News
HOT
NEWS!!........
New
Blues Album Due Soon!
Billy
Jenkins + BBC Big Band featuring Iain Ballamy!
Uncommerciality
Vol 1 - 3 Re-issued on Download!
An
Apology To Those Awaiting CD Deliveries!
Classic
Billy Albums Remastered for Download!
RECENT
NEWS!!........
'Jazz
Is A Verb!' - Glasgow Herald Trumpets Billy!
Free
Download Single!
Hear
Billy Live On BBC R4!
I
Am A Man From Lewisham!
One
Step On From The Blues!
NEWS
ARCHIVE!!........
Farewell
to Leeds Jazz.....Entertainment Licensing Update.......Hysteria, Fear &
Live Music.....More Live Music Legislation.....BBC Ban Billy....Songs of
Praise CD....BBC Apologise To Billy....Great 'Here Is The Blues!' Review...and
much more.
Access
the archive by spanking your mouse here!
Join the Billy Jenkins Listening Club on Facebook!
New Blues Album Due Soon!
The new CD recording 'Born
Again [and the religion is the blues]' will be released on VOTP Records
on 8th November.
Containing nine Jenkins original
'inner suburban blues morality tales', it features the guitarist and blues
shouter with his all new 'Trio Blues Suburbia' with the award winning
jazz organist Jim Watson and Blues Collective drummer Mike Pickering.
Recorded by legendary long
time Billy collaborator and producer Charlie Hart at his Equator
Studios in Jenkins' leafy locale of Brockley, SE London - the album is
top and tailed with two tracks originally recorded ten years ago for the
'LIFE'
album (VOTP VOCD 023).
More information to follow
soon.
Visitors to this site will
be able to purchase ahead of the official release date - we'll let you
know when we're ready to dispatch them!
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Billy Jenkins + BBC Big
Band Featuring Iain Ballamy!
'Better git me shiney shoes
on for this one!'
©Brian Aldrich
Legendary British guitarist/composer
Billy Jenkins will bring his 2010 renaissance to a climax at the London
Jazz Festival by performing for the first time with the BBC Big Band.
Following the release of
his new album, I Am A Man From Lewisham and the forthcoming Born
Again (and the religion is the blues) that demonstrate the Jenkins'
Mojo is still working to full effect, this is a rare and timely London
appearance.
The concert, at The Purcell
Room at the South Centre on Sunday 21st November will
feature three adventurous large scale arrangements (newly commissioned
by BBC Radio 3) of Billy's music by Iain Ballamy.
Ballamy, one of the world's
finest saxophonists and a long serving member of Billy Jenkins' extended
musical family, will also guest as a soloist.
The first half will feature
Billy's new Trio Blues Suburbia with guest Iain Ballamy, before
welcoming the BBC Big Band onto the stage for the second half of what will
be a truly momentus meeting of disparate energies.
The concert will be recorded
by BBC R3 for future transmission.
More details of this stunning
event on the Live Dates
page.
About the BBC Big Band:
BBC BIg Band at the Cheltenham
Jazz Festival 2007 ©Graham Lambourne
The BBC Big Band, sometimes
called the BBC Radio Big Band, is a British band run under the auspices
of the BBC and is probably best known for its long running Monday night
show, Big Band Special on BBC Radio 2, but also reaches worldwide audiences
through the BBC World Service, satellite radio and the Internet.
It has been voted the best
Big Band in the British Jazz Awards in 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2001 and
2007.
The band has played with
stars such as Van Morrison, Michael Bublé, Tony
Bennett, George Shearing, Michel Legrand, Cleo Laine,
Lalo
Schifrin, Dr. John and Ray Charles.
The band regularly features
on the UK festival circuit, and concert tours with major artists have taken
the band all over the world in addition to its regular concert recordings
throughout the UK for BBC R2.
From Wikipedia
About the arranger and saxophonist
Iain Ballamy:
Ballamy was schooled at 1975-80
George Abbot School, Guildford. He then studied Musical Instrument Technology
from 1980-1982 Merton College. He took piano lessons from age of 6 to 14.
