The Graham Bond Organisation | |
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The Graham Bond Organisation (GBO) were a British jazz/rhythm and blues group of the mid-1960s consisting of Graham Bond (vocals, keyboards, alto-saxophone), Jack Bruce (bass), Ginger Baker (drums), Dick Heckstall-Smith (tenor/soprano saxophone) and John McLaughlin (guitar). They recorded several albums and further recordings were issued when the group's members achieved fame in progressive rock and jazz fusion. The spelling of the band's original name varied between releases, often depending on the intended audience. The British English spellings were "Organisation" or "ORGANisation" (Bond's original plan), while in some other countries outside the UK it was spelled "Organization".
At the start of the British rhythm and blues boom the Graham Bond Organisation earned a reputation for playing aggressive R & B with prominent jazz and blues. Bond was the primary songwriter but encouraged the other musicians to contribute material, including Dick Heckstall-Smith's "Dick's Instrumental" and Ginger Baker's "Camels and Elephants", in which the drummer explored ideas he eventually developed into his signature piece "Toad". Jack Bruce's harmonica-driven version of Peter Chatman's "Train Time" would become a staple in Cream's live performances.
The first commercial recording by the original lineup of the Graham Bond Organisation was released under the name of singer Winston G. (real name Winston Gork). A protégé of expatriate Australian impresario Robert Stigwood, Winston had launched his career under the pseudonym "Johnny Apollo". In early 1965 both Winston and the Graham Bond Organisation were part of Stigwood-promoted UK package tour headlined by Chuck Berry (on which Stigwood incurred heavy losses). Since they shared management, the Graham Bond Organisation backed Winston on the Parlophone single "Please Don't Say" / "Like A Baby"; the A-side was credited "Arrangement directed by Graham Bond" and the B-side "Arrangement directed by Ginger Baker". [1] The band signed for Decca Records who released their dynamic version of the Don Covay composition "Long Tall Shorty" in 1964, backed with "Long Legged Girl" ("Long Tall Shorty" had been popularised by US singer/organist Tommy Tucker). Their best-known single, and the second released under their own name, was "Tammy" (Jay Livingston/Ray Evans) / "Wade in the Water" (trad. arr. group), recorded on 4 January 1965 at Olympic Sound Studios, London (EMI Columbia DB 7471, 29 January 1965). The track also appeared on their debut album The Sound of 65 (EMI Columbia, March 1965).
In 1965, the band appeared as themselves in the film Gonks Go Beat , where they played two songs including "Harmonica".
The band's fourth 45 featured the single-only tracks "Lease on Love" / "My Heart's in Little Pieces" (July 1965). The A-side is noteworthy for its pioneering use of the Mellotron, which Bond also played on several tracks on their second LP There's A Bond Between Us (November 1965); the album also included studio versions of the two aforementioned instrumentals. The single and the album tracks are believed to be the first 'popular' recordings to feature the instrument, since "Lease on Love" appeared more than a year before the first UK chart hit to feature a Mellotron—Manfred Mann's "Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James" (October 1966) [2] —and at least 18 months before The Beatles made the Mellotron world-famous with "Strawberry Fields Forever" (January 1967). [3] The tracks recorded for the second album were also the last cut by the original Graham Bond Organisation lineup before Jack Bruce was fired in August 1965. On 7 August 1965 they played at the Richmond-on-Thames Jazz and Blues Festival which was televised on the US television show Shindig! . [4]
The band gained minor attention after their "Waltz For a Pig" (originally titled "Ode to a Toad") was issued as the B-side of the Who's 1966 single "Substitute", which reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart. The band was billed as 'the Who Orchestra' for this release and the track was written by Baker.
The group was plagued with problems because of substance abuse and Baker's ongoing feud with Bruce. Retrospectives of Cream indicate that Bond deputised Baker to fire Bruce, who joined Manfred Mann for a short time until July 1966 when Baker formed Cream with Bruce and Eric Clapton. The group recorded "St. James' Infirmary" without Bruce on 10 January 1966, which was released in the United States on the Ascot label and received indifferently. Another sideman was Mike Falana on trumpet. [5] He already had a degree of star status by the early 1960s. [6] [7] Falana, sometimes spelt as Mike Felana was with Bond in 1963 and at some stage, replaced Jack Bruce with Bond then playing bass on the pedals. [8]
Bond reformed the Organisation with Jon Hiseman on drums. As a trio, Bond, Heckstall-Smith and Hiseman recorded the single "You’ve Gotta Have Love Babe" / "I Love You" (both by Graham Bond) on 18 January 1967 for Page One records. [5] Bond left for the USA, releasing two albums there in 1969 with well-known session players. [5] Hiseman and Heckstall-Smith would leave to join John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers for Bare Wires (recorded April 1968) [9] before forming Colosseum in the summer of 1968, with Tony Reeves on bass and Dave Greenslade keyboards.
