Throughout the 1960s Jarrett would become recognised as an accomplished musician and at the start of the 1970s, Jarrett started to perform with Miles Davis. He has often cited Davis as a vital influence, both musical and personal, on his own thinking about music and improvisation.

Jarrett has commented that his best performances have been when he has had only the slightest notion of what he was going to play at the next moment. He also said that most people don’t know “what he does”, which relates to what Miles Davis said to him expressing bewilderment – as to how Jarrett could “play from nothing”. What Jarrett did during his most creative solo concerts seems to have been to have put himself into a meditative ‘alterted state of consciousness’ which facilitated the flow of many brilliant and original musical ideas. In the liner notes of the Bremen Lausanne album Jarrett states something to the effect that he is a conduit for the ‘Creator’, something his mother had apparently discussed with him.

One of Jarrett’s trademarks is his frequent, loud vocalizations (grunting, squealing, and tuneless singing). Jarrett is also physically active while playing, writhing, gyrating, and almost dancing on the piano bench.

However, Jarrett is notoriously intolerant of audience noise, including coughing and other involuntary sounds, especially during solo improvised performances. He feels that extraneous noise affects his musical inspiration, and distracts from the purity of the sound. As a result, cough drops are routinely supplied to Jarrett’s audiences in cold weather, and he has even been known to stop playing and lead the crowd in a group cough.

In 2003, Jarrett received the Polar Music Prize, the first (and to this day only) recipient not to share the prize with a co-recipient and in 2004 he received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize.

Dusty’s first hit was the upbeat pop hit, “I Only Want to Be with You” in 1963. Which would be followed by a string of hits throughout the 1960s. Her image, supported by a peroxide blond beehive hairstyle, evening gowns and heavy make-up, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties. And her popularity was not limited to the UK, topping charts and radio playlists in the US.

Dusty’s career sadly started to fade with the change in music culture toward more progressive music and the association with underground as “fashionable” and pop which had become “unfashionable”. In an effort to revive her faltering career Dusty went to the States and signed with Atlantic Records. Here she recorded perhaps her most famous album ‘Dusty in Memphis’ in 1968. Despite being unanimously well received critically, the album failed to top charts in the US or the UK. But one track stood out strongly and remains one of Dusty’s greatest hits today, “Son of a Preacher Man”, which earned Springfield a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1970.

Despite Springfield’s decline in popularity, her impact on British Music culture and fashion was incredibly powerful. Springfield became an icon and her style was adopted widely and that included her “panda eye” mascara which is well captured in David Redferns image. Springfield was recognised by countless awards throughout her career. Today she sits in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the UK Music Hall of Fame. Voted amongst the top female artists of all time by all the major music magazines and also received the Grammy Hall of Fame award posthumously. Springfield succumbed to cancer on 2nd March 1999, the same day Springfield had been scheduled to go to Buckingham Palace to receive her award of Officer, Order of the British Empire from her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Springfield’s manager collected the medal on her behalf and presented it to her in the hospital the day before her death. In the days after her death, her friend Sir Elton John stated, “I think she is the greatest white singer that there ever has been”.

Dusty Springfield’s first major hit “I Only Want To Be With You”.

King hails from Indianola, Mississipi. His expressive singing style, developed as he grew up singing in the gospel choir. At age 12, King bought his first guitar. In 1946, age 21, King moved to Memphis, Tennessee, which throughout the 50s would become the melting pot for Blues, Gospel and Rock and Roll. King would become a key player. His ten-minute radio spot on the legendary Memphis Radio station WDIA, affectionately became known as “King’s Spot” and later as a disk jockey he would become known as “Beale Street Blues Boy” after the street at the epicenter of the Blues scene.

King’s band, the B.B. King Review formed and began recording in 1949. During a performance later that year, a brawl would erupt between two men fighting for the attention of a young lady, resulting in a fire. King having left the building without his beloved $30 Gibson electric guitar, realized the imminent demise of the instrument and returned into the burning building to rescue the guitar. The woman at the heart of the brawl was named Lucille. King named that first guitar Lucille, as well as everyone he owned since that near fatal experience, as a reminder never again to do something as stupid.

