London Scene 60's and 70's

The site has already had Stomu Yamash*ta.

moved

I think getting hold of the second episode of BBC 4's Jazz Britannia TV series might answer some of these questions. It is interesting to hear one theory suggesting jazz rock appeared in London just before 1965, with Graham Bond and Georgie Fame being cited and the reasons they went electric and then increased the amount blues/soul content into their performances. Then on the jazz blues rock side  you get the original godfathers of British blues, Korner and Davis - don't believe what Mayall claims - early in the 60's. You even go back to the mid/late 50's with Chris Barber, who perhaps owed a lot to Dixieland jazz, but brought black blues artists across to the UK, (e.g. Big Bill Bronzy)  and gave his guitarist/banjoist Lonnie Donnegan a slot playing folk-becoming-skiffle  during shows. Personally it was hearing the new jazz of John McLaughlin on Extrapolation and (for me more belatedly) Gordon Beck's Experiments With Pop (with "Johnny McLaughlin").

Edited by Dick Heath - 30 Sep 2011 at 6:00am

I'm not trying to be exhaustive (but helped is welcomed >> Hint, hint, Dick!! ), but I've tried to get a list of musicians by instruments that gravitated around the London Scene in that given period....

Edited by Sean Trane - 02 Nov 2011 at 3:10am

I can't believe I forgot Dave Holland.... but it's true that both him and McL didn't hang around much the London scene once they met Miles

I would include Julie Tippetts/nae Driscoll and therefore Brian Auger, (noting you have Gary Boyle already- one of Auger's sidemen).

Dick Heath wrote: I would include Julie Tippetts/nae Driscoll and therefore Brian Auger, (noting you have Gary Boyle already- one of Auger's sidemen).   Space for UK jazzy Hammond players:   Graham Bond Brian Auger Georgie Fame

Just discovered this thread...all good stuff.  Though it wasn't recognised at the time, the '60s was a great decade  for nascent british jazz and jazz/rock musicians  The latter hybrid really arrived on the coat-tails of the British blues explosion, fuelled by people like Alexis Korner, Chris Barber and Humph bringing over several American blues singers.

A lot a very good musicians were semi-pro, as it was nigh on impossible to make a living playing 'modern' jazz. The R&B boom of the early (ish) '60s meant that quite a lot of these semi-pro musicans could turn pro and make a decent living playing music that wasn't too far removed from jazz. Amongst the first to tread this path were Manfred Mann (before he went completely 'pop), Graham Bond, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, Jon Hiseman etc. I also remember Clive Burrows, a very competent baritone sax player and excellent arranger, dropping out of the big-band that he had helped found (which evolved into the New Jazz Orchestra, led by Neil Ardley) to turn pro with the Wes Minster Five, a regular at the Flamingo Club, where another jazz influenced group, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames were resident.

The New Jazz Orchestra was one of tje first semi-pro big-bands that gave up-and-coming jazz musicians the opportunity to gain experience of reading and ensemble playing...it included among its ranks:  Ian Carr, Henry Lowther, Trevor Watts, Barbara Thompson, Jon Hiseman and John Mumford, Derek Wadsworth and not forgetting Mike Gibbs (who arranged "Tanglewood '63' for the orchestra)...all of whom went on to lengthy careers in music.

By the way, Sean, though Neil Ardley could play piano and certainly used keyboards when writing arrangements, I don't think he would ever have claimed to be a pianist...and certainly not in the same class as the illustrious names listed above. 
LJ 


Edited by londonjazzer - 01 Nov 2011 at 5:53pm

londonjazzer wrote: By the way, Sean, though Neil Ardley could play piano and certainly used keyboards when writing arrangements, I don't think he would ever have claimed to be a pianist...and certainly not in the same class as the illustrious names listed above.  LJ

It was 1935 when the AFM first banned foreign musicians 'taking work from American musicians'. The MU responded 'tit-for-tat' (which must have really worried them...not!).  AFM President ex-bandleader James Petrillo kept the ban in place into the '50s, though I seem to recall that the likes of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong were allowed to appear in the UK because they were classed as 'variety artistes'!  Once it was lifted...the floodgates opened and we were spoilt for choice. My first experience has probably never been surpassed. I was fortunate enough to see the first "Jazz at the Philharmonic" package to play in Britain at the Gaumont State, Kilburn in 1953.

I remember Frank Ricotti well.   There weren't many guys playing vibes in those days (though a few pianists 'doubled' on them..Mike Carr for one), but Frank was certainly first choice...Neil Ardley definitley used him more than once. He formed a quartet with Chris Spedding in the late '60s, which recorded one album "Our point of view" in 1969 (quite a collector's item now). He later played with John Taylor, a fine pianist, in a trio format with bass player Chris Laurence.