John Dummer Band

Last updated

The John Dummer Band also known as John Dummer's Blues Band, John Dummer's Famous Music Band, John Dummer's Oobleedooblee Band and The John Dummer Band Featuring Nick Pickett [1] was a British blues band, of the 1960s and 1970s, noted for its extensive roster of members, including Graham Bond, Dave Kelly, Jo Ann Kelly, Tony McPhee, Bob Hall, John O'Leary and Pick Withers, and for supporting US bluesmen such as Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker on UK tours. [2]

Contents

History

The band was formed by drummer John Dummer (born Anthony John Dummer 19 November 1944, Surbiton, Surrey). He formed Lester Square and the G.T's in 1963 with Chris Trengove (alto saxophone and vocals) and Elton Dean (tenor saxophone, later of Soft Machine) and toured the UK and Germany for two years. [3]

Dummer formed the John Dummer Blues Band in 1965. [2] The original line-up was John Dummer (vocals, harmonica), Roger Pearce (guitar) and Pete Moody (bass) - both recruited from London R&B band The Grebbels – plus Bob Hall (piano) and Dave Bidwell (drums). Moody later left to be replaced by Tony Walker (bass) and his sister Regine Walker joined Dummer as a second vocalist. The featured guitarist was Tony 'Top' Topham, the original Yardbirds guitarist. The band changed its line-up and began a regular Sunday afternoon residency at the Studio 51 Club in London's West End. Dummer had moved onto drums, and Dave Kelly and Tony McPhee joined as guitarist/vocalists, with Iain "Thump" Thomson (bass) and John O'Leary (harmonica). Dave's sister, Jo-Ann Kelly, was also a regularly featured vocalist at these sessions. The band picked up a following at the club with visiting artists such as John Mayall, Keef Hartley, Champion Jack Dupree, Long John Baldry, Duster Bennett and Alexis Korner. The band was signed to Mercury Records and their first album, Cabal, was released in 1969. [4] Dave and Jo-Anne Kelly and Tony McPhee were featured artists, and the band was the same as had regularly played the Studio 51 Club. [5] Tony McPhee left the band shortly after to re-form The Groundhogs.

The second album, The John Dummer Blues Band, featured Dummer, Hall, Thomson, Dave and Jo Ann Kelly (vocals), with a new lead guitarist Adrian "Putty" Pietryga, [6] from The Deep Blues Band from Bristol. This band toured extensively in Britain and Europe for two years.

By the third album, John Dummer's Famous Music Band (1970), Dave Kelly and Bob Hall had left to be replaced by Nick Pickett (guitar, violin and vocals) Pietryga and Thomson remained, being augmented by Chris Trengove (alto sax). [7]

After the third album the band "drifted apart", only to reform to record again when their instrumental "Nine By Nine", featuring violinist Nick Pickett, was number 1 in France. The 1972 album Blue, released as the John Dummer Band, featured a cover by Roger Dean, [8] whilst the band had shrunk to a four-piece blues-rock band, comprising Dummer, Pickett, Pietryga and Thomson. [9] The band's fifth album, Oobleedoobleejubilee (1973), released as John Dummer's Oobleedooblee Band, had a country music style, [8] whilst the line-up again included the Kellys, along with Michael Evans (violin) and Roger Brown (vocals). [10] The band's final album, recorded in 1973, included Graham Bond (saxophone), Pick Withers (drums), Pete Emery (guitar) and Colin Earl (Foghat) (keyboards), but the album was shelved, and the band broke up in 1974. This final album was eventually released in 2008, as the Lost 1973 Album. [11]

Dummer's later career

Dummer became a promotion manager; spending three years at MCA Records and a year at Elektra Records, before joining A&M Records. In 1977 he became the drummer with Darts, [2] with former Dummer Band members "Thump" Thomson and guitarist George Currie, who had earlier re-formed with Dave Kelly to play the London pub scene as The John Dummer Band. Dummer wrote songs including Darts' "Late Last Night", "How Many Nights", and "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" which reached number 43 on the UK Singles Chart, [12] before leaving in 1980. [13]

