A few months ago, a chance meeting on a music discussion forum led to an actual meeting in London and the release of a Gordon Beck 3CD 1964-84 anthology and a single CD set of unreleased gold from Joy Marshall (d.1970) backed by the Gordon Beck Quartet (with John McLaughlin) from spring 1968: ‘When Sunny Gets Blues’ – out now with notes from Simon Spillet and and recommended. That in turn led me to explore a seam of McLaughlin research I had somehow missed: Gordon Beck’s recordings for the BBC in that brief period in which John was among his circle of collaborators.
It proved a very rich seam indeed: between March and May 1968, Gordon’s Quartet with John recorded around five hours of music for the corporation, backing singers Mark Murphy and Joy Marshall along with numerous instrumentals. Most of it drifted out on late-night radio 2 shows hosted by the likes of Terry Wogan…
‘Echoes From Then’, my second book on John, with a substantial series of discographies, sessionographies and concert listings (only four known with Gordon Beck), was already printed. I’m currently awaiting delivery of a second printing with a new 5,000-word Addendum detailing the Beck Quartet BBC sessions and a few other late items.
The new Addendum to ‘Echoes From Then’ is also available here as a typeset free download: http://colin-harper.com/…/06/ECHOES-FROM-THEN-addendum.pdf
And yet more amazingly, to me at least, for all the trawling of British music papers I’ve done in the past, only last week I came across for the first time a photo of John McLaughlin in ‘Melody Maker’ 11/1/69 – albeit the size of a postage stamp – on a page highlighting 14 acts or individuals in jazz, rock and cabaret to look out for in 1969. It is, I believe, the only McLaughlin photo in any British music paper prior to 1970.
These 14 acts tipped for some kind of success were (in the ‘good call’ camp): Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum, Yes, Led Zeppelin, the Liverpool Scene, Phillip Goodhand-Tait, Mike Osborne, Al Stewart, Billy Cobham, John McLaughlin. Okay, some of those took a few years to make an impact but others did so that year. In the ‘perhaps not…’ camp we had: also-ran Irish rockers Eire Apparent, fleetingly popular jazz guitarist Amancio D’Silva (whose two LPs of 1969 are now valued at £600 and £1000, giving some idea of how many were sold at the time), instantly forgotten cabaret artiste Oriel Clare, utterly unknown band The Web, and Caribbean duo Root & Jenny Johnson.
That’s a pretty good hit rate. And in featuring both Billy Cobham (then besuited drummer with Horace Silver’s Quintet) and John McLaughlin (on the cusp of his first solo LP ‘Extrapolation’ being released, but also on the cusp of emigrating to New York where his star would swiftly ascend), it brings a smile to a fusion biographer’s face. Here, on one page, probably seen at the time by neither man – and with the pair very likely never having met at this point – was a glimpse of the soon-coming partnership that would make the Mahavishnu Orchestra the most awe-inspiring musical act of their day (1971-73). Amazing…
I’ll create a video montage for one of the Joy Marshall & GBQ tracks in due course. Meanwhile, here’s a performance from her on Dutch TV in 1965 with Rob Madna on piano and a small orchestra:
Moose the Mooche says
I’ve been listening to a lot of the Vish this last week – got one of those original album series sets. My goodness they do play a lot of notes. But thanks you for your tireless advocacy, which has cut the time I would have taken to get round to them by several years (they were always on my lengthy “to do” list)
Is there a film to be made about John’s life? Seems to me to be prime material. I mean a docco like the one on Jaco Pastorious, not one of those BBC biopics where Michael Sheen puts on a silly voice.
PS Eire Apparent’s Yes I Need Someone is on the magnificent The Psychedelic Years Revisited compo. Good tune it is too.
Colin H says
I can’t see a docco working – John has no real interest in the past. But there’s a good book or two in it… 😀
Moose the Mooche says
They manage to make perfectly decent doccos about people who won’t cooperate, on account of being dead (the lazy sods). Shirley some of the seven million people Johnny has worked with could be interviewed, and there’s loads of good archive. Would be pretty daft if you couldn’t get key people like Billy C and Carlos S to contribute thoughbut.
Books? Who reads ’em!
Colin H says
There’s almost no archive film prior to 1972: 5 seconds clapping in the audience at a ‘Jazz 625’ 1965 performance by Thelonious Monk; 20 seconds with Gunter Hampel in 1968; 20 seconds with Lifetime on Beat Club in 1970 (with the voiceover telling viewers they’d been uncooperative and hadn’t recorded anything useable). John backed plenty of pop people on TV in the 60s but I’ve yet to come across any of such performances that are extant.
Moose the Mooche says
Alright then, it’s the biopic option.
Who to play him then? Given that I’ve vetoed Michael Sheen (he could do Santana though, he’s got curly hair and would do the accent… or an accent, at any rate)
Colin H says
john’s accent has perambulated somewhat in its time…
Moose the Mooche says
That’s what comes of having two necks.
(….eh?)
Vulpes Vulpes says
Can’t seem to get that link to the pdf of extra pages to work, Colin.
Strike that – user error. Found ’em!
PS “utterly unknown band The Web” did three rather fine jazzy-proggy albums between about 1969 and 1971 that have been reissued by Esoteric in recent years.
deramdaze says
I’ve heard of the “utterly unknown” Web … they were on Deram and I’m sure turned up on one or two of those Rubble/See For Miles compilations 30 years ago though they didn’t appear in that Record Collector Top 100 Psych magazine … although I can’t claim to have heard their L.P. “Fully Interlocking.”
Two other things I now know –
1. The L.P. has been reissued on the excellent Esoteric label so is now top of my “to get” list, and,
2. They were yet another late 60s multi-racial act.
Vulpes Vulpes says
There are three albums in total – the one you mention is the debut, which was followed by ‘Theraphosa Blondi’ (with the eponymous Tarantula on the cover) and then their third LP ‘I Spider’ – geddit? – (with a photomontage melding an emu and an arm on the cover, well before such things could easily be magicked up in Photoshop).
I’ve got the last two, both of which are ‘of their time’ but very listenable in a jazzy Cressida/Spring/Gentle Giantish way.
Colin H says
Edit: ‘known-by-one-or-two-people-on-the-Afterword band The Web…’ 😀
deramdaze says
Correct.
Here, there is no such thing as pedantic, just degrees (if talking about The Three Degrees, obscure mid-60s 45s on Swan; if talking about Marc Bolan, “The Third Degree”) of pedantic.
Mike_H says
Was listening just a few days ago to a Tubby Hayes Quintet album, “Down In The Village”, which featured Gordon Beck.
A fine pianist.
Colin H says
Indeed.