I AM A MAN FROM LEWISHAM
VOTP
VOCD 105
1. I Am A Man From Lewisham
2. On (Catford) Broadway
3. Francis Drake Bowls Club
4. Deptford Market
5. Church of the Ford Transit
Mini Bus
6. Terraced Fast Food
7. Clock Tower of Power
8. Throw Them Blues In The
Recycling Bin
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Billy Jenkins – guitar, vocals,
harmonica
Nathaniel Facey – alto Saxophone
Dylan Bates – violin &
pocket cornet
Gail Brand – trombone
Oren Marshall – tuba
Charles Hayward – drum kit,
percussion, melodica
with
Carol Grimes – backing vocals
Ayanna Witter-Johnson –
backing vocals
Merlin Hayward – backing
vocals
Dave Ramm – organ
Jim Howard – trumpet
Charlie Hart – violin
and the VOGC Junior League
Choir:
Nathaniel Facey, Carol Grimes, Lesley Hayward, Merlin Hayward, Caitlin
Howard, Ella Howard, Jim Howard, Phoebe Howard, David Marshall, Oren Marshall,
Ralina Marshall, Rachel Marshall, Angela Menezes, Joe Wilkes, Ayanna Witter-Johnson.
Coming in like a kind of
‘evangelist group therapy’ this is cross-genre experimentalism from a crack
team of musicians. The band, held together by Billy’s rabid guitar work,
features iconoclastic drummer Charles Hayward originally known for his
work with This Heat and Oren Marshall on tuba who can effortlessly cross
from free form to nailing a tight bass line. Innovative improviser Gail
Brand on trombone, Blues Collective member Dylan Bates on violin and pocket
cornet, and Empirical band member Nathaniel Facey on alto saxophone (who
met Billy when he was taught by him at the Royal Academy of Music) complete
the line up. Spontaneously directed by Billy, the ensemble rides and falls
on his ability to pick up on subtle inflections from his players and to
capitalise on their instant creativity.
"They don't make records like this any more. Stuff a load of musicians
in a recording room, switch the red light on and hear them resonate off
one another, as they scrape sounds out of the air. We need the sound of
people, not machines. Machines break down, as do people, but when musicians
are a' buzzing it's the stuff of life! And we all need more of it!”
- Billy Jenkins 2010
'The
south Londoner's eruptions of punk-improv guitar-playing, knack of assembling
gloriously incompatible ingredients, and his underlying ire about the urban
downside always cut through. I Am a Man from Lewisham is the surreal, chaotic
and disarmingly charming result.'
John Fordham / The Guardian
'One of the great unclassifiable forces in the British underground. His
ever-fascinating career takes a joyful turn on an album of pubsy knees-ups,
blues growling and deliriously rude brass. He also conducts
humanist funerals. Versatile!'
Gavin Martin / The Daily Mirror
'If there were any second takes along the way, it doesn't show. This is
honest, rough edged music of immense vitality and charm. In a post-millennial
world tilted towards the bland and the consumerist, Billy Jenkins is worth
his weight in gold. Anyone yet to encounter him is in for a treat when
they do so.'
Chris May / www.allaboutjazz.com
'Jenkins
teases with his mastery of blues, ragtime, ironic rock soloing and Carpathian
folk, and astounds, as he invites these various forms to mate.'
Stewart Lee / The Sunday Times
' The punk-ish outbursts and spontaneous invention are balanced by infuriatingly
catchy tunes and some tight ensemble work, and it's all grand, inventive
fun.'
Kenny Mathieson
/ The Scotsman
'If
you're a musician and you want to learn the art of thinking and playing
differently, this album would be a great place to start. Don't be put off
by the naff artwork.'
Robert Shore / METRO
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SONGS OF PRAISE Live!
Babel BDV 2768
1. Brilliant
2. Donkey Droppings
3. Blues Is Calling Me
4. First Time The Earth
Shook
5. Dancing In Ornette Coleman’s
Head
6. Bhopal
7. Sunny
8. Blues Stay Away From
Me
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Billy Jenkins - guitar, shouting
and singing
Nathaniel Facey - alto saxophone
Dylan Bates - violin
Gail Brand – trombone
Oren Marshall - tuba
Charles Hayward – drums
Recorded very live and dangerous
off the desk in October 2006. A 'forward thinking retrospective collection'.
Jazz funk, free form danger, corny pop tunes and serious political work
all wrapped up with a blanket of blues....
4**** review in The Times
4**** review in Sunday
Times
4**** review in Evening
Standard
4**** review in Jazzwise
5**** review in Time
Out
'Blues has always been a wonderfully cathartic music that's captured here
with the band and audience sharing a kind of baptismal group therapy. Jenkins
is completely non-religious but the life affirming verve that one and all
display is nothing short of a devotional Sunday session in the local parish
church.'