King would forge his name over the following years, not only as a recording artists, but also for bringing to the fold new artists on his own ‘Blues Boys Kingdom’ recording label. King amassed a collection of hits in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. His contribution to music would continually receive recognition. In 1980 he would be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 1987, he garnered a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which would become the first of 15 Grammy Awards. In 2004 he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists “in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music”.

Despite a series of farewell tours, King continues to perform throughout the world, with tours of Europe, Brazil and the US. Collaborating with other artists of notoriety, including Eric Clapton, U2, John Mayall, Gladys Knight. Over a 52-year period, B.B. King has played in excess of 15,000 performances.

As this wonderful image of Macy Gray from the 2011 Nice Jazz Festival highlights, David Redfern remains at the cutting edge of Live Music photography. He continues to work at all the major Jazz festivals globally; completing his 35th New Orleans Jazz festival in 2011. David remains the President of BAPLA (British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies) a role he has fulfilled for the past 18 years.

David Redfern’s career began in the twilight jazz clubs of 1960’s London. He risked his one and only camera amongst the jiving teenage crowds. The British Trad boom was under way. His first published photos featured Kenny Ball, Chris Barber, George Melly, and the old Marquee Club.

David began photographing TV Shows like ‘Ready Steady Go’ and ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ which were shot during the day. Here he made many of his now classic shots of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Dusty Springfield.

Meanwhile his nights were spent at the 100 Club, Ronnie Scott’s or the Marquee, where he captured on film all the jazz greats from Miles Davis to Ella Fitzgerald.

These pictures were to contribute to what is now the most comprehensive jazz collection in Europe. To break into the commercial world by chasing the big American names, David became a regular visitor to the Jazz festivals in Newport, Antibes and Montreux, and the big rock festivals, photographing such greats as Hendrix and Dylan.

By the 1970′s David had firmly established his name as one of the top music photographers in the business. In 1980 Pete Townsend’s Eel Pie Company published David Redfern’s Jazz Album. Lavishly illustrated with many of David’s finest jazz photographs, it was highly acclaimed by critics and public alike. In the same year, at Frank Sinatras request, David stepped into Terry O’Neill’s shoes as official tour photographer.

‘David, you’re one helluva photographer, keep shooting!’
Frank Sinatra

At the beginning of 1989 David moved his music picture library REDFERNS to new premises in West London, a location now much favoured by the British music industry. The library expanded rapidly. Covering over 26,000 different artists and styles from every musical genre, and representing some 500 photographers and collections, it became the most comprehensive music picture library in the world, with over 205,000 items online.

‘David, to me, is probably the greatest jazz photographer in the world’
Buddy Rich

The December ’94 issue of the American publication Jazz Times featured David’s work in their ‘Special Collectors Edition’, with select contributions from six of the world’s most highly acclaimed jazz photographers. David was the only non-American to be featured. This also coincided with sale of his 1995 Jazz Calendar published by the renowned calendar publishers The Ink Group.

September 1995 saw the launch of a series of 10 Jazz postage stamps by the US post office. Three of David’s images were used: Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk & Coleman Hawkins. The inclusion of the Louis Armstrong image was a result of some 38,000 signatures collected from 65 countries over 8 years, and had a special launch in New Orleans, the birthplace of Louis Armstrong. As a point of interest the picture of Louis Armstrong was taken by David in New York in 1967, on his first visit to the US.

His book The Unclosed Eye was published by Sanctuary Publishing in May 1999 with critical acclaim. The London Sunday Times Magazine published a 4 page feature.

The book publication coincided with exhibitions in London, New York and New Orleans, followed by one in Cork, Ireland in October 2000. The prestigious design magazine ‘Creative Review’ published a profile on David in their February 2001 issue. It was entitled ‘Leader with Vision’. David had another exhibition in September 2001 in conjunction with the Soho Jazz & Heritage Festival in London and at the Vienne Jazz festival in June/July 2002.

In November 2005 The Unclosed Eye expanded 2nd edition in hardback was published by David himself. This included a 200 limited slipcase edition complete with two 10 x 8 original colour prints.

