A random selection…

I was thinking about what to write about the other day when I glanced at the pile of CDs that had accumulated next to the Hi Fi over the weekend. It occurred to me that the pile more or less represented my last two days of listening and was worth sharing with you so –

First up was Luiz Avellar – Bons Amigos. This album was recorded in 1995 and I bought it in São Paulo not long after it came out. I had been made aware of Luiz Avellar by my habit of reading sleeve notes. His piano playing cropped up on a regular basis on albums by artists that I liked so I was quickly drawn to his name when I saw an album by him. A quick inspection proved that he kept good company on his own albums as well. Here were Paulo Moura(clarinet), Paulo Russo (double bass), Hélio Delmiro (guitar), Arthur Maia (electric bass) and Hermeto Pascoal (melodica), all making guest appearances. I owned albums by all of them and I soon realised that, of the other sidemen, Ricardo Silveira (acoustic guitar), Jorge Helder (electric and double bass), Robertinho Silva (drums and percussion), Raul de Souza (trombone) and Carlos Bala (drums) had all appeared on other albums that I owned. Only drummer Cláudio Infante and vocalist Ana Zinger were unknown to me.

It’s a great album and shows Avellar and co to be world class musicians. This is another illustration of Brazilian jazz, taking as it does a selection of popular Brazilian tunes and giving them a jazz interpretation. There are tunes by Dorival Caymmi, Dori Caymmi (Dorival’s son), Toninho Horta, Caetano Veloso, Tom Jobim, Hermeto Pascoal and Gilberto Gil, as well as two originals by Avellar himself. This is well worth tracking down and adding to your own collection if you have a taste either for jazz or for Brazilian music generally. For a taste of Avellar’s playing try this –


Next on the CD player was Weather Report – Night Passage. This album features what for me is the best line-up that they had, and I was lucky enough to see them play at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1980 (see Bass Thoughts). The personnel are – Joe Zawinul – keyboards, Wayne Shorter – saxophones, Peter Erskine – drums and Robert Thomas Jr. – hand drums. The material is by Zawinul with the exception of ‘Port of Entry’ by Shorter, ‘Three Views of a Secret’ by Pastorius (one of my favourite Jaco tunes) and a storming version of Duke Ellington’s ‘Rockin’ in Rhythm’ that sits surprisingly naturally alongside the other compositions. Here’s ‘Port of Entry’.


Convite Para Ouvir Toquinho e Vinicius (An invitation to hear Toquinho and Vinicius) first came to my attention in 1994, in a small restaurant in Angra dos Reis (christened ‘Free Willy’s on account of an unfortunate incident involving a large rip in the waiter’s track-suit bottoms). There was a little cassette player in the corner and it was playing this music which instantly captivated me. I made it my business to get the name of the album and sought it out as soon as we got back to São Paulo. This compilation album, first issued in 1988, has been a firm favourite ever since.

The ‘Vinicius’ in question is Vinicius de Moraes, who was well known world wide for his collaborations with Tom Jobim, but also collaborated with the great Baden Powell. Toquinho was new to me – a fine guitarist, singer and composer who also wrote many songs with Vinicius. On this album the material is drawn almost exclusively from these songs, with the exception of one song by Dorival Caymmi. A lot of the tunes on this will be familiar to many people, even if the titles aren’t. This is classic stuff in the Bossa mould that is pure Brazilian: untainted by the North American record company’s need to have English lyrics or more foursquare rhythms. Here are a couple of archive clips. Don't be put off if you don't speak Portuguese - the musical content of the first piece is well worth it. The second clip is short but gives a real flavour of how differently they interpret the familiar Jobim tune. All of the songs here are on this compilation.