Mike Flynn / Jazzwise
'This live set by the guitarist, comedian and bowls enthusiast is one of
the finest of his long career. The wayward world of Jenkins has never sounded
more enticing.'
John Bungey / The Times
'Featuring one of the Bromley bluesman's most inspired bands, this album
preserves what sounds to have been a great gig, at Leeds's Wardrobe, for
posterity. Like much of Jenkins's work, Songs of Praise is deadly serious
at heart.'
Chris Parker / Vortex Jazz CD Reviews
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WHEN THE CROWDS HAVE GONE
Babel
BDV 2450
1. In My
Bones
2. I Like
Rain
3. Get
The Poison Out
4. If
I Where A Lollipop Man
5. The
Tide Is Out
6. Blues
Is Calling Me
7. When
Money's Really Tight
8. Come
Round And See Me
9. Sitting
On The Dock Of Ebay
10. Trouble In Mind
11. Everything's Too
Fast
12. This Room
13. Cry Your Eyes
Till They're Red
Currently
unavailable on CD
A veritable blubfest from
a bandleader without any bookings for his wonderful musicians. Armed with
a handmade Lucas Parlour acoustic guitar, blues harp and rack, Billy sings
how he feels. One minute washed up, the next one drowning. Isolation offset
with the intensity of commercial intrusion. The stark reality of possibly
seeking a non musical subsistence.
Joined by Steve Watts (double
bass) and violinist Dylan Bates on three tracks, this is perhaps Billy’s
most intense release, recorded during the hot summer of 2003 with the complexity
of new UK public performance laws hanging heavy in the air. The present
is bleak for the practising musician. The future is even more uncertain.
But ultimately, the warm
vibrations of steel string and bitter sweet vocal chord, captured with
fine sensitivity and spontaneity by producer Pete Bennett leave the listener
bathed in optimism and survival.
All lyrics are reproduced
in the CD booklet.
Blues CD of the Week in the
Birmingham
Post.
Jazz CD of the Week in The
Observer.
'Billy Jenkins' latest release finds him channeling personal angst into
self-penned songs that let
warmth temper pain. His own 'Blood On The Carpet Tiles' perhaps ?‘ Pete
Sargeant / Blues Matters!
‘His darkest
record yet. The odd moment of humour and the inimitable guitar playing
(notably Sitting on the Dock of eBay) leaven the message'.
John Bungey / The Times
'The guitar
lines are so tightly wound they may unravel in a premature heap. A perverse
pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless.'
Mike Butler / City Life
Currently
unavailable on CD
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S.A.D.
Babel
BDV 9615
1. Ain't Gonna
Play No Jazz No More
2. Don't You
Turn Your Back
3. Pissed Off
Boy
4. Every Night
You Turn Away
5. Where Did
I Stay Last Night?
6. I'm On An
Island
7. Where Are
You?
8. I'm Stuck
On You
9. Walking Back
To Crappiness
10. Jazz Had A Baby (and
they called it avant garde)
11. Give Me The Money Quick
12. Goodbye Blues
Currently
unavailable on CD
The first Blues Collective recording.
BJ takes all the solos, Thad Kelly and Mike Pickering hold down the groove,
whilst organist Dave Ramm and harp player Whispering Gerry Tighe gently
caress the melancholia. The Fun Horns of Berlin are just some of the guests.
Contains the classics 'Pissed Off Boy', 'Jazz Had A Baby (And They Called
It Avant Garde)' and many others. In fact - twelve tunes. One for each
bar of the blues.....
''Anyone who loves
the blues well played will enjoy this music, since Jenkins consistently
produces the goods with a series of blistering guitar solos set against
a tight, vigorous band. S.A.D. should be required listening for all aspiring
(and many practising) blues musicians.'
Chris Parker / The Times
'The album's a winner
for style and quirky British originality.'
Mel Wright / Blueprint
Currently
unavailable on CD
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East/West
Babel
BDV 9601
1. (Not) Close
To You
2. And The Wall
Came Down
3. Wanderin'
Star
4. Trabants
Into The Sunset
5. We All Wear
Socks
6. Club Re-unification
7. We All Eat
Food
8. Hopes
9. Fears
10. What A Wonderful World
11. The Unquestioned Answer
12. Commercialism Is A Cancer
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The Fun Horns of Berlin come from the
old East . The Voice of God Collective from the West. Jenkins 're-unificates'
an eleven piece band that includes Huw Warren and Dave Ramm on keyboards
& Roy Dodds and Steve Noble on drumkits. 'Close To You' (yes, The Carpenters!),
'Wanderin' Star' and 'What A Wonderful World' jostle with mega ensemble
scoring. It all ends in tears.....
'Deliciously understated, so
that when the temperature rises during the improvised parts, you feel the
heat instantly. Irresistible.'