David received ‘The Milt Hinton Award for Excellence in Jazz Photography’ in New York in January 2007. The award recognizes lifetime achievement in jazz photography as art and history.

In December 2008 David sold Redferns Music Picture Library to Getty Images. He has the use in perpetuity of his favourite 1000 images to market as fine art prints, and for his partner Suzy to use in her fashion textile business Suzy Reed Ltd.

Wilson Benesch would like to thank David for providing his images for our fans around the world and we hope that you enjoy the selection of images with us over the next 12-months.

Craig Milnes
Design Director
Wilson Benesch Ltd.

Adderley was originally from Florida, where he and his brother played with Ray Charles during the 1940s. But it was in New York where his prolific career began. Adderley attended a club to watch Oscar Pettiford’s group, by chance the saxophonist was late and Adderley had brought his saxophone with him for fear that it might be stolen. He was asked to sit in as the saxophone player and in true Cannonball style, he soared through the changes and became a sensation in the following weeks.

Prior to joining the Miles Davis band, Adderley formed his own group with his brother Nat after signing onto the Savoy jazz label in 1957. He was noticed by Miles Davis, and it was because of his blues-rooted alto saxophone that Davis asked him to play with his group.

Adderley joined the Miles Davis sextet in October 1957, three months prior to John Coltrane’s return to the group. Adderley played on the seminal Davis records Milestones and Kind of Blue. This period also overlapped with pianist Bill Evans’s time with the sextet, an association that led to recording Portrait of Cannonball and Know What I Mean?.

Adderley died of a stroke in 1975. He was buried in the Southside Cemetery, Tallahassee, Florida. Later that year he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.

Here’s a little something we found.

Bernard “Buddy” Rich – September 30th, 1917 – April 2nd, 1987. An American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was regarded as one of the world’s finest drummers and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.

Rich was born in Brooklyn, New York, where his career as a drummer started almost from the moment he could hold a drum stick. At the peak of his childhood career, Rich was reportedly the second highest paid child entertainer in the world. Immensely gifted, Rich could play with remarkable speed and dexterity despite the fact that he never received a formal lesson and refused to practice outside of his performances.

Rich’s jazz career began in 1937 when he began playing with Joe Marsala at New York’s Hickory House. By 1939, he had joined Tommy Dorsey’s band, after a performance in an orchestra fronted by Frank Sinatra. Later went on to play with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Ventura, Louis Armstrong and Gene Krupa. Rich was regularly featured in Jazz at the Philharmonic during the late 1940s.

As the big band era of the 30s and 40s waned, Rich tended to play in his own bands in smaller venues to the clubs the big bands had frequented. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, continued to tour his own bands and opened two nightclubs, Buddy’s Place and Buddy’s Place II. Both clubs were regularly filled to capacity by fans of the great master drummer. Rich also served as the session drummer for many recordings, where his playing was often much more understated than in his own big-band performances. Especially notable were Rich’s sessions for the late-career comeback recordings of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, on which he worked with pianist Oscar Peterson and his famous trio featuring bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis.

Rich’s technique has been one of the most standardized and coveted in drumming. His dexterity, musicality of playing style, speed and smooth execution are considered “holy grails” of drum technique and have been considered next to impossible to duplicate. Henry Adler, a drum teacher that worked with Rich throughout his career, was quoted to have said about there meeting through a fellow student, “The kid told me Buddy played better than [Gene] Krupa. Buddy was only in his teens at the time and his friend was my first pupil. Buddy played and I watched his hands. Well, he knocked me right out. He did everything I wanted to do, and he did it with such ease. When I met his folks, I asked them who his teacher was. ‘He never studied,’ they told me. That made me feel very good. I realized that it was something physical, not only mental, that you had to have.”

Buddy Rich remained active performing until the end of his life. He died April 2nd, 1987, due to heart failure following surgery for a malignant brain tumour. He was aged, 69.

Here’s a little something we found and enjoyed.

Jimi Hendrix – November 27, 1942, Seattle, Washington – September 18, 1970, London, England. Born Johnny Allen Hendrix and later renamed James Marshall Hendrix and forever know in the annals of history as guitarist, singer and songwriter, Jimi Hendrix.