Michel Petrucciani’s ‘Both Worlds’ album was one of the last that he recorded before his early death, coming out as it did in 1998. Mrs Voltarol bought it for me as a Christmas present that year and we both loved the CD. It featured several of my favourite musicians – Steve Gadd on drums, Anthony Jackson on bass and Bob Brookmeyer on trombone and arrangements – as well as two Italian players – Flavio Boltro on trumpet and Stefano Di Battista on soprano saxophone. We enjoyed the album so much that when we heard that Pettruciani was due to play at Ronnie Scott’s in the new year we immediately decided to go up to London to see him. Alas, our excitement was short lived as Petrucciani died on January 6th 1999 at the age of 38. Here he is in 1998 with Gadd and Jackson, playing one of the tunes from the album - 'Brazilian Like'


The final item in this random selection is O Brasil Da Sanfona. This is a recording of a concert dedicated to the sanfona (or accordion) music of Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo (in this case referring to the state). I have written elsewhere about being converted to the joys of accordion music (see Accordion Crimes) Strangely, I bought this album principally because of the label. I have many CDs on the Núcleo Contemporâneo label and I have yet to hear an album from them that wasn’t excellent. A quick visit to their website will tell you a lot about them. This is a company run by one of Brazil’s finest musicians – Benjamin Taubkin – and his sister, Miriam Taubkin, who is the driving force behind many of the label’s special projects.

‘O Brasil Da Sanfona’ is one of those projects, which sought to showcase the incredible musicianship of accordion players in central Brazil. The only name that I knew was that of Toninho Ferragutti, who is a fantastic musician. The other players on here all lived up to my expectaions. They are Caçulinha, Gilda Montans and Meire Genaro, Regina Weissmann, Renato Borghetti, Gilberto Monteiro, Oscar dos Reis, Luciano Maia and finally, Renato Borghetti. Unfortunately I can't find any web refences in English for these musicians but I've managed to find a few YouTube clips of some of them. Incidentally, the accompanists on the album are not credited but the standard of their musicianship is very high . Here's Caçulinha -

And here's Gilda Montans and Meire Genaro playing Astor Piazzolla's 'Libertango'.

Next up is a ten minute selection from Regina Weissman.

and finally, here's Toninho Ferragutti.


So that’s it. That was one weekend’s listening for the Voltarol household. I hope this music will give you as much pleasure as it gives us.

Smokin'In The Pit

Vibraphonist Mike Maineiri has fronted his own band - Steps Ahead – for getting on for thirty years now. The band has gone through many personnel changes over the years but I first bought an album by them in 1983. This was the first, eponymous album and it blew me away. It featured the young Eliane Elias on piano, Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone, Eddie Gomez on double bass and Peter Erskine on drums. Mainieri was playing synthivibe (an invention of his own) as well as vibraphone and marimba.

I thought the playing was terrific, the group sound extremely integrated and the compositions excellent. To me, the music had overtones of what Weather Report were doing - what was (and still is) rather contemptuously referred to as ‘jazz fusion’ – and I liked it a lot. For my money this material, like that of Weather Report represented another move forward with the music. It was an expansion of ideas, with the musicians simply bringing fresh ingredients to the table. Over the years the band would include more of the elements that the most staid jazz fans despise – electric basses and guitars and all manner of synthesisers – but at this stage there was only the synthivibe to point in this direction. It was the ideas rather than the instrumentation that defined it.

The next album – ‘Modern Times’ (1984) – saw the departure of pianist Elias and the arrival of keyboardist Warren Bernhardt. It also featured some guest musicians and a more electronic sound and I enjoyed it even more than the first album. Later versions of the band would consolidate this approach and feature electric guitar, electric bass and plenty of synthesis, but ‘Modern Times’ remained my favourite Maineiri - led album for many years, until the re-release of something that I had somehow managed to miss at the time. That something was ‘Steps / Smokin’ In The Pit’ and here’s what Mike Mainieri had to say about it in the sleeve notes for the 1999 CD release.

In December of 1979, our newly formed group Steps, ventured beyond it’s home, the Jazz club “Seventh Avenue South” where we had been playing to sold out crowds for several months and left for Tokyo where we had been invited to record three albums for Nippon Columbia. Two albums were to be recorded in one week, a ‘live’ double album of performances at the Pitt Inn Tokyo on the 15th and 16th and a studio recording on the 17th of December, 1979. The double live album, ‘Smokin’ In The Pit’ was released in 1980 and was awarded a gold record. The studio album, ‘Step by Step’ was released shortly after, followed by another live recording in the summer of 1980 at Seventh Ave South entitled Paradox. These three recordings were the only albums released by the group under the name of Steps. Upon signing with Elektra Records in 1982, we learned that a local band in North Carolina had trademarked the name Steps and hence Steps Ahead became our new moniker. These two discs contain the original eight compositions plus three alternate takes and three new additional compositions.

