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LATEST NEWS!!.....

Before It Went Rotten
British Library Release 2001 Billy Audio Autobiography Online
Vinyl Into Digital
South London Press Billy



RECENT NEWS!!.....

Ghost Music - A 'Background Only' Download Album


TIMELESS NEWS!!........

You Too Can Play Billy
BBC Music Jazz Radio 'Greatest Ever Jazz Albums' Puts Billy At #36
In Depth All About Jazz Analysis
The Billy Jenkins Webzine
The War Of Jenkins’ Ear(phones)
The 'Financial Times' Lauds Billy

On Another Planet
Hear Billy Live On BBC R4

NEWS ARCHIVE!!........

'Scratches' a Top Twenty Re-issue of the Year in Jazzwise...Billy Takes Over BBC R3.....Music Sn-Apps Emerge.....Vortex Jazz Club Celebrate Billy.......London Jazz News Features Billy....Humanism, Blues & Bereavement....'Violent Lewisham' Confuses Billy...One Step On  from the Blues....Austerity Aural Art.....Jenkins Hanging Round Pub Toilets.....Billy with Ginger Baker CD emerges.. ..and much more!

Access the News Archive by spanking your mouse here.





Before It Went Rotten

Before It Went Rotten


September 2023 saw the publication of 'Before It Went Rotten', a fascinating book written by Simon Matthews that '
traces the evolution of what was quickly labelled 'pub-rock' from rock and roll revival acts via late blues bands, country rock, funk, soul and art school bands to the sound that eventually burst on the scene as punk rock in 1976'.

Billy and Burlesque were very much part of the pub-rock scene and Mr Matthews has included a chapter in which the guitarist and co-bandleader
Billy expands further on the issues that the arrival of punk created for the working musician - a topic he vented his thoughts on in a polemic written towards the end of the last century, which can be read on Billy's Webzine here.

Having spent several evenings engrossed in the book and as good as inhaling the smell of beer and tobacco reeking from every page, the guitarist has concluded:

'Absolutely extraordinary... The work of a master. So beautifully constructed with so many elements and angles woven together seamlessly.'
Consider purchasing your copy here!

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British Library Release 2001 Billy Audio Autobiography Online


British Library logo


In 2001, the British Library dispatched Andy Simons to interview Billy

for part of their Oral History of Jazz in Britain collection, which they describe as:
'An informal and anecdotal history of the music, venues and people that defined jazz in the UK. This collection comprises hundreds of interviews commissioned by the British Library Sound archive seeking to reveal, in the words of those who were there, the development of the jazz scene in the UK. The interviews were conducted between 1984 and 2007 and are unedited.'
Previously only accessible for educational purposes, the 2hrs and 40 minute recording of the guitarist discussing his musical life up to the start of the 21st Century can now be enjoyed......

DECEMBER 2023 UPDATE: Due to the British Library website having been hacked, the link to this interview is currently unavailable online.....

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Vinyl Into Digital

piano sketches
   motorway  beyond e major


Three Billy albums, originally released on vinyl in the 1980's - Piano Sketches 1973-1984, Motorway At Night and Beyond E Major - are now in the digital domain and available on Billy's own Bandcamp page!

In keeping with the guitarist's distrust of digital audio quality, all three have been
especially remastered by Andy Le Vien at RMS Studios for digital download direct from virgin vinyl.

With 'online friendly' covers
artfully redesigned by Mark Wallis, these three albums collectively cross reference and aurally inter-weave with the twenty other albums now available on Billy's Bandcamp page.


bandcamp

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South London P
ress Billy

South London Press

Local media legend Peter Cordwell (a very close associate of Mercury Man) has managed to get a few quotes from the silent musician for the South London Press.

It's the first public quotes from Mr Jenkins for the first time since the 'pandemonium' started and well worth a look.


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Ghost Music - A 'Background Only' Download Album



Ghost Music


Friday 13th April 2018 sees (hears) the release of a brand new Billy Jenkins recording!

'Ghost Music' continues his research into the digital format, following on from the solo low strung guitar albums The Semi-detached Suburban Home (2014) and   ‘Death, Ritual & Resonation’ (2015).

The guitar albums were created with a focus on frequency and pitch. Now, the composer takes to the piano to address changes in the listening habits multi-use technologies have inflicted on our ever evolving modern world.

It was created as a music for background listening, but it comes towards you, the ear drawing in, becoming mid- field music.