He discovered saxophone in
1978 with three lessons and his first professional gig was in 1980. He
played Ronnie Scotts as Iain Ballamy Quartet at age 20. He was a founding
member of Loose Tubes in 1984. First recording with Billy Jenkins 1985
(and making a further eight albums with him) and first solo album, Balloon
Man, 1988.
During his career he has
performed or recorded with a wide range of top musicians including Gil
Evans, Hermeto Pascoal, New York Composers Orchestra, Carla Bley, Dewey
Redman, George Coleman, London Sinfonietta, Françios Jeanneau, Daniel
Humair, Mike Gibbs, Randy Weston, Karnataka College of Percussion, Sax
Assault, Jazz Train, Freebop, Nishat Khan, R.A.Ramamani, T.A.S. Mani, Clare
Martin, Human Chain, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Tom Robinson, Charlie Watts Orchestra,
Jeremy Stacey, Randy Weston, Joanna MacGregor, Delightful Precipice, Django
Bates, Mark Wingfield, Jane Chapman, Bryan Ferry, Everything But The Girl,
Food for Quartet, Loose Tubes, Oxcentrics, Ian Shaw, Slim Gaillard, Ultramarine,
Ashley Slater, Hungry Ants, Ronnie Scott, Gordon Beck, Britten Sinfonia,
and Gay Dad.
In 1999, Ballamy founded
the record label Feral Records in partnership with graphic artist and filmmaker
Dave McKean.
In 2005 he composed the musical
score for the movie MirrorMask.
Ballamy is an agony uncle
for Jazz UK Magazine with his column "In the Saxophonists Chair".
Albums recorded with Billy
Jenkins:
* Greenwich
(1985)
* Uncommerciality
Vol 1 (1986)
* Uncommerciality
Vol 2 (1991)
* Scratches
of Spain (1987)
* Motorway
At Night (1988)
* Jazz
Cafe Concerts Vol 1 (1989)
* Jazz
Cafe Concerts Vol 2 (1989)
* True
Love Collection (1999)
* First
Aural Art Exhibition (2006)
From Wikipedia
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Uncommerciality Vol 1
- 3 Re-issued on Download!

'Uncommerciality is (also) shaped with the sophistication of a major-league
jazz composer. All in all it is not only Jenkins's finest hour, but a landmark
in
contemporary UK jazz.'
****'
John Fordham / The Guardian
'Three sprawling, inspired sets - a landmark in warped jazz pleasure.'
John Bungey / The
Times
Volume 1 of what was to become
the famous 'UNCOMMERCIALITY' chocolate box series was originally
released on limited edition vinyl in 1986. The three volumes were issued
in 1991 on the people’s music carrier, the cassette. This is the first
time this extraordinary music has been reissued together in any form.
Each volume of the series
respectively reflects the qualities of the chocolate suggested by the well
known and much loved packaging of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, Black Magic produced
by Nestlé and Cadbury’s plain chocolate Bournville. Jenkins described
the musical ingredients as such:
- Volume 1 is
‘a milk chocolate music selection with easy listening centres’.
- Volume 2
is ‘a dark chocolate music selection with mysterious centres’
- Volume 3
is ‘a plain chocolate music selection with vibrant aftertaste’.
To add to the complexity
Billy also composed some of the pieces (cross referencing titles, pitch,
tempo or instrumentation) as a companion to songs recorded on previous
(or even future) albums.
So, from Vol. 1, Pharoah
Sanders cross references with the aural portraits on ‘Entertainment USA’
(1994) – like Ronald Reagan, Elvis Presley and others. Bhopal is a portrait
of a place – as in Bilbao/St. Columbus Day from ‘Scratches of Spain’ (1987)
From Vol. 2, Girl
Getting Knocked Over cross pollinates across to Billy’s other 160 bpm road
pieces like High Street / Saturday from ‘Sounds Like Bromley’ (1982); Greenwich
One-Way System (‘Greenwich’ 1985); ‘Motorway at Night’ (1988); High
Street/Part Pedestrianised (‘Still Sounds Like Bromley’ 1997) and Commuting
(‘Uncommerciality’ 3).