This is stunning stuff. There is a fantastic energy running through every track and every track is a winner. The alternate takes of songs are from performances on different nights, and listening to the versions side by side shows just how fresh and inventive these guys were, and how much they seemed to get off on each other’s playing. The line up here is Maineiri – vibraphone, Michael Brecker – tenor sax, Eddie Gomez – double bass and the wonderful Don Grolnick – piano. There is also a guest performance by the great Japanese guitarist, Kazumi Watanabe. It’s interesting to note that Steve Gadd, Don Grolnick and Michael Brecker all went on to contribute to some of the great non-jazz albums of our times. Gadd and Brecker worked with Paul Simon and Steely Dan. Gadd and Grolnick worked with James Taylor. Brecker also worked with Joni Mitchell. Alas, both Michael Brecker and Don Grolnick are no longer with us, but I’m happy to say that I am looking forward to seeing Steve Gadd with James Taylor later in the year.

Needless to say there is no YouTube material by this line up but below are a selection of Steps Ahead and related artists clips. The album itself is still available from the usual suspects and I can’t recommend it highly enough. I think it might well be up there in my top ten all time favourite albums, if only I could bring myself to decide on only ten…

This is the line up from the Steps Ahead album playing a Don Grolnick composition but with Eliane Elias on piano


This is a later line up with Steve Gadd back in the drum chair.

and here is Don Grolnick leading a workshop through his own composition - Pools - that is featured in the first clip.

A pat on the back for Barnes and Mullins

For those of you who don't know, Barnes and Mullins are a long-established musical instrument wholesale company. Amongst the many products that they distribute are guitar stands, and that is where this story starts.

I own a very fine Bartram electro - acoustic guitar which, unlike most production-line guitars these days, has a nitrocellulose finish. There are many advantages to using this lacquer but it is not as robust as modern acrylic and polyester finishes. A few years ago, when I was still gigging regularly, I bought a couple of guitar stands, the sort that have a tripod base and an extending arm that supports the neck of the instrument in 'U' shaped recess with a safety bar. The supports are generally covered in plastic foam of some sort, to protect the instrument from the metal of the frame. After using one of these for a while I noticed that there was a place on the neck of my guitar that was becoming discoloured and tacky. A closer inspection revealed that this place coincided with the point at which it was supported by the stand. Research revealed that this was not an uncommon problem. There was some chemical element in the foam covering that was interacting badly with the cellulose, and so deeply did it penetrate that I had to have the neck of the guitar stripped and treated to render the rogue chemical inert before it could be refinished. That cost me £200!

The offending stands were disposed off. By this time arthritis had put an end to my professional playing but I still wanted to keep the guitar on a stand in my front room. A guitar that spends all its time in a case doesn't get picked up and played, and I like to keep mine to hand for those odd moments during the day when I fancy a quick plunk - if you'll pardon the expression. So, I went in search of a new stand that wouldn't present me with the same problems and eventually bought a TGI 'A' frame - style guitar stand that seemed to fit the bill. The stands are distributed by Barnes and Mullins who, because the company had been aware of the potential problems with plastics and cellulose, had specified that suitable materials were used by the Chinese company that manufactured them.

The guitar has sat happily in my front room for the last few months, resplendent on the new stand and all has been well - until the other day. I was restringing the instrument and giving it a clean when I noticed a thin yellowish mark on the back of it which did not respond to polish or a damp cloth. Close inspection revealed it to be a discolouration in the cellulose and a little bit of very rudimentary detective work confirmed that the villain in the piece was my new guitar stand. But it was not the foam that was responsible - there is no foam involved in this design. No, it was the plastic itself. Despite the fact that the design results in the absolute minimum contact between the instrument and the support, it was enough to allow a chemical reaction. Then I noticed my wooden floor. There were similar yellow marks on the floorboards where the feet of the stand had rested. The floor is finished with Bourneseal which is not related to cellulose as far as I know, so this was an entirely new development.

