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
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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AIN'T GOING YET
Flickering Light Productions
DVD Lawn Bowls Documentary
Music by Billy Jenkins
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
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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
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
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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
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
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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
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
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
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
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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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
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
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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
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)
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
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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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.
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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)
'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
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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
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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
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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