And on Vol. 3, apart
from the aforementioned Commuting – which ipso facto relates to This Is
A Day To Forget and I Wanna Stay Here (‘Blues Zero Two’ 2002), there
is Land Of the Free – again a companion piece to ‘Entertainment USA’ .
Consumerism relates to Pointless Adorments and Coke Cans In Yer Garden
(‘Suburbia’ 1999), We All Wear Socks and We All Eat Food (‘East West’ 1996).
The eighteen tracks on the
three volumes were also written and programmed to play in a loop – so the
opening track of Volume 2, Commerciality, in the key of A follows on from
it’s relative minor F#m key of Bhopal, that closes Vol 1.
Vol 2 ends in Bb –
and we rise by a tone to the concert C of Marching Into Middle Age that
opens Vol 3. The third volume closes with Land Of the Free (also in C)
and we return to the start of Vol. 1 and Brilliant in A – the tone and
a half step down to the relative minor but executed here in a major key.
In 2003, musician, social
commentator and Billy listener Richard Russell penned a masterly
overview on the 'Uncommerciality' series. You can read it posted
on the Billy Jenkins Webzine here.
The 'Uncommerciality'
series, distributed by Cadiz Digital, will be available to download
worldwide from your favourite online store from Monday 5th July and
follow hot on the heels of the generic Jenkins 1980's albums 'Sounds
Like Bromley' and 'Greenwich', which have also been recently
made available online
- see below.
Purchase your ear candy on
the Recordings+Shop
page now!
Esteemed jazz critic John
Fordham gives the collection a four ****review
in The Guardian. Read it here!
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An Apology To Those Awaiting
CD Deliveries!
We at billy.com
extend our profuse apologies for customers who were awaiting paid orders.
There was an unforgivable communication breakdown with the Babel Label,
who have doggedly refused to communicate for the last two months with various
folks working on Billy's behalf.
The three albums in question
are 'Still Sounds Like Bromley', 'S.A.D.' and 'When The
Crowds Have Gone'.
Happily, outstanding orders
have now been dispatched. Hwoever, we are unable to source any more of
the above titles for the foreseeable future - an issue we would like resolved.
This issue does not affect
VOTP
CD
releases.
Meanwhile, the Recordings+Shop
page has been re-jigged to separate albums which are available either on
CD, on download, or both - hopefully making it easier to navigate through.
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Classic Billy Albums Remastered
for Download!

12th April saw the worldwide
release of two classic VOG Collective albums for download.
'Sounds Like Bromley'
(1982) and 'Greenwich' (1985) - described in the early editions
of The Penguin Guide to Jazz as 'one of the most distinctive British albums
of the 1980's'.
Wary of the limitations of
download compression, Mr Jenkins has had these genre busting sessions remastered
by the quiet genius Andy Le Vien at RMS Studios from virgin vinyl
- anticipating that some of the analogue warmth will be retained
The releases are the first
batch of a whole raft of download re-issues in 2010 that are highlighted
on the Archive
page.
You can purchase worldwide
through the usual online outlets - including Amazon,
7digital,
Tesco,
HMV
Digital and many others.
Fellow musician and journalist
Rod
Kitson has written a masterly overview of Jenkins' composing methods
in Greenwich Time which can be read here.
Begin the Billy MP3 forward
thinking retrospective by tapping and having a rummage in the Recordings+Shop
now!
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'Jazz Is A Verb!' - Glasgow
Herald Trumpets Billy!
'Trumpets!? What happened
to the firemen..!?' ©Steve Morrison
There's a superb article
in the Glasgow Herald by that most astute of Billy listeners, Keith
Bruce. He once wrote a memorable preview 22 years ago describing the
guitarist as 'an arsonist - not a fireman'.
Find out how he portrays
Billy in this century by spanking this link here!
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Free Download Single Released!