I decided to give Barnes and Mullins a call to alert them to this problem and I was soon speaking to someone who was most concerned and said he would bring the matter to the attention of the managing director immediately. He took my phone number and promised me that I could expect a call back before the day was out. As it happened, when the call came I was out. Now I've dealt with problems with companies before, and my experience has generally been that in such circumstances one very rarely gets a follow-up call. But the message on my answerphone was clear. The MD was out of the country for the next two days but would contact me on his return. And he did.

I hadn't been thinking along the lines of recompense so much as the possibility of the problem happening to someone else, but Bruce Perrin 's first response was to offer to replace the current stand with one of their - far more elegant and expensive - wooden stands. He also offered to pay to have my guitar refinished and when I pointed out that this would cost several hundred pounds he did not baulk, and stressed that the company fully accepted the responsibility for the situation and would go out of their way to correct it. He also said that he would make sure that there was an adequate warning of these potential problems with all further stands sold.

The next morning a package arrived by special courier. It was my new guitar stand. It is all wood, with cork protection for the points of contact with the instrument and looks very fetching in my front room. It's not the sort of thing that I would take out on a gig but I'm very pleased with it nonetheless. So - hats off to Barnes and Mullins for the best possible customer service. I'm frequently the first person to moan about bad service from big companies so it makes a very pleasant change to be able to sing the praises of one!

Nothing much?

One album that I have been playing a lot recently is called Nonada which is either the title of the album, the name of the band or both – I’m not really sure. I can’t even find the word in my Portuguese/English – English/Portuguese dictionary, although I’m pretty certain that it means ‘nothing much – a trifle’, which, if that is the case, is as fine a piece of understatement as you are ever likely to come across. This music is terrific!

Just as there is no obvious name for this Brazilian group there is also no obvious leader, but then if you look at the calibre of the individual musicians, they are all leaders in their own right anyway. One would assume that this would lead to impossible tensions but if it does then they are not apparent here. The group consists of Rodolfo Stroeter – double bass; Tutty Moreno – drums; André Mehmari – piano; Teco Cardoso – soprano, alto and baritone saxophones, c, alto and bass flutes and
Nailor Proveta – alto saxophone and clarinet.

As a frequent visitor to Brazil I was aware of these musicians individually and have albums by all of them, but I first became conscious of them as a group around 2000, when I bought a CD under Tutty Moreno’s name entitled Forcas D’ Alma. Teco Cardoso did not feature on this CD but Moreno’s wife – the singer, guitarist and composer Joyce – guested, as she does on ‘Nonada’. As a consequence I pounced upon this new album with high expectations and was not disappointed.

The addition of the great Teco to this line-up was an inspired move. Excellent though the music is on ‘Forces D’ Alma’ it rises to new heights on ‘Nonada’, and the more I listen to it, the better it gets. When I started looking for links for this posting I was amazed to discover that it is not currently available. Although it was recorded in 2005 it was not released until last year, on the admirable Biscoito Fino label, under the Pau Brasil imprint. I do hope that this is a mistake or an oversight of some sort, and if it isn’t then – please, all you good people at Biscoito Fino, reconsider your decision and reissue this album.

The album features compositions by some of the great names of Brazilian music – Moacir Santos, Ary Barroso, Dorival Caymii, Hermeto Pascoal and Baden Powell as well as an original by Nailor Proveta and a Joyce composition on which she guests. The rhythmic and harmonic flavour of Brazil permeates this music but this is no stereotypical ‘jazz ’n’ samba’ confection. This is first and foremost jazz, and Brazil now has a very distinct jazz voice of its own. In the same way that North American jazz has always drawn on North American musical culture for inspiration and source material, so Brazilian jazz musicians tap into the great wealth of their own musical heritage, which goes way beyond just bossa nova.