October being the month separating the birth and death of the musical prodigy, we felt it fitting to repost his image in memory of this unique talent.

Hendrix’s parents divorced when he was 9 years old, and in 1958 his mother passed away. He went to live with his grandmother because of his unstable household. Hendrix never graduated from high school.
Hendrix is recognized as one of the the greatest and most influential guitarists in rock music history. It was the U.K. that first recognised the brilliance of the musician who could neither read nor write music. However in 1967 he gained world wide fame after playing at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival before his death in 1970, at the age of 27.

A self-taught musician, the left-handed Hendrix played a Fender Stratocaster guitar turned upside down and restrung to suit him. Hendrix pioneered the technique of guitar feedback with overdriven amplifiers, incorporating what was previously an undesirable sound into his music.

An true innovator.

Albert Greene – April 13, 1946. An American gospel and soul singer, born in Arkansas. At the age of ten he started performing in a quartet with his brothers. They toured extensively throughout the 1950s, but Green was eventually kicked out of the band by his father for listening to his hero, Jackie Wilson. Green then dropped the ‘e’ from Greene and went on to record as a solo artist.

Green’s original singing style was more akin to that of James Brown and other contemporaries he idolised such as Jackie Wilson. In 1969, Willie Mitchell of Memphis’ Hi Records, who would sign Green and release his first albums, recognised that Green had a powerful and expressive voice more suited to slower grooves. Greens next albums would include classics such as Al Green Get’s Next To You (1970), Let’s Stay Together (1972), I’m Still In Love With You (1972) and Call Me (1973), which included Green’s own “Take Me to the River”, which remains a huge hit today.

Despite the huge success of Green’s early 1970s offerings, his career would take an abrupt change in direction in 1974. Mary Woodson White, a girlfriend of Green’s, assaulted him before committing suicide at his Memphis home. Although she was already married, White reportedly became upset when Green refused to marry her. At some point during the evening, White doused Green with a pan of boiling porridge while he was showering, causing burns on Green’s back, stomach and arms. The police found in her purse a note declaring her intentions and her reasons. “The more I trust you,” she’d written, “the more you let me down.”

Green cited the incident as a wake-up call to change his life. He became a pastor and continues to serve in this capacity today. Green released another R&B album in the late 70s, but sales were relatively poor and he never regained his former mass audience. Finally in 1979 Green injured himself falling off stage during a performance and interpreted this as a message from God. After this he devoted all his energies towards pastoring his church and gospel singing. Green has made the odd contribution to R&B, generally through collaborations with other artists.

Despite the abrupt end to Greens R&B recording and performing career, he remains a very popular artist today. His achievements have been recognised with a number of high profile awards, which include ten Grammy’s in both best song and best artist categories.

Armando Anthony “Chick” Corea – June 12, 1941. Is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist and composer. As a member of Miles Davis’ band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of electric jazz fusion movement. Alongside contemporaries such as Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett, Corea has been described as some of the major jazz piano voices to emerge in the post- John Coltrane era.

Corea was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He is of Sicilian and Spanish decent. At age 4 Corea’s father, himself a musician, introduced him to piano. Corea would eventually move to New York to study music, but quit after finding the course disappointing. He remained in New York and became involved in the music scene which would become the start of his professional career.

In the 1960s Corea contributed to a number of albums. In 1966 he recorded his first as the leader of his own band. The album was titled ‘Tones for Joan’s Bones. In the late 60′s, Corea had associations with avant garde players and his solo style revealed a dissonant, avant garde orientation. In September 1968 Corea replaced Herbie Hancock in Davis’ band and appeared in landmark albums such as ‘Filles de Kilimanjaro’, ‘In a Silent Way’ and ‘Bitches Brew’.

In the early 1970s Corea took a profound stylistic turn from avant garde playing to a crossover jazz fusion style that incorportated jazz elements. He founded Return to Forever in 1971. The band had a fusion sound even though it relied on electronic instrumentation it drew more on Brazilian and Spanish-American musical styles than on rock music. The group released its final studio record in 1977. Thereafter, Corea focused on solo projects.