I
AM A MAN FROM LEWISHAM!!
FREE
DOWNLOAD SINGLE!!
'I Am A Man From Lewisham',
the title track from the new album, is now available as a free download!
Especially edited by Jenkins'
long-time producing maestro Tony Messenger, it's the guitarist's
first brave and belated step into this new fangled thing called 'downloading'......
It's a perfect appetizer
for hoovering down the whole album and is guaranteed to put a 'Spring'
in your step!
OFFICIAL
PRESS RELEASE FOR 'I AM A MAN FROM LEWISHAM'
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Hear Billy Live On BBC
R4!
'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 new album and conducting Humanist funerals took
place on Wednesday 24th February and can be listened to and enjoyed
by spanking this 'Midweek'
link!
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I Am A Man From Lewisham!
At last! After an enforced
hiatus away from the business due to personal, artistic and economical
complexities, the new Billy recording has arrived!
Released worldwide on 12th
April, you can also purchase the CD by spanking this Recordings+Shop
link!
You can download the album
worldwide (and other Billy releases) from most online stores.
Featuring his 'Songs of
Praise' ensemble, we at billy.com have to modestly say
that, once more, this music is truly the Sound of the City. Not many musicians
are documenting and making us take a step back to pause and appreciate
our daily surroundings like Jenkins does.
By gathering clusters of
musicians to resonate along the bylaws laid down by the composer (with
full endorsement to exercise ones human rights and right of freedom for
the benefit of all) - he creates a celebratory aural Love Fest of stinking,
joyous, wonderful civilization.
And, here in the UK, as we
teeter towards an insipid tick box totalitarianism-lite 'think as
the law says you will do' madness - we must treasure the sound of free
speech.
By humans. Not robots......
Spank that Recordings+Shop
link now - CD available worldwide for £9.99 (including p + p)!
OFFICIAL
PRESS RELEASE FOR 'I AM A MAN FROM LEWISHAM'
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One Step On From The Blues!
'At your service.
Literally.'
©Peter Daub
The Blues is an affirmation
of life.
For a man to call his free
and fast flowing instrumental ensemble since 1981 the The Voice of God
Collective - citing that 'the Voice of the People is the Voice of God
- and the religion is music' and then preach the blues seriously since
the mid 1990's, suggests a man who fully accepts that there is but one
life, with no 'Invisible Friend' to guide one to 'the Promised Land' and
supposed eternity.
Add a thorough grounding
in backstage antics as a pre pubescent C of E choirboy ('great music, crap
lyrics...'), it is hardly surprising that bj.com is proud
to announce that Billy (now he's a properly grown up fiftysomething) has
been studying and training with the British Humanist Association
.
Since 2008 he has become
an Accredited Humanist Officiant approved by the BHA to conduct
non religious funerals.
'I have
nothing against those who need spiritual guidance to help them through
life, although I draw the line when religious fundamentalists evoke one
or all of what I describe as the 'Three 'C's: Conning, Controlling and
Killing.....', says Jenkins.
'The work
will complement my performance and recording. Most of my music is a celebration
of existence. I let musicians express themselves through my music.'
'Now,
thanks to the insightful and thorough BHA training, I can be of
service to those who find death has suddenly hit them smack between the
eyes. The role does not involve me as a musician, but with my experience
as a facilitator of live events, I will be able to, hopefully, assist in
celebrating the life of a person whose death has left a terrible hole in
the lives of those who knew and loved them.'
'A fitting
funeral ceremony can do so much to assist and accept closure and to open
the door to the initially painful and empty path of life one has to
continue with. It is a threshold that has to be crossed.'
'Amazingly,
too many people are still unaware that a funeral can be
non religious and I recommend
you find out more about the work of the BHA and their ceremonies (they
also officiate at weddings, baby namings and civil partnerships) at www.humanism.org.uk.'
Billy will be mostly conducting
funerals in and around SE London and you
can reach him via the BHA
website (type in 'funerals' and 'SE' for the postcode)
or the bj.com Contact
page.
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