Chris Blackford / Rubberneck
'Even better than
his live performances.'
Steve Henwood / Venue Magazine
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Suburbia
Babel
BDV 9926
'Suburbia - how I love you,
how I love you,
Suburbia - there's no stars
above you.
Suburbia - dormitory from
life,
Suburbia - margarine for
the knife,
Suburbia, Suburbia - a place
to come from......'
1. Pointless Adornments
2. Hello, I'm Your Next
Door Neighbour
3. The Perfect Lawn
4. The Unknown Car ACross
Your Drive
5. Corner Shop With Security
Grill
6. Coke Cans In Your Garden
7. Silence Stalks The
Sleeping Streets
8. Suburbia (A Place To
Come From)
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BJ directs saxophonist Mark Lockheart,
Dave Ramm, Martin France, Roy Dodds, Steve Watts, The Fun Horns Of Berlin,
a string quartet, screaming kids, a theremin, lawn mowers, a washing machine
and the kitchen sink.......
'Lounge muzak, avant garde
minimalism, cheery music hall, 60's cellar-groove, unclean blues and Faustian-pact
heavy metal are amongst the delightful elements compressed into Billy's
kinetic kick-ass tumbleweed.' Martin
Longley / Birmingham Post
'A conceptual masterpiece...
a concept album about Bromley as a home of the blues, with all its attendant
irritations and virtues alike. The music is vintage Jenkins, bits and pieces
from all over the place, fused by great playing and sheer determination.
American readers will be baffled by him; but he is, along with the Princess
Royal and Walthamstow dog stadium, one of our national treasures.'
Penguin Guide To Jazz On CD (5th Ed)
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Mayfest '94
Babel
BDV 9502
1. Arrival Of
The Tourists
2. Fat People/Clowning
Glory
3. Heavy Metal/Eurostern
4. Cuttlefish
5. Greenwich
One Way System
6. Bilbao (St.
Columbus Day)/ 4.Saxophonie Nr.3 - The
Mayfest Variations
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Live and very dangerous. The Fun Horns
of Berlin had not played with BJ, Huw Warren, Steve Watts and Martin France
for half a year when they stepped onto the stage of the Old Renfrew Ferry
on Glasgow's River Clyde. Jenkins might not consider himself a jazzman
- but if pushed would agree this is how jazz should be made.
A 'Jazz CD Of The Year' in The Scotsman
1995
'An astonishing display.
Sounds like it was conducted by Carl Stalling.' Stewart
Lee / The Sunday Times
'Alternating imaginative
and idiosyncratic ensemble arrangements with dazzling soloing, incredible
passages of free playing, and large dollops of humour.' Kenny Mathieson
/ The Scotsman
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Still Sounds Like Bromley
Babel
BDV 9717
1. High Street/Part
Pedestrianised
2. Old Men In
Flairs
3. They Built
A Ring Road In My Garden
4. Barry Mitchell/Wing
Music
5. Suburban
Socialising/Saturday Night
6. Dressing
Up For Church
7. The Rust
On The Screws Of The CHurchill Theatre
8. We Don't
Like There (Anymore)
Currently
unavailable on CD
'Sounds Like Bromley' (Plymouth Sounds
LBB1) was released on vinyl in 1982. This is the update, a decade later.
Heavier, more crowded, more metal, concrete and commerce. David Vine's
steel pans, Django Bates' and acid king James Taylor's keyboards form the
aural backdrop for saxophonist Iain Ballamy, trombonist Roland Bates, bass
guitarist Mark Mondesir and drummer Martin France. Stylistically set in
the early Seventies, it is a companion CD to the 'True Love Collection'
(Babel BDV 9821).
A 'Top Twenty Jazz CD Of The Year'
for the Virgin Megastore 1997
'A zany but curiously
touching portrait of the Jenkins home town as it is now.'
Dave Gelly / The Observer
'This is classic Jenkins material.
Billy's music may sound off-centre at times (well, all the time really)
but when listening with a smile you can fully appreciate his reasoning
and enjoy his musical view of life.'
David Lands / Jazz Journal
Currently
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Entertainment USA
Babel
BDV 9401
1. Ronald Reagan
2. Ray Charles
3. Johnny Cash
4. Doris Day
5. Don King
6. Oliver North/Twisted
7. Charles Manson
8. Elvis Presley
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Back porch ruminations on a far away
country as perceived from media and second-hand information alone. Especially
written for alto saxophonist Martin Speake, who shares the soloing with
BJ playing a Squire Stratocaster with whammy bar. Ex-President Ronald Reagan
sings the opening track. Honestly.
'Only reveals its treasures
on repeated listening; Jenkins has a finely judged sense of form, so when
he twists country and radio swing the results are morbidly fascinating.'