Corea’s later career and current work is based around a return to his more traditional jazz and acoustic recordings. In 1992 he started his own label, Stretch Records. Corea continues to experiment with jazz fusion concept albums and won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental album with ‘Ultimate Adventure’ in 2006.

Monk is often credited with the foundation of bebop. His compositions consisting of improvisations, dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists. This style was consistent with his piano style- which can be observed in the film- fused with high percussive attacks and abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations.

Monk’s manner was said to be equally charismatic. His distinctive style of suits, hats and sunglasses were complimented by a unique stage performance. Monk would often stop playing during the his gig, stand and dance, whilst the other musicians would continue.

Monk was born in North Carolina in 1917, but grew up in New York. He started playing piano at 6 years of age and was largely self taught.

In 1940 Monk developed his style whilst working at Minton’s Playhouse, a Manhattan nightclub. A number of other influential jazz musicians would hang out here, including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Christian, Kenny Clarke, Charlie Parker and the great Miles Davis.

Monk made a number of early recordings between 1947-1954. First with Blue Note and later Prestige Records. During this period he recorded a number of highly significant, but at the time under-recognised albums, including collaborations with Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey and Max Roach. Monk also recorded with Miles Davis, but is said that Davis found this idiosyncratic accompaniment style difficult to improvise over and apparently asked Monk to sit out the recording, which rumor has it, nearly brought them to blows.

Monk later recorded with Riverside Recorded. Through this period he had his cabaret card restored by the New York authorities and went on to relaunch his New York career with a landmark six-month residency at the Five Spot Cafe in New York in 1957. Monk lead a quartet, with John Coltrane on tenor sax, Wilbur Ware on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums.

In 1962 Monk signed to Columbia Records, at the time considered to be one of the big four. Monk would record, “Monk’s Dream”, that would be his best selling LP of his lifetime.

By the mid-1970s, Monk had disappeared from the scene. Around this time Monk made his last recordings and made only a small number of appearances during this final decade. On a worldwide tour, “The Giants of Jazz”, Monk was said to be very withdrawn and refused to communicate with anyone. It is often speculated that Monk had an unspecified mental illness that worsened in the late 1960s, but no reports or diagnosis were ever publicized.

Monk died in 1982. He was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Pulitzer Prize Special Citation.

Walkers parents were both musicians, but as he grew up it was his stepfather who taught him a multitude of instruments. Early in the 1920s, the teenage Walker began to learn his art from the street-strolling string bands of Dallas. Walker had left school at 10, and by 15, he was a professional performer on the blues circuit, with famed performer Charlie Christian as his mentor.

In 1929, Walker made his recording debut with a single for Columbia records, billed as Oak Cliff T-Bone. Oak Cliff was the community he lived in at the time and T-Bone a corruption of his middle name. His second album followed in 1942, but his most prolific recording period was between 1946-1948. His most famous song was “Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad”, recorded in 1947.

Walker influenced some of the finest musicians for generations. His trick of playing the guitar with his teeth was imitated by a young Jimi Hendrix. B.B. King once said, “When I heard T-Bone Walker play the electric guitar I had to have one”. While Chuck Berry once said, “All the things people see me do on the stage I got from T-Bone Walker”.

We found this film which we feel reflects nicely the era and musical style of T-Bone Walker.

The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Getz was born in Philadelphia but spent the majority of his childhood in the Bronx. Getz quickly identified himself as a musical prodigy, taking up the harmonica at age 12, before receiving his first alto saxophone at 13. In High School he quickly mastered the bassoon and would be offered a scholarship to the prestigious performing arts school, Julliard. But it was too late: the wicked urges of jazz had already taken hold of his innocent soul and Stanley passed up the offer in favor of a new tenor sax and a membership in the local musician’s union. In 1943, age 16, he left school and went on tour as part of fellow jazz musician, Jack Teagarden’s band.

Throughout the 40′s, Getz would gradually establish himself as the leading musician in a number of bands. Eventually achieving his first hit, “Early Autumn” with Woody Herman’s band ‘The Second Herd’. This success would allow Getz to leave the band and launch his solo career.

By the 1950s, Getz would be the leader on almost all