Blues Incorporated was a British
R&B
band in the early 1960s, which was led by Alexis
Korner and which featured at various times such musicians as Jack
Bruce, Charlie Watts, Ginger
Baker, Long John Baldry, Danny
Thompson, Graham Bond, Cyril
Davies, and Dick Heckstall-Smith. Although
never very successful commercially, it was extremely influential on the
development of British rock music in the 1960s and later.
History
Korner (1928-1984) was a member of Chris
Barber's Jazz Band in the 1950s, and met up with Cyril Davies
(1932-1964) who shared his passion for American blues. In 1954 they
teamed up as a duo, began playing blues in London clubs, and
opened their own club, the London Blues and Barrelhouse Club, where
they featured visiting bluesmen from America. The club embraced
aspiring young musicians, including in its early days Charlie Watts,
Long John Baldry, and Jack Bruce.
In 1961 Korner and Davies formed Blues Incorporated, the first
amplified R&B band in Britain, and brought in singer Baldry
(sometimes replaced by Art Wood), drummer Watts,
bassist Bruce, and saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith. They secured a
residency at the Marquee Club, which brought them to the
attention of record producer and promoter Jack Good. He
arranged a recording contract with Decca Records which resulted in the LP
"R&B From The Marquee". The album, released
in late 1962, was actually recorded in the Decca studio rather than the
club, and featured Baldry as lead singer and songs by Muddy
Waters, Jimmy Witherspoon and Leroy Carr.
Also in 1962, Korner and Davies established a regular "Rhythm
and Blues Night" at the Ealing Jazz Club. This brought
together many more fans of blues and R&B music, including Mick
Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian
Jones, Rod Stewart, Paul Jones, John
Mayall, Zoot Money and Jimmy
Page, some of whom would occasionally sit in on Blues
Incorporated performances. Blues Incorporated was conceived as an
informal 'band'; its membership was intended to be fluid. Watts left
the group around this time, and successfully suggested Ginger Baker as
his replacement.
Early in 1963, Davies disagreed with Korner's intention to add
a brass section to the band and turn more towards jazz than blues.
Joined by Baldry, he left to form his own group, Cyril Davies' All
Stars, and was replaced in Blues Incorporated by Graham Bond. Blues
Incorporated found a new residency at the Flamingo club, but shortly
afterwards Bond, Bruce and Baker also left to form a new organ-based
group, the Graham Bond Organisation.
Blues Incorporated concentrated on their live work rather than
making commercial recordings. The group only released two singles on Parlophone,
"I Need Your Loving / Please Please Please" (1963) and "Little Baby" /
"Roberta" (1964), followed by one on Fontana,
"River's Invitation" / "Every Day I Have The Blues".
In 1964, they released the LPs "At The Cavern"
and "Red Hot From Alex", with American Herbie Goins as lead singer, and Danny
Thompson, later of Pentangle, on bass. By the time of
the group's last album "Sky High", credited to
Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated in 1965, the group included Duffy
Power on vocals. Korner finally dissolved the group in 1966.
External links