Alas, there are no clips from Nonada available on line (apart from the brief sound-bites on the Biscoito Fino website) but I have assembled some YouTube clips of the participating musicians here, for you to get some idea of the sheer quality of these people.

Here is Rodolpho Stroeter with his group, Pau Brasil, in 1996. The personnel includes Teco Cardoso.




And here is the Tutty Moreno Quartet in 2001. This is the 'Nonada' line up but without Teco Cardoso.




Here is André Mehmari with his trio, performing in São Paulo in 2008.



This is Teco Cardoso performing in London in 2008 with the group Oriole Brasil.


And finally, here's Nailor Proveta with Tutty Moreno's quartet again.

Do go and seek out this album. It really is well worth looking for and I'm sure that there are copies to be found still. In the meantime I shall write to Biscoito Fino and ask them to reinstate it!

You say potato…

My younger brother - Ganja the Dwarf – was round to dinner the other night. His musical tastes are a bit different to mine but we do share some common ground, although he’s more inclined towards the rock, folk and country end of the spectrum than me. During the course of the evening he mentioned seeing a rerun of a Modern Jazz Quartet concert on the box recently (part of the original Jazz 625 series broadcast on BBC 2 in the late ‘60s) and asked if I had any CDs of them in my collection. I muttered something about bears and woods and put on “No Sun in Venice”, which I have owned in one format or another since God was a boy. Before too long the iconic sounds of ‘The Golden Striker’ were emanating from my Quad speakers and G the D observed how timeless and accessible this music was. I had to agree with him (well, I would, wouldn’t I) and it set me thinking about how some people listen to music.

(This version was recorded in the 1980s. The original recording was issued in 1957.)

Not long after I had first started writing this blog I did a piece (Jazz, delicious hot, disgusting cold) in which I talked about my earliest jazz tastes and mentioned the MJQ, Gerry Mulligan, Dave Brubeck etc. A passing web-surfer left the comment: “Christ! It’s the Godfrey Winn of Jazz” which - despite its being quite a droll remark - showed that he hadn’t actually read the piece in question. More to the point though, it’s indicative of a certain mind-set that is all too common, particularly amongst the jazz fraternity.

I developed a taste for that stuff when I was thirteen or fourteen, at a time when these players were doing new and fresh things which represented a significant step forward in the development of the music. Sure, it wasn’t as radical an advance as bebop had been or Coltrane and his followers were to give us but it was an advance nonetheless. The fact that it was more accessible to the average non-jazz minded person did not and does not make it bad jazz.

Now it might sound as if I’m mounting a spirited defence of this stuff but that’s not the case – it doesn’t need defending because for the most part it is recognised for the great music that it is. But so many people don’t actually have any affinity with music as such. They are drawn by the baggage that goes with the music – the clothes, the cliques, the politics and the poses. The English bebop fans looked down on the lovers of Traditional Jazz in the late forties and early fifties. They referred to them as ‘mouldy figs’, whilst the revivalists referred to the modernists in equally disparaging terms. On one occasion when saxophonist Bruce Turner joined Humphrey Lyttelton’s band, a group of ‘mouldy figs’ went to the lengths of manufacturing a huge banner and smuggling it into the hall where Humph was performing. As his musicians took to the stage the banner was unfurled. It stretched from one side of the hall to the other and read ‘GO HOME DIRTY BOPPER’.

Even Humph was not immune to this kind of short-sightedness and once, in the early days of his ‘Best of Jazz’ radio programme, followed the playing of a ‘modern jazz’ record with a vintage New Orleans recording and the words “…and now back to sanity and 1927”. Humph was far too good a musician to maintain this stance and his work ultimately reflected many influences beyond the initial ones from the 1920s, and in fact his record programme was responsible for introducing me to such diverse musicians as Michel Petrucciani, Carla Bley and Tommy Smith. And he was as likely to play John Coltrane, Pat Metheny or Joe Zawinul as he was to play Sydney Bechet, Zoot Sims or Buck Clayton.

