved from the '60s to the present day...this is one book you ought to read!

                                                           Jon's sketch of his first drum kit!

Yours truly goes 'live' with Full Sail....

Full Sail University, Orlando, Fla. 

When I started this blog, a few years back, I had no preconceptions as to where it would go. I hoped then, as I still do, that a few people out there might enjoy reading about some of my experiences while working in the British music business in the '60s and '70s...first as an agency booker, then artiste manager and later as international promotion manager for Charisma Records. Oh, and even later as a 'journalist'.

Now..with over 25,000 page hits logged, I guess there must have been a tad more than a few, so I'm very pleased about that.

Well, this week, for the first time, I had the opportunity to share some of my reminiscences 'live'...at the above, impressively equipped, University here in Orlando, where I am visiting my son. 

A 'small, but perfectly formed' audience of around 20 students and faculty members assembled to hear me ramble on for a couple of hours about my music biz career and the groups I worked with...many of whom went on to become internationally famous and some of those are still performing today...who would've put money on that back then?!

I really had fun going 'live', as it were. I was made to feel extremely welcome by the organisers...my audience was attentive, asked informed and intelligent questions and even applauded at the end! I couldn't have been more warmly received.   

So, I'd just like to say thank you to the organisers for their efforts in making this very enjoyable experience happen.

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P.S. I omitted to mention that the Q & A session was filmed, so for the really dedicated amongst you, here's the link: https://youtu.be/UnqoURtdXQc

It's been edited down to just over an hour and I can assure you that no animals were harmed during the production.