Dummer then played drums, toured and recorded with Lowell Fulson and Eddie C. Campbell. (Lowell Fulson – Think Twice Before You Speak; Eddie C. Campbell – The Baddest Cat on the Block. Both JSP Records 1082 & 1087 respectively). His next group, True Life Confessions, featured his wife Helen April, second drummer Manic Esso from The Lurkers, bassist Harry Kakouli from Squeeze, guitarists Robin Bibi and Mark Nevin (later to form Fairground Attraction and write the hit "Perfect") and two Afro-French girl singers, Any Toco-Salvetti and her sister Myriam. They issued several records on A&M, but none charted. Dummer and his wife also performed as a duo, and peaked at number 54 in the UK Singles Chart with their cover version of "Blues Skies", [14] [15] and were also known for "Own Up If You're Over 25".

He then managed The Screaming Blue Messiahs for three years, before restoring properties in France and Portugal. He formed Screwy Truants with French musicians, sang and played harmonica with French guitarist Jean-Claude Manuel, and drummed with harmonica player and blues singer Nico Toussaint. Dummer is currently still drumming with various groups in Bordeaux and working as an antiques trader, furniture restorer and author. [3] His bitter/sweet story of an ex-pat's dream Serge Bastarde Ate My Baguette: On the Road in the Real Rural France was published by Summersdale in 2009, and was followed by a sequel Son of Serge Bastarde: Mayhem In The Antiques Markets of Rural France. [16]

Discography

Albums

Singles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blood, Sweat & Tears</span> American rock music band

Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. BS&T has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a wide range of musical styles. Their sound has merged rock, pop and R&B/soul music with big band jazz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Walker</span> English rock singer (born 1945)

David Walker is an English singer and guitarist who has been front-man for a number of bands; most notably The Idle Race, Savoy Brown and Humble Pie, he also served briefly with Fleetwood Mac and Black Sabbath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony McPhee</span> English musician (1944–2023)

Anthony Charles McPhee was an English guitarist and singer. He was the founder of the British blues and rock band the Groundhogs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Savoy Brown</span> English blues rock band

Savoy Brown were a British blues rock band formed in Battersea, southwest London, in 1965. Part of the late 1960s blues rock movement, Savoy Brown primarily achieved success in the United States, where they promoted their albums with non-stop touring. Founder, guitarist and primary songwriter Kim Simmonds was the sole constant member of the band from its formation in 1965 until his death in 2022.

The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, also known as Soapbox Circus or Matchbox, were an Australian jug band formed in 1969. It centred on Mic Conway on lead vocals, washboard and ukulele; and his brother, Jim Conway, on harmonica, kazoo and vocals. They issued four studio albums, Smoke Dreams, Wangaratta Wahine, Australia and Slightly Troppo (1978), before they disbanded in September 1980. The Conway brothers reformed the group in 2010 as Captain Matchbox Reignited and disbanded again two years later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Groundhogs</span> British blues and rock band

The Groundhogs were an English blues and rock band founded in late 1963 in London. Named after John Lee Hooker's song "Ground Hog Blues", they were part of the burgeoning British rhythm and blues scene, backing Hooker on his album ...And Seven Nights. They were predominantly a power trio of Tony McPhee, Peter Cruickshank (bass) and Ken Pustelnik (drums), with Clive Brooks replacing Pustelnik in 1972 until the band split in 1974. They issued seven albums via Liberty/UA, including the UK Top 10 Thank Christ for the Bomb, Split and Who Will Save the World?.

The Creation are an English rock band, formed in 1966. Their best-known songs are "Making Time", which was one of the first rock songs to feature a guitar played with a bow, and "Painter Man", which made the top 40 on the UK Singles Chart in late 1966, and reached No. 8 on the German chart in April 1967. It was covered by Boney M in 1979, and reached the No. 10 position on the UK chart. "Making Time" was used in the film Rushmore, and as the theme song from season 2 onwards of The Great Pottery Throw Down.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darts (band)</span> British band

Darts is a nine-piece British doo-wop revival band that achieved chart success in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The London-based band had a number of UK top 20 hits including three successive number twos with revivals of early US rock and roll, R&B and original songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Ann Kelly</span> English blues singer and guitarist