And that’s the point. There’s a whole lot of great music out there and it is constantly evolving. But when you hear some new development that grabs your attention it shouldn’t mean that the stuff you were listening to before that suddenly becomes obsolete! Or that because you don’t actually like some new development it can’t therefore have any merit of its own. We ought to be able to distinguish between good and bad and like and dislike. This of course applies not just to jazz but to all music right across the board.

There are some things that I really like even though they are not really very good music, and there are some things that I dislike intensely, even though I recognise the quality of what I am listening to, For example, by and large I detest the music of Mozart, but I readily acknowledge that he was a supremely gifted composer. On the other hand I have a sneaking fondness for the compositions of Eric Coates (and I’m sure my anonymous adversary would level the Godfrey Winn taunt at me again for this), but I would never claim that Coates was therefore the better composer. Sadly, many folk can’t seem to make that kind of distinction. There are a lot of people out there that don’t actually listen to music, they only hear it.

Addendum

Richard and me rehearsing. I am probably searching for the right words...

This is definitely the last posting for the moment on the Jugular Vein story.(New readers start here)

Here, as promised and for what they are worth, are the lyrics of some of the songs that were requested. ‘The Saki Drag’ lyric was written by me in about ten minute at one of our earliest rehearsals. We were trying out various ideas for material and I had this tune that had evolved from the early efforts of my friend Fen and I attempting to fathom out ragtime guitar. I think it was Max that said that it wasn’t bad but it needed some words…Pretty soon, Richard was bringing tunes to the proceedings and I would attempt to provide words. In the case of ‘So Much Trouble’, Rich had the tune and the chorus and I came up with the verses. ‘One of our Film Stars is missing was a solo effort.

The Saki Drag

Well I’m sitting here smoking, watching the sun go down
Sippin’ that Saki till my teeth turn brown
Flies are a buzzin’ and the air is hot
I’m still suppin’ and I’ve got a lot
My head is spinnin’, my mouth is dry
My nose is smiling, I believe I’m high
Yokahama Mama, this Saki’s gonna bring me down

I’ve been a lotus eater for a year or two
And I sometimes have a nibble on a dried squid or two
I nosh noodle by the kilo and I think they’re just fine
And I once had a soup made from an ant-eater’s spine*
I’ve tried supping all things but there’s one thing you’ll find
It’s only that Saki that blows your mind
Yokohama Mama, this Saki’s gonna bring me down

© Pete Turner 1967

*For reasons best known to the other members of the band, this line eventually evolved into the even more surreal “I once had a suitcase from an Uncle of mine”.


So Much Trouble

I motored into Soho, tried to park my car
Didn’t see the warden as I strolled into the bar
I’ve got to move again, Lord! I’ve got to move again
I’m in so much trouble, Lord! I’ve got to move again

I spent an evening boozing, did eleven pints of Brown
I motored like a hell-hound till the coppers flagged me down
I’ve got to move again, Lord! I’ve got to move again
I’m in so much trouble, Lord! I’ve got to move again

I don’t mind getting plastered. Hangovers I can bear
But I spend more than half my life filling bags with air
I’ve got to move again, Lord! I’ve got to move again
I’m in so much trouble, Lord! I’ve got to move again

The moral of this story will make this thing complete
I never saw a man get run-in ‘drunk in charge of feet’
I’ve got to move again, Lord! I’ve got to move again
I’m in so much trouble, Lord! I’ve got to move again

© Pete Turner and Richard Bartram 1967

One of Our Film Stars is Missing

Air raid wardens, Home Guard cordons
Tin hats, gas masks and ration books
Churchill speeches, ‘Fight ‘em on the beaches’
Foreign names and dirty looks
Flying buzz bombs light the skies
Utility clothes, utility pies
And
Chin-up movies starring war-time smoothies
Animated celluloid lies.

People helter-skelter for the Anderson shelter
Wailing sirens and brewing tea
‘The Siegfried Line’ sung just one more time
Flanagan and Allen keep the spirits free
Embarkation leave and tearful eyes
Newsreel commentaries and wild surmise
And
Chin-up movies starring war-time smoothies
Animated celluloid lies.