And then, as one starts to appreciate the overtones, ambient noises and piano mechanics, it ends up as near- field music. Music that will haunt you.

For after several plays, you will start imaging you’re hearing it in the background.

But it’s not playing....

Imbibe Beowulf Mayfield's evocative 90 second promotional video here:

Ghost Music YT icon

'Ghost Music' is available from his own bandcamp site and by purchasing, you'll be helping Billy to continue his life's work. 

Billy bandcamp

Track listing and more information here!


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You Too Can Play Billy



Brilliant music


If you are a bandleader, a music teacher, run a jazz band workshop or lead a music ensemble – why not consider playing the music of Billy Jenkins!?

Find out more here.

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BBC Music Jazz Radio 'Greatest Ever Jazz Albums' Puts Billy At #36



BBC Music Jazz Top 50 albums


As part of the 2016 EFG London Jazz Festival, the BBC and Jazz FM ran a five day pop up 24 hour digital radio station.

Four programmes were dedicated to The 50 Greatest Jazz Albums, as nominated by the jazz community - including BBC and Jazz FM presenters, jazz musicians, critics and journalists.

And, in amongst jazz legends like Benny Goodman, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and many other 'greats' - up popped Mr Jenkins and his 1998 release 'True Love Collection'!

Listed as the 36th Best Ever Jazz Album!!!

A fitting tribute to all the brilliant musicians that contributed to the
'True Love Collection'.

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In Depth All About Jazz Analysis





An excellent overview on Billy's recorded work is now online at allaboutjazz.com.

Comprehensively penned by that most astute writer Roger Farbey, the 1,500 word article pretty much covers the guitarist's recorded output over the last thirty six years.

Spank that link now to enjoy Mr Farbey's excellent writing.

And then perhaps add a pithy comment.


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The Billy Jenkins Webzine




With 2016 being Billy's 60th year, we at billy.com had some fun sprucing up Ian Bolton's beautifully built 'digital cavern of curios and Billy-ness'!

Music activist, promoter and writer Ian started the Webzine towards the end of the last century.

Although it's been pretty much a locked site for several years, this impressive labour of love contains a treasure trove of Billy-ness - all created to increase your enjoyment and understanding of his work over the last four decades and counting....

  • Find out just how many musicians Billy has been compared to....
  • Just what did the guitarist do to get chased out of Bilbao...?
  • Enjoy thoughtful and learned essays on Billy's work by musician Richard Russell...
  • Pick apart epic verbatim interviews by respected anthropologist Matthew Engelke and painter Maxwell Jay and others...
  • Read public Vox Pop response to some of Billy's artistic rants.....
  • And much, much more!

An 'old school' web page layout and deliberately designed as a 'get lost in' site, there is now a page looking at the sixteen years of Big Fights!


Punch your mouse now!


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The War Of Jenkins’ Ear(phones)
 

Billy Jenkins War of Jenkins Ear
Ear today, gone tomorrow....? © Steve Morrison
 

A new recently released download album highlights the marginalisation of musicians in this technological age.

The nuances composers and tunesmiths bring to their art is rendered impotent by digital sound which is more often these days relayed through narrow audio range earphones.

‘To truly appreciate the power of music’, says 57 year old guitarist and composer Billy Jenkins, ‘it has to be a whole body experience. It needs air to breathe. Headphones offer no more than reference – much like a post card of an oil painting.’

Jenkins, over the last thirty years, has written his critically acclaimed gloriously idiosyncratic jazz and blues tinged music especially for the sound carrying medium.

Certain things recorded music lovers may not know:

Vinyl  - did you know that there is less bass frequency as the groove nears the centre of the disc? On his 1988 vinyl album ‘Motorway At Night’ he actually incorporated ‘surface noise at motorway exit’, by widening the groove during the disc mastering). 

Cassette - was the consumer ever aware that no tape machine ran at exactly the same speed? Jenkins underlined his introduction to the 1993 première at the National Sound Archives of his ‘Actual Reality - Music For Two Cassette Machines’ by stating that ‘no playback is ever the same’ – he had composed it building in a plus or minus 10% speed and pitch variation).

CD – the wider than vinyl frequency range has meant that two many albums mastered for CD have been mastered at such a volume, the compression necessary to iron out highs and lows reduces the emotional resonance. Mr Jenkins’ many CD releases have minimal compression.