Jo Ann Kelly was an English blues singer and guitarist. She is respected for her strong blues vocal style and for playing country blues guitar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Kelly (musician)</span> British blues singer, guitarist, and composer (born 1947)

David William Kelly is a British blues singer, guitarist and composer, who has been active on the British blues music scene since the 1960s. He has performed with the John Dummer Blues Band, Tramp, the Blues Band, and his own Dave Kelly Band. He is a disciple of Mississippi Fred McDowell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Blues Band</span> British blues band (1979-2022)

The Blues Band was a British blues band formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead vocalist and harmonica player with Manfred Mann, and guitarist Tom McGuinness also of Manfred Mann and The Roosters. The band’s first line-up also included bassist Gary Fletcher, slide-guitarist Dave Kelly who had previously played with The John Dummer Band, Howling Wolf and John Lee Hooker and drummer Hughie Flint, of John Mayall's Blues Breakers and McGuinness Flint, the band he formed with Tom McGuinness. In 1982, Flint left and was replaced by former Family drummer Rob Townsend. The group broke up in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Boy Arnold</span> American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter

William "Billy Boy" Arnold is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Arnold is a self-taught harmonica player and has worked with blues legends such as Bo Diddley, Johnny Shines, Otis Rush, Earl Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Beaker</span> English blues musician

Norman Beaker is a blues guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, band leader and record producer who has been involved in the British blues scene since the early 1970s.

<i>Scratching the Surface</i> (Groundhogs album) 1968 studio album by Groundhogs

Scratching the Surface is the debut album by English band Groundhogs, released in 1968 by Liberty Records.

<i>Be Seeing You</i> 1977 studio album by Dr. Feelgood

Be Seeing You was the fifth album by Dr. Feelgood, and was released in October 1977. After the departure of Wilko Johnson, this was Dr. Feelgood's first album with guitarist Gypie Mayo.

Chain are an Australian blues band formed as The Chain in late 1968 with a line-up including guitarist and vocalist Phil Manning and lead vocalist Wendy Saddington. Saddington left in May 1969 and in September 1970 Matt Taylor joined on lead vocals and harmonica. During the 1990s they were referred to as Matt Taylor's Chain. Their single, "Black and Blue", is their only top twenty hit. It was written and recorded by the line-up of Manning, Taylor, Barry Harvey on drums and Barry Sullivan on bass guitar. The related album, Toward the Blues, followed in September and peaked in the top ten. Manfred Mann's Earth Band covered "Black and Blue" on their 1973 album Messin'.

Whiskey Howl was a Toronto-based Canadian blues band, most popular between 1969 and 1972. The band is notable as being one of the early Canadian bands promoting and developing blues music in Canada.

Michael Pickett is a multiple award-winning Canadian blues and roots singer, guitarist and harmonica player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Stax</span> British musician

John Stax is an English musician best known as original bassist for the Pretty Things]. He adopted the name "Stax" because of his fondness for the music produced by Stax Records.

References

  1. "Also Known As". The John Dummer Blues Band. Rate Your Music. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 "John Dummer Blues Band | Biography & History". AllMusic . Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Biography of John Dummer". Darts.com. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  4. "Cabal - John Dummer | Releases | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  5. "Cabal - John Dummer | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  6. "John Dummers Band - John Dummer | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  7. "Credits for Famous Music Band". AllMusic . Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  8. 1 2 Joynson, Vernon (2006). The Tapestry of Delights Revisited – John Dummer (Blues Band) (1st ed.). Telford: Borderline productions. p. 238. ISBN   1-899855-15-7.
  9. "Blue - John Dummer, John Dummer Band | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  10. "Oobleedoobleejubilee - John Dummer | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  11. "Lost 1973 Album - John Dummer | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  12. "DARTS | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  13. Eckstein, Keith. "John Dummer interview". A Taste of Garlic. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  14. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 172. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  15. "blue skies | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  16. "John Dummer Biography". Amazon.com. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  17. "John Dummer | Album Discography". AllMusic . Retrieved 16 March 2021.