© Pete Turner 1968

Coda

Photo taken at Uxbridge Folk Club, The Load of Hay around 1968. From The Hayes Gazette


The continuing saga of the Jugular Vein story. (New readers start here)

Just when I thought I’d finished with this topic I received another contribution from Venlafaxine, AKA Griff. As promised, he has contributed an audience-eye view of the JV, so I guess I’ll have to keep my part of the bargain and post the lyrics to the songs he requested. Given that I haven’t performed some of them for forty years this means I shall have to transcribe them from the recordings. I lost the original manuscripts during a house move years ago. Unfortunately one of those songs was never recorded. Griff refers to it as ‘Hayes’ but in fact its proper title was ‘Purple Hayes’ (a pun that I have no intention of apologising for). The chorus is the only part that I can properly recall and it goes like this:-

Hayes! That’s where the lovely people’s homes are
Hayes! That’s where ten thousand garden gnomes are
Hayes! That’ where everyone’s a saint
And I’ll kick yer bleedin’ ‘ead in if yer tell me that they ain’t

And if that leaves you wishing that the rest of the song survived then you’ve no one to blame but yourself…

THE JV IN RETROSPECT
By Venlafaxine AKA Griff

Trying to put your finger on what makes one form of music appealing and another not so really taxes the old grey matter. The psychologists would pin it all down to some ruthlessly logical outcome of the individual psyche and life experience, but musicians would be more likely to have little idea as to what constitutes ‘IT’. And how do you assess the impact of a band forty years down the line?

John Peel once said that he was attracted by outrageous sounding vocals. With me it didn’t matter if ‘it’ came from voice, lyrics or the sound of the instruments, just as long as it felt honest and had elements of the outrageous. This was something of an alchemical mix required if the music was to resonate with my alienated and often angst-ridden psyche.

The late 1960’s, with all that hippydom and radical politics offered plenty for the alienated and angst-ridden folkies. It was a time for ‘letting it all hang out’: Al Stewart rambled on about impotence. Roy Harper sang – no – raved about mental illness, head rocking in time, but also reminiscent of the severely ill. I loved it all.

The JV didn’t fit in with this lot but I loved them too. They had their idiosyncrasies, but in a clean and wholesome way: they had no preoccupations with the tragic and the sordid. And there was no whining on about mining disasters, the IRA, nor getting your balls frozen off on a trawler in the North Sea, nor was there any flowers and fairies stuff.

Pete and Richard looked a bit scruffy, but that of course was de rigueur. Pete had his Kalamazoo jazz guitar, not too many of them around. Max affected a 1920s dress sense, and his was the only cornet I ever heard on the folk circuit. That whopping great jug took so much attention that it was possible not to take in the (outrageously?) restrained character that whoomped into it with such aplomb. Muff could have gone to school in the clothes he wore.

The JV came with guitars, mandolin, harmonicas and kazoo, but it was the jug, cornet, swanee whistle, washboard, cymbal etc which were indispensible to that wonderfully WILD jug band sound. It was uniquely appealing and refreshing, good time music belted out by versatile musicians intent on having a good time.

Jug Band music has its origins in American folk, blues and probably jazz, but the JV also produced original material that couldn’t be more English. Topical, satirical and above all FUNNY, they brought to mind The Bonzo Dog Band, Leon Rosselson and Jeremy Taylor. And what could be more authentic than ‘Hayes’, played at the Hayes Folk Club, by musicians that came from that benighted place? I don’t think that it was ever ‘collected’ by the E.F.D.S.S. however; they weren’t interested in ‘Bovver an’ Agro’ either, but it was the Freeman Syndicate, not the JV that penned that one.

To sum-up, the JV produced good, honest, shit-kicking music which ENTERTAINED. Thanks lads, you hit the spot.


I thank you Griff, for those few kind words. I also thank you for sending me a copy of the newspaper photo that graces the top of this page. Now all I have to do is keep my side of the bargain and transcribe the rest of those lyrics. I’ll post them before the month is out – honest! Incidentally, Griff has also sent me another piece about the Hayes guitar-building fraternity and I shall be posting that soon as part of an entry about the Hayes and Southall music clubs and their various spin-offs.