The Graham Bond Organisation's lack of commercial success, internal struggles and drug problems brought the band to an end in 1967, but its importance was soon recognised with the vogue for blues and progressive rock and the increased sales of albums. The double album Solid Bond, released by Warner Bros. Records in 1970, compiled live tracks recorded in 1963 by the Graham Bond Quartet (Bond, McLaughlin, Bruce and Baker) and a studio session from 1966 by the final trio version of the Graham Bond Organisation (Bond, Heckstall-Smith and Hiseman).
Graham Bond reunited with his former bandmates in the early 1970s, playing with Ginger Baker's Air Force and also spending a short time touring with Jack Bruce's band. He subsequently signed a contract with Vertigo Records and was reportedly off drugs by this time, although he was becoming increasingly obsessed with black magic. Bond died in May 1974, when he was hit by a train at London's Finsbury Park underground station.
As of 2023, John McLaughlin is the last surviving member of the band, following the death of Baker. Baker was the last surviving member of the band who had performed on any release by the band.
Cream were a British rock band formed in London in 1966. The group consisted of bassist Jack Bruce, guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker. Bruce was the primary songwriter and vocalist, although Clapton and Baker contributed to songs. Formed by members of previously successful bands, they are widely considered the first supergroup. Cream were highly regarded for the instrumental proficiency of each of their members.
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are an English blues rock band led by multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter John Mayall. The band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues musicians. Many of the best known bands to come out of Britain in the 1960s and 1970s had members that came through the Bluesbreakers at one time, forming the foundation of British blues music that is still played heavily on classic rock radio. Among those with a tenure in the Bluesbreakers are Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie, Mick Taylor, Aynsley Dunbar, Jon Hiseman, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Tony Reeves, and numerous others.
John Mayall is an English blues and rock musician, songwriter and producer. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among its members some of the most famous blues and blues rock musicians.
Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two different lead vocalists, Paul Jones from 1962 to 1966 and Mike d'Abo from 1966 to 1969.
John Symon Asher Bruce was a Scottish musician. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and bassist of rock band Cream. After the group disbanded in 1968, he pursued a solo career and also played with several bands.
Richard Malden "Dick" Heckstall-Smith was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most influential English blues rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s. He is known for primarily playing tenor, soprano, and baritone saxophones, as well as piano, clarinet and alto saxophone.
Colosseum are an English jazz rock band, mixing blues, rock and jazz-based improvisation. Colin Larkin wrote that "the commercial acceptance of jazz rock in the UK" was mainly due to the band. Between 1975 and 1978 a separate band Colosseum II existed playing progressive rock.
Graham John Clifton Bond was an English rock/blues musician and vocalist, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s.
Janet Godfrey is a British songwriter, known for being the first wife and occasional writing partner of bassist Jack Bruce.
Michael Ronald Taylor was a British jazz composer, pianist and co-songwriter for the band Cream.
Philip John Albert "Jon" Hiseman was an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer, and music publisher. He played with the Graham Bond Organisation, with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and later formed what has been described as the "seminal" jazz rock/progressive rock band, Colosseum. He later formed Colosseum II in 1975.
LiveS The Reunion Concerts 1994 is a live album by English progressive jazz-rock band Colosseum. It includes two tracks from their reunion concert at the Zelt-Musik-Festival in Freiburg, Germany and six tracks from the second reunion concert at the E-Werk in Cologne, Germany.
Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, or simply Blues Incorporated, were an English blues band formed in London in 1961, led by Alexis Korner and including at various times Jack Bruce, Charlie Watts, Terry Cox, Ginger Baker, Art Wood, Long John Baldry, Ronnie Jones, Danny Thompson, Graham Bond, Cyril Davies and Dick Heckstall-Smith.
Duffy Power was an English blues and rock and roll singer, who achieved some success in the 1960s and continued to perform and record intermittently later.
John Burch was an English pianist, composer and bandleader, equally at home playing traditional jazz, bebop, blues, skiffle, boogie-woogie and rock.
Things We Like is an instrumental jazz album by Scottish musician Jack Bruce.
Anthony Robert Reeves is an English bass guitarist/contrabassist, noted for his "distinctive and complex bass sound" and use of electronic effects.
The Sound of 65 is the debut album by rhythm & blues/jazz group The Graham Bond Organisation and featuring its best-known line-up of Graham Bond on vocals, alto saxophone, Hammond B-3 organ and Mellotron, Jack Bruce on vocals, acoustic and electric basses and harmonica, Dick Heckstall-Smith on tenor and soprano saxophone and Ginger Baker on drums.
Klooks Kleek was a jazz and rhythm 'n’ blues club on the first floor of the Railway Hotel, West Hampstead, north-west London. Named after "Klook's Clique", a 1956 album by jazz drummer Kenny Clarke, the club opened on 11 January 1961 with special guest Don Rendell and closed nine years later on 28 January 1970 after a session by drummer Keef Hartley’s group.
Mike Falana was a Nigerian jazz trumpeter and highlife genre musician. He has been a member of several groups in the 1960s that included well-known musicians. The groups include the African Messengers, The Johnny Burch Octet, The Graham Bond Organization and The Ramong Sound. He had achieved a level of stardom in the early 1960s.
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