Digital sound – it has been said that ‘analogue recording approximates perfection. Whereas digital recording perfects approximation’.

Digital processing - arbitrarily ‘takes’ what it wants of the sound source. Music made wholly by machines works well in the digital domain. But when it comes to music where every single note comes from the heart, hand and ear of the player – chip technology just doesn’t ‘get it’.

So, as social and economic lifestyles evolve at high speed, how does the musician reinstate their art?

For Jenkins, it means bringing out an unreleased album he recorded nearly twenty years ago.

These days, after a lifetime on and off the road and in and out of the recording studio, leaving him with an intense dislike of travel and a sensitivity to noise, he now scratches a living creating and conducting humanist funerals (‘nothing’s changed really’, the guitarist notes dryly, ‘I stand up in front of folks and they all start crying..’).

Uneasy with the sound of digital download, Jenkins feels that the album ‘The Semi-Detached  Suburban Home – Music For Low Strung Guitar’ (VOTP Records) is actually one that works on tinny headphones.

Captured in close microphone by long time Jenkins producer and engineer Tony Messenger, listening to it, one becomes the musician – every nuance can be heard - wire, wood, skin, nail and breath – all thrown into silence to create invisible audio images of everyday household objects and events.

‘We, the music creators, need to make folks understand, ‘states Jenkins, ‘that trendy coloured headphones are just fashion accessories. 
And by using them, especially when out in public, you are not only tempering the wonder of the world around you, but also consigning the wonder of music and musicians to history. 
And just like Neil Young and many other musicians have stated, I too agree that Apple, who led the digital revolution with their iPod, stand guilty of helping to destroy the spirituality of music. 
And with it, musicians’ livelihoods and purpose’.
 

Semi-Detached House CD

TheSemi-detached Suburban Home
(Music for Low Strung Guitar)

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The 'Financial Times' Lauds Billy
 

Billy Jenkins Lewisham Clock Tower
In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion roars 
tonight...                            ©Steve Morrison
 

We have no shame in continuing to flag up an article about Mr Jenkins and his work which appeared in the prestigious Financial Times in November 2010.

Written with depth, great sensitivity and understanding by fellow musician and writer Mike Hobart, it is very flattering that Billy was chosen as one of only two artists to be previewed for the London Jazz Festival - the other musician was jazz legend Herbie Hancock.

It is delightfully ironic that a man for whom commerce, marketing and business remain 'black arts' should be worthy of such microscopic attention by one of the world's leading financial newspapers.....

You can enjoy Mr Hobart's writing here.

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On Another Planet

Billy Jenkins Planet Browny
Three rakes...

Mr Jenkins is currently in the habit of apologising to to interested live promoters saying that he is 'unable to accept your kind offer as I am fully focused on a distant journey to Planet Recording, Planet Marketing and Planet Conducting Humanist Funerals...'

So how come he's landed on the Youtube Planetbrowny page? 

Browny teased lots of little 'out of this world' thoughts from Mr J. in his secret garden and there are four short clips posted on YouTube.:

1. Browny Meets Billy Jenkins
2. When Did You Leave Heaven?
3. On White Van Man
4. On Composing

Billy Jenkins with Planet Browny
Two tools...

Planetbrowny is 'one man’s quest for the ultimate waste of time…because wasting time is not the same thing as time wasted'.

The site is dedicated to "how we all waste time or what we do when we’re not ‘working’."  Created by a group of like minded middle-aged men, Planetbrowny aims to be a place where they can have everything they want under one roof.

They like music, sport, fast cars, bikes and technology. They also like poker, great days out, flying and much more. And the music of Billy Jenkins...... 

Spank that Youtube Planetbrowny link now!
 

Sadly, Brownie left this planet all too suddenly in September 2012. The website remains as a loving tribute to the man.

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Hear Billy Live On BBC R4
 

BBC Radio York Billy Jenkins
'I'll try and do 'morning nice...!' 
©Mary Thackray
 

Call the Polite Police! 

Mr Jenkins can be heard partaking in 'lively and diverse conversation on the flagship  BBC R4 'Midweek' radio programme with Libby Purves and other guests writer and naturalist Sir John Lister Kaye, fashion designer Caroline Charles and former Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers.

The live discussion, with Billy talking about his music and conducting Humanist funerals took place on Wednesday 24th February 2010 and can still be listened to and enjoyed by spanking this 'Midweek' link!

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