BILLY JENKINS - guitar, shouting, singing

Billy Jenkins' Songs Of Praise

Called "the great unrecognized genius of South London" (Sunday Times), Billy Jenkins is one of the UK's most creative and original musicians. In November 2005, the famous Vortex Jazz Club held an all-day celebration of his music as part of the London Jazz Festival. Celebrants included a band led by the young saxophonist Nathaniel Facey and piano interpretations of his work by Huw Warren, Nick Ramm and violinist Dylan Bates.

Band-leader, composer, (one-time rehearsal room manager) teacher and guitarist, Billy Jenkins is now in his fifth decade of music making which began with rehearsals in his parent's basement. Billy's early musical experiences were shared with best friend Bill Broad, who he introduced to the music of Frank Zappa, Velvet Underground and Sonny Rollins. They parted ways at 18: Billy heading off "to be a musician" and Broad changing his name to Idol, with the ambition "to be a star".

In the late 70s, legendary record label boss Clive Davis flew over from the States to sign Billy and his jazz-art-rock band Burlesque to Arista. Two albums and the cover of Melody Maker followed but by 1977 Billy had become disillusioned with the commerciality of the burgeoning punk scene, and disbanded Burlesque to form the musical comedy act Jenkins and Trimmer. Combining free jazz with an anarchic comic sensibility, Jenkins was soon headlining gigs at the Comic Strip Club alongside the new alternative comedians Alexei Sayle, French and Saunders and Adrian Edmonson.

Inspired by hearing the big band Loose Tubes rehearsing (Billy was running a rehearsal studio in Greenwich at this point), he formed the Voice Of God Collective - "The Voice of The People is the Voice of God - and the religion is music". VOGC included saxophonist Iain Ballamy, pianist Django Bates and drummer Martin France amongst others. Final year students on the prestigious Royal Academy Of Music jazz course currently study the music of the VOGC.

Since 1995 Billy has been most regularly seen performing with his Blues Collective, with Dylan Bates (violin), Richard Bolton (guitar), Thad Kelly (bass) and Mike Pickering (drumkit). He also presented 'One Way Single Parent Family Favourites' - a weekly show on Resonance FM from 2002 - 2003.

He has produced nearly 40 albums including 'Scratches of Spain', 'Motorway At Night', 'Entertainment USA' and 'Music For Two Cassette Machines'. Some of his recordings are about his SE London environs and include 'Sounds Like Bromley', 'Greenwich', 'Still Sounds Like Bromley' and the post-modern classic 'Suburbia'.

Projects have included recording and performing with The Fun Horns of Berlin; improvised musical boxing Big Fights; Music For Low Strung Guitar; directing Anglo-Belgium and London Meets Vienna ensembles; improvising to film; collaborating in words and music with Ian McMillan, Ben Watson and Kate Pullinger; composing and performing with The Gogmagogs; compositions for six guitars; 'The Drum Machine Plays The Battlemarch Of Consumerism' for six drumkits and sporadic festival and club appearances on the continent and UK.

In education he was Visiting Tutor in Guitar Techniques at Lewisham F.E.College (1990-96), guest lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music '95, Guest big band director at Middlesex University '96. Ensemble Masterclasses at the International Summeracademy Freie Kunstschule, Berlin '97. 'Moving On' music workshops with Andy Sheppard, Belfast '99, Musical Director and workshop leader for Greenwich Young People's Jazz Orchestra, Blackheath 2000. Workshops with Pied Piper Project, Yorkshire, March 2001. Visiting Artist on the Jazz Faculty at Trinity College of Music (2001-2) and currently at the Royal Academy of Music since 2002. Billy was a member of the ACE Improvised Touring Panel from 1993 - 98.

In 2005 Jenkins released 'When The Crowds Have Gone'; his ninth album for The Babel Label. 'When The Crowds Have Gone' is Jenkins' most intense release yet; armed with a handmade Lucas Parlour acoustic guitar, rack, and blues harp, he simply sings how he feels. The album includes thirteen deeply personal originals about heartache, cultural and social alienation, filtered through the unique BJ wit.

'Billy Jenkins' Songs Of Praise' has been created especially for his 50th year, with instrumentation and personnel capable of merging the myriad strands of Jenkins' musical and performing career into a fast flowing spontaneous and joyous celebration. Songs of Praise, indeed!

"Next to Jenkins, chroniclers of modern Britain such as Pulp seem like feckless dilettanti." Richard Cook, New Statesman

"If Clapton is God then Jenkins is the giant turtle upon whose back the entire universe stands." Stewart Lee, Sunday Times

The Shed's Spring / Summer 2007

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