Ben
Watson /
Hi-Fi News
'Some inspired alto saxophone
work by Martin Speake (fortunately Bill Clinton wasn't available). Essential
listening at the White House.'
John Lewis / Time
Out
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BLUES ZERO TWO
VOTP
VOCD 024
1. Blues Zero
Two
2. This Is A
Day To Forget
3. I Wanna Stay
Here
4. Don't Eat
That Cake
5. White Van
Man
6. Down In The
Deep Freeze
7. A Virus Called
The Blues
8. I'm Staying
In The Car
9. I Want My
Tea
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The 2002 CD 'BLUES ZERO TWO'
is hardcore Blues Collective.
Trains, consumerism, food
fads, work ethics and the socio-industrial infrastructure all come under
the microscope - and this time we can guarantee there are no screaming
kids, cruise ship organs, or 'kitchen sink' rattling.
Produced by Jon Wilkinson
at Steam Room Studios in London's East End - BJ, Dylan Bates, Richard Bolton,
Thad Kelly & Mike Pickering have been captured in all their raw
magnificence, as they serve up another wry aural cartoon collection of
society's foibles.
All pieces are BJ penned
except Charles Brown's 'A Virus Called The Blues'.
A 'Pick Of The Year' in Blues
In Britain magazine 2002
'The fantastic
Blues Collective drive him along to new heights. His lyrics, as ever, are
full of wit, profundity and crap jokes. This man should be knighted. Now.'
Martin
Longley / Sheffield Telegraph
'If you're
a Jenkins fan, this update on his Blues Collective is right in the pocket.
The guitar-playing is often manically breathtaking, and tracks such as
I Wanna Stay Here touch the heart as well as the head and the funny bone.'
John
Fordham / The Guardian
'The present Blues Collective line-up kicks ass with Thad Kelly's pulsating,
mesmeric bass grooves and Mike Pickering's precision drumming providing
the perfect backdrop for some vintage Jenkins guitar work (and not a pedal
board in sight). Peter Quinn /Jazzwise
'Throughout,
Jenkins' angry guitar playing is powerfully effective and the contributions
from Dylan Bates (violin), Richard Bolton (guitar), Thaddeus Kelly (bass)
and Mike Pickering (drums) - all outstanding musicians - are masterful.
Trevor
Hodgett / Blues In Britain
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LIFE
VOTP
VOCD 023
1. I Wanna Be
Connected
2. First Day
In Hell
3. My Waters
Run Clear
4. There Is
No Lord Up There
5. Blues Stay
Away From Me
6. I Ain't Going
Yet
7. Bye Bye Blues
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LIFE. A tricky subject. BJ
addresses this one by tweaking the Blues Collective A-team and adding shades
of VOGC format madness. The result is five new pieces of music and two
golden oldies from the 1930s and the '50s - unleashed in a soundwall of
Secular Gospel, performed by an eight piece band and the 16 strong VOGC
Junior league Choir.
Such was the complexity of
addressing such a wide subject matter, Billy utilised no less than ELEVEN(!)
consultants, even including an unconscious one!
Musician and recording engineer
Jon Franchi was in a coma from a terrible bike accident when sent mixes
for his approval. The ruse was simple. If John came round, the mixes were
fine. If he remained comatose - re-mix until lucid.
We are very happy to announce
that:
a) Jon has pretty much made
a full recovery, and,
b) 'LIFE' is definitely
a life-enhancing record!
'Only
one in 20,000 English bluesmen inhabits a recognisable reality.
Step forward Billy Jenkins,
anarcho guitarmeister and arch-demythologiser. Pure genius.' Mike
Butler / City Life
'Life is essential
listening from a man well on his way to establishing himself as a national
treasure.' Chris Parker / Jazz Review
'You probably need to
see one of Jenkins’s gently deranged shows to appreciate the joke fully
but this is the Blues Collective’s best album yet.'
John Bungey / The Times
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First Aural Art Exhibition
VOTP
VOCD 921
1. Brilliant
2. Expensive
Equipment
3. Fat People
4. The Blues
5. Sade's Lips
6. Johnny Cash
7. Discoboats
At Two O'Clock
8. Cooking Oil
9. Donkey Droppings
10. Elvis Presley
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Confused? First time buyer? Start Here!
Favourites culled from the cassette and vinyl collection 1984-91 by eighteen
Jenkins aficionados. Many of the regular Collective musicians are
featured, inc. saxophonists Mark Ramsden, Mark Lockheart, Iain Ballamy,
Martin Speake; trombonists Ashley Slater and Dave Jago, and drummers Roy
Dodds, Dawson Miller and Martin France.
A 'Top Ten CD Of The Year' in GQ
Magazine 1992.
'Billy Jenkins's
music sounds better the more you listen to it. His garrulous, assiduously
planned arrangements are an inspiring assault on snobbery and mystification.
