Billy Jenkins
Songs of Praise Live!
BDV 2768

Billy Jenkins - guitar, shouting and singing
Nathaniel Facey - saxophone
Dylan Bates - violin
Gail Brand - trombone
Oren Marshall - tuba
Charles Hayward - drums


Tracklisting
Brilliant mp3
Donkey Droppings
Blues is Calling me mp3
First Time the Earth Shook
Dancing in Ornette Coleman's Head mp3
Bhopal
Sunny
Blues Stay Away From Me

"One of the great mysteries of British life – along with the disappearance of the sparrow and why anyone takes Boris Johnson seriously – is the failure of Jenkins's music to galvanise the public. This live set by the guitarist, comedian and bowls enthusiast is one of the finest of his long career. With a crack band featuring sax, tromobone, tuba and violin, he ranges from the punk-jazz of Brilliant and Donkey Droppings to the gospel wail of Blues is Calling Me . Bhopal is a haunting change of mood before a ska version of the corny old pop tune Sunny , featuring string-scalding axe virtuosity. The wayward world of Jenkins has never sounded more enticing." **** (John Bungey - The Times)

“ Jenkins packs the 'ice pick in the forehead', 'right note in the wrong place'. It's like a barbed wire fence swearing at you. The notes jump out like they're possessed. It's astonishing.” (Ben Watson – The Wire)

" ...One of the Bromley bluesman's most inspired bands...Like much of Jenkins' work, Songs of Praise is deadly serious at heart." (Chris Parker Vortex Jazz club website)

According to Billy Jenkins, “the true improviser should only perform once.” It's a maxim that's helped shape his career and principally his spellbinding live shows. A musical anarchist he's effortlessly made “bowls and blues” and “blues and chess” seem like the most natural of bedfellows; he's conjured up ear shattering live soundtracks to the World Cup; he's zoomed around a staid BBC Jazz Awards in flying goggles ne-orring like a Spitfire. His inimitable live shows are something near to wild magic, with those lucky enough to glimpse them left asking “who is that?”

He has rightly earned himself a cult following, with critical comparisons ranging from Jackson Pollock to Groucho Marx. Describing his style as ‘Spazz' or ‘New Rage Music', the Lewisham based guitarist inhabits a world of rock, anti-jazz and the blues.

Organised by Simon Thackray of The Shed, supported by funds from the Arts Council, ‘Songs Of Praise' was a project created for several key dates in 2006-7 in commemoration of Billy's 50 th birthday. It brought fresh instrumentation and personnel to the stage in a forward-looking retrospective of his colourful career.

A professional rock musician at the age of 14, Billy Jenkins has always juggled musical form and freedom in his guitar playing, composing, bandleading and performance – forever challenging preconception. Every next note is an imprint on the unknown, every bar a step into the void.  

This live CD was recorded straight from the mixing desk on a whim by soundman Martin Hudson at The Wardrobe, Leeds on 11 th October 2006. Everything is inverted; the drums are slightly down in the PA mix and a quiet violin becomes overloud. It's Billy's take on compression – where loud becomes soft and soft is turned into loud. It's what he calls a “voyeuristic upside down inside out aural experience'” and delivers a slightly alarming but truly honest and attention seeking experience.

The personnel has been hand picked to allow the band to cover a wide range of styles. It 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 trumpet, and Empirical band member Nathaniel Facey on saxophone (who met Billy when he was taught by him at the Royal Academy of Music) complete the line up. Spontaneously directed by Billy Jenkins, the ensemble rides and falls on his ability to pick up on subtle inflections from his players and to capitalise on their instant creativity. This is real live music making in the raw.

Tracks featured include two that were devised with Ian Trimmer, the saxophonist and co-leader of Billy's art rock band Burlesque, and The Fantastic Trimmer & Jenkins Duo. ‘Brilliant' and ‘Bhopal' were both written over 25 years ago. The latter track was re-titled and reworked in response to the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 . This live recording is also notable for the tuba solo. It was Oren Marshall's first public appearance following the funeral of his father.

Also worthy of note is a version of the Bobby Hebb tune ‘Sunny', minus the lyrics. “I can't stand them,” says Billy wryly. Recent studio work is represented by the ensemble arrangement of ‘Blues Is Calling Me', taken from the 2004 Babel release ‘When The Crowds Have Gone'.

Without kowtowing to ethic and dogma, ‘Songs Of Praise Live' is secular worship of a musical kind.

PRESS QUOTES

"He is, along with the Princess Royal and Walthamstow dog stadium, one of our national treasures." (Penguin Guide To Jazz On CD.)

Billy Jenkins has the priceless ability to merge serious music making with absolute lunacy, and make one feed off the creative energy of the other." ( Kenny Mathieson, The Scotsman)

“Guitarist Billy Jenkins carries on breaking all the rules.” ( Ronald Atkins, Guardian)

“Iconoclastic.” ( Richard Williams, Independent on Sunday)

"…Pure genius" (City Life)

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For more information including 10 random facts about Billy, interviews, pics and more contact [email protected] / 0207 377 9868

To buy CD from our store click on sleeve
Download whole album for £6.99 or individual tracks for 79p on high quality mp3 (320 kbps ) here