His musicians (and he has managed to collect some of the best) have no
choice but to play more attentively, more spikely - better.' Ben
Watson / The Wire
'Jenkins channels his
wayward anarchy with deceptive ease whilst saxophonist Ian Ballamy is captured
at close to his best. Magnificent.' Neville
Hadsley / Birmingham Post
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sadtimes.co.uk
VOTP
VOCD 002
1. Badlands
2. Cliff Richard Spoke
To Me
3. Resting On My Bed
Of Blues
4. sadtimes.co.uk
5. I'm Happy
6. The Duke and Me
7. I Love Your Smell
8. Like John Lee Said
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Blues Collective touring band raise
the studio roof! Electric electric violinist Dylan Bates, electric electric
guitarist Richard Bolton, electric electric bass guitarist Thaddeus Kelly
and the acoustic Mike Pickering on drums, join BJ and friends for what
is already becoming a classic release.
'I Love Your Smell', 'Cliff Richard
Spoke To Me', 'Badlands' - every Jenkins-penned tune destined to become
a blues standard.
''His phrases smash
through the iron bars laid down by Thad Kelly (bass) and Mike Pickering
(drums) - eeerrrgh! - with a gestural panache that has NEVER heretofore
been achieved by British electric guitarists.'
Ben Watson / The Wire
'Very bluesy, very guitary
and also great fun. As for the band, they are in perfect harmony all the
way.'
Laurie Stead / Huddersfield Daily Examiner
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UNCOMMERCIALITY VOL. 1
VOTP VOCAD 108
1. Brilliant
2. Pharoah Sanders
3. Margaret's Menstural
Problem
4. Sade's Lips
5. Spastics Dancing
6. Bhopal
'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
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extracts: 
AVAILABLE
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Billy Jenkins - electric
guitar; Iain Ballamy - alto + tenor sax; Dai Pritchard - alto, baritone
sax; bass clarinet; Tim Matthewman - electric bass; Dawson Miller – percussion;
Roy Dodds – drumkit.
Plus: additional voice
on track 1 - James Matthewman.
Recorded Jan/Feb 1986 at
Waterfront Studios, Rotherhithe, London SE16.
Produced by Tony Messenger.
A milk chocolate music selection
with easy listening centres......
‘An impressive
example of a man in absolute command of his materials. Vibrant in a way
that often recalls the spirit of the late Charles Mingus, Uncommerciality
is an accomplished and sometimes provocative piece of work’.
Richard Williams / The Times
'South London free-jazz
catalyst Jenkins issued this large-scale set of musical collisions – with
UK jazz giants including Django Bates, Iain Ballamy, Mark Lockheart, Martin
France and many others – on vinyl and cassette in 1991. For all its outward
lawlessness, however, this is some of Jenkins's most subtly conceived and
orderly music'.
John Fordham / The Guardian
AVAILABLE
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UNCOMMERCIALITY VOL. 2
VOTP VOCAD 109
1. Commerciality
2. Isn't It
a Great World We Live In
3. Girl Getting
Knocked Over
4. Black Magic
5. I Will Always
Love You
6. Blue Broadway
'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
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extracts:
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Billy Jenkins - electric
guitar, piano, voice; Iain Ballamy - Soprano, alto + tenor sax; Dai Pritchard
- Trumpet, alto, baritone sax, clarinet; Ashley Slater - tuba, bass trombone,
percussion; Charlie Hart - electric bass, accordion, violin; Roy Dodds
– drumkit.
Plus: Roland Dartnell
(electric drill + plates); VOGC Junior League Vocal Chorus - Choir Mistress
Suzy M., Laura, Leanne + Nicola Dartnell; Grace + Roxanne Messenger, Joanne
Green, on track 3: Steve Berry – cello, on track 4+5: Steve Berry - double
bass, on track 6: Chris Batchelor – trumpet; Mark Lockheart - tenor saxophone;
Django Bates – organ; Martin France - ride cymbal.
Recorded June/Aug 1988 at
Waterfront Studios, Rotherhithe London SE16 & Studio 99, SE18. Produced
by Tony Messenger.
A dark chocolate music selection
with mysterious centres.....
'This
(Vol. 2 ) is jazz saying something to a generation so used to music that
doesn’t say anything. If there are any jazz fans at all under the age of
sixteen it’s Billy Jenkins’ fault. But where Hancock and Davis were precious
and po-faced about their mysterious arts, Billy takes it into the real
world of car crashes and the scandalous price of sweets.'
Richard Russell / Billy Jenkins webzine.com
'South London free-jazz
catalyst Jenkins issued this large-scale set of musical collisions – with
UK jazz giants including Django Bates, Iain Ballamy, Mark Lockheart, Martin
France and many others – on vinyl and cassette in 1991. For all its outward
lawlessness, however, this is some of Jenkins's most subtly conceived and
orderly music'.
John Fordham / The Guardian
AVAILABLE
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- OR YOUR FAVOURITE ONLINE STORE
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UNCOMMERCIALITY VOL. 3
VOTP VOCAD 110
1. Marching Into Middle
Age
2. Commuting
3. Dancing In Ornette
Coleman's Head
4. Consumerism
5. Expensive Equipment
6. Land of the Free
'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
Spank the SoundCloud to hear
extracts:
AVAILABLE
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Billy Jenkins - electric
guitar, keyboards, violin, electric bass voice; Mark Ramsden - alto saxophone;
Stuart Hall - electric violin; Winston Blissett - electric bass on tracks
1,2,5; Steve McManus - electric bass on track 3, double bass on track 4;
Steve Watts - double bass on track 6; Thebe Lipere - djembe, calipers +
clanging; Martin France - quite a big drumkit.
Plus: Track 1: Harriet
Jenkins - spoken word; Dave Ramm - Philicorda organ; Dad’s Horn Section
& VOGS Male Voice Choir: John Eacott – trumpet; Mark Lockheart - tenor
saxophone; Frank Mead - alto sax; Ian Trimmer - tenor sax; Dave Jago –
trombone, on Tracks 2+3: Maria Lamburn - viola+violin; Huw Warren - cello
+ piano on track 2, on Track 4: Robin Aspland – piano, on Track 5: Davo
Cooke - heavy metal guitar, Robin Aspland – piano, on Track 6: Steve Nobel
–bugle. Pre-recording research tyrumpet by Chris Batchelor.
Recorded May/Nov 1991 at
Wood Wharf Studios, Greenwich SE10. Produced by Tony Messenger.
A plain chocolate music selection
with vibrant aftertaste......
'Each
track (on Vol. 3) has a real edge, while retaining the jazz vocabulary
in mock form, at times in free counterpoint, other times as a Bonzo Dog
show-band from hell. While successive critics praise Billy for his humour
and what they perceive as pastiche, the single most abiding quality in
Billy’s music is actually his anger, his rage against our tepid and tedious
modernity in all its moulded plastic forms.'
Richard Russell / Billy Jenkins webzine.com
'South London free-jazz catalyst Jenkins issued this large-scale set of
musical collisions – with UK jazz giants including Django Bates, Iain Ballamy,
Mark Lockheart, Martin France and many others – on vinyl and cassette in
1991. For all its outward lawlessness, however, this is some of Jenkins's
most subtly conceived and orderly music'.
John Fordham / The Guardian
AVAILABLE
AS A DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON
- Play.com
- OR YOUR FAVOURITE ONLINE STORE
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SOUNDS LIKE BROMLEY
VOTP VOVD 106
1. High Street/Saturday
2. Fat People
3. Parking Meters
4. Sunday Morning
5. Supermarkets
6. Council Offices
7. Growing Up In Bromley
8. Exodus From Bromley
AVAILABLE
AS A DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON
- 7Digital
- Play.com
- OR YOUR FAVOURITE ONLINE STORE
Billy Jenkins - Guitar, Piano
Simon Etchell - trumpet
Neill MacColl - Guitar
Dawson - percussion
Ian Trimmer - tenor saxophone
Dave Jago - trombone
Tim Matthewman - bass
Roy Dodds - drums
Produced by Tony Messenger
Originally
released as a 12" album in 1982 (Plymouth Sounds LBB1), the album has been
especially remastered by Andy Le Vien at RMS Studios for digital download
direct from virgin vinyl.
Paul Colbert, writing in
the sleevenote to the original release of Sounds Like Bromley claimed
“…the Voice of God Collective are making a sound rarely heard – their own.”
Which is why, listening to the album a millennium and several decades later,
we can say that the band still sound fresh and modern.
That alone would be a good
reason to reissue this, the first BJ and the Voice of God Collective album,
and the first of Mr Jenkins’ series of pungent observations of his South
East London manor. Other good reasons include the quality of the musicianship
(Billy has consistently brought great young musicians together for his
recordings) and the genius of the Trimmer/Jenkins writing team, already
almost a decade old by the early 80s.
It is also instructive to
reassess Sounds in the light of the current interest in so called
‘punk jazz’. You could make the argument that this was the first attempt
to make jazz with punk attitude (the original press release points out
the ‘deliberate insertion of an instrument performed by a musician unfamiliar
with it’s technique…). Billy’s extraordinary guitar playing, all sharp
elbows, still sounds revolutionary today.
What is extraordinary is
that this ground-breaking album has languished in the analogue version
of a Bromley lock up for 25 years. It’s not before time that Sounds get’s
a digital release, re-mastered from the virgin vinyl, and that a new generation
get the chance to hear one of the essential British records – of any genre.
AVAILABLE
AS A DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON
- 7Digital
- Play.com
- OR YOUR FAVOURITE ONLINE STORE
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GREENWICH
VOTP VOVD 107
1. Greenwich One Way System
2. Dreadnought Seamens'
Hospital
3. Rope
4. Arrival of the Tourists
5. An Empty River
6. Meridian Council Estate
(Vandalise
Tourists' Property Not Residents')
7. Discoboats at Two O'Clock
AVAILABLE
AS A DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON
- 7Digital
- Play.com
- OR YOUR FAVOURITE ONLINE STORE
Billy Jenkins (e gtr)
Iain Ballamy (a sax, t sax)
Skid Solo (a sax, bar sax,
b clt)
Dave Jago (tbn)
Steve Barry (db)
Dawson (per)
Roy Dodds (dms)
with the VOG String Trio
- Andy McFarlane (vln); Patrick White (vla) & Steve Berry (cel).
Produced by Tony Messenger
Originally
released as a 12" album in 1985(Wood Wharf Records WWR852), the album has
been especially remastered by Andy Le Vien at RMS Studios for digital download
direct from virgin vinyl.
The 1985 press release for
Greenwich, Billy Jenkins’ second Voice of God Collective album, describes
his compositions as ‘Post Punk Impressionistic’. The acerbic opener, a
peon to the ‘Greenwich One Way System’, is certainly that… but more, with
the advantage of hindsight, it’s an indication of just how unique Jenkins’
vision was and is.
Following the earlier and
also reissued Sounds Like Bromley, and predicting the latest I Am A Man
From Lewisham, Greenwich offered a fiercely critical, furious, humourous
response to the area of South East London that Billy has, and still does,
call home. While critics have concentrated on the quirky themes and the
left-field humour, they’ve often overlooked just how brilliant Billy’s
music is and how cleverly his fantastic Voice of God groups have interpreted
these tricky themes.
After a quarter of a century
Greenwich is once again available, this time as a digital download (but
re-mastered from the virgin vinyl), providing the opportunity to reassess
one of the landmark albums of the 1980s.
Billy recalled his thoughts
on each 'Greenwich' composition for The Billy Jenkins Webzine
- which can be read here.
"Jenkins
as tone poet. The aural imagery is magnificent. All questions about the
guitarist's seriousness (in the sense of viability) as a musician are settled
by 'Greenwich,' which remains one of the most distinctive British jazz
albums of the 1980's."
* * * * The Penguin Guide to Jazz on Record.
"Hugely entertaining." Ron Atkins / The Guardian
"'Greenwich
One Way System' is not the most exciting title for a track on an
album."
Sarah Ward / Capital Radio
"A left field stunner" John
Gill / Time Out
AVAILABLE
AS A DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON
- 7Digital
- Play.com
- OR YOUR FAVOURITE ONLINE STORE
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True Love Collection
Babel
BDV 9821
CD
OUT OF PRINT, BUT NOW AVAILABLE AS A DOWNLOAD
FROM
babel.ithinkmusic.com
1. Invocation
I
2. Mellow Yellow
3. Invocation
II
4. Yesterday
Once More
5. Invocation
III
6. Everybody's
Talking
7. Invocation
IV
8. How Deep
Is Your Love
9. Invocation
V
10. Feeelin' Groovy
11. Invocation VI
12. Sunny
13. Altercation
14. Invocation VI
15. Dancing In The Street
16. ConsummationI
En route back to the blues and his
guitar playing roots, BJ starts the reverse trend by exploring Seventies
Pop tunes. Django Bates, Iain Ballamy, Roy Dodds, Dave Ramm, Christine
Tobin Steve Watts and others weave their unique skills over 'Mellow Yellow',
'Everybody's Talkin', 'Feeling Groovy', 'How Deep Is Your Love' and other
imitation paste gems.
'This fusion of piss-take
with passionate musicianship succeeds in laying bare the process by which
music manipulates our emotions. You know you have been conned - and you
loved every minute of it.'
Lisa Gee / The Guardian
'There is a kind of genius
on our doorstep. Don't let him die in poverty.'
Stewart Lee / Q Magazine
CD unavailable.
Download from babel.ithinkmusic.com
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Scratches of Spain
Babel
BDV 9404
CD
OUT OF PRINT, BUT NOW AVAILABLE AS A DOWNLOAD
FROM
babel.ithinkmusic.com
1. Monkey Men
2. Cuttlefish
3. Barcelona
4. Benidorm
Motorway Service
5. Bilbao/St.
Columbus Day
6. Cooking Oil
7. McDonalds
Some call this Jenkins' classic recording.
From the micky-take Miles cover spoof to the pathetic trumpet playing of
Skid Solo over such gems as 'Benidorm Motorway Services', 'McDonald's,
'Cuttlefish' and 'Cooking Oil' - it would be hard to disagree. Billy does.
But then he would.....
Django Bates, Ashley Slater and Iain
Ballamy lead the superlative playing.
'The ensemble is swollen,
the intentions are ambitious, the lunacy gets out of control, and Jenkins
succeeds in all his target areas. This incredibly dense and detail-stuffed
epic feels like a massive-budget project, even though it almost certainly
wasn't.'
Martin Longley / Jazz on CD
'Oh no, it's Billy Jenkins.
Listen and be rudely awakened, or better still get blind drunk and re-live
those package tour nightmares.'
Lindsay MacRae / Q Magazine
CD unavailable.
Download from babel.ithinkmusic.com
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AIN'T GOING YET
Flickering Light Productions
DVD Lawn Bowls Documentary
Music by Billy Jenkins
Secure online purchase at
www.jazzcds.co.uk.
A delightful, gently crafted
45 minute film, made by Dave Eyre and Peter Cordwell celebrating the centenary
of Francis Drake Bowls Club, Hilly Fields, Brockley, whilst also inviting
other people to play the 'gracious game'. Music in the film and the narrative
is voiced over by jazz/blues icon Billy Jenkins, who is also captain of
Francis Drake BC.
Three Jenkins compositions
are featured:
The title track 'Ain't Going
Yet' is taken from the Blues Collective CD 'LIFE' (VOTP 2002) and the first
half of the match itself is accompanied by 'Benidorm Motorway Services'
from 'Scratches of Spain' (reissued by Babel 1994 but currently out of
print) - featuring Bollywood Brass Band trombonist Dave Jago and keyboard
gymnast Django Bates.
The second half of the match
is edited to 'The Perfect Lawn' from 'Suburbia' (Babel 1999), which features
Polar Bear lynchpin Mark Lockheart on tenor saxophone, Dave Ramm on keyboards
and drummer Roy Dodds.
The film has been made by
Plumstead film-maker Dave Eyre and local journalist Peter Cordwell, editor
of Greenwich Council's newspaper, Greenwich Time.
The DVD also features the
three music tracks set to bowls images as stand alone extras. All
proceeds go to the bowls club.
'Lovely, gently eccentric
and utterly charming' Mike Flynn / Jazzwise
'I absolutely loved
it. Incredibly well done and put together.Really should be sold to the
BBC as an quintessentially English Docu-drama.'
Helena Argüelles / Essential Time Out
'Wonderful! Loved
it!' Simon
Thackray / The Shed
BEFORE ORDERING FROM OUTSIDE
THE U.K., CHECK THAT YOUR MACHINE CAN READ ZERO REGION PAL DISCS!
The balm of Billy and bowls
- yours for only £12 from www.jazzcds.co.uk.
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BLUES AL FRESCO
Espresso Animation
DVD 1
The Blues Collective on
DVD !
1. opening
titles
2. The Duke
And Me
3. I'm
Happy
4. This Is A
Day To Forget
5. White
Van Man
6. I'm
Staying In The Car
7. There
Is No Lord Up There
8. Thaddeus'
bass solo
9. Jazz
Had A Baby (and they called it avant garde).....
10. ....continued
& credits
Secure online purchase at
www.jazzcds.co.uk.
Captured for the first time
on video! The master stage performer tells it 'like it wasn't, isn't and
never will be' as the Blues Collective startle unsuspecting lunchtime
picnickers at London's Victoria Embankment Gardens.
By filming in the daylight,
director Phil Vallentin fully captures the way Billy and his band bring
one and all into their strange blues world of suburban melancholia.
Great playing, great sound
and great directing.
Running at 41 minutes, the
film sees the band execute wonderful renditions of Jenkins classics such
as The Duke And Me, I'm Happy, This Is A Day To Forget, White Van Man,
I'm Staying In The Car, There Is No Lord Up There and Jazz Had A Baby (and
they called it avant garde).
The format is DVD/PAL Region
0 - which means it should be playable worldwide.
'Catches
the band at their chaotic, deadpan best. Touches the heart, the funny bone
and the soul in equal measure.'
John L. Walters / The Guardian
'The Blues never felt
so good.' Cedric Porter / South London
Press
' Not
for the faint hearted, or those suffering a humour bypass, Jenkins' very
British take on the blues is never boring, full of unabashed playing, rich
lyrical irreverence: overall, hugely entertaining.'
MIke Flynn / Jazzwise Magazine
BEFORE ORDERING FROM OUTSIDE
THE U.K., CHECK THAT YOUR MACHINE CAN READ ZERO REGION PAL DISCS!
The BJ Blues Collective live
experience - yours for only £9.99 from www.jazzcds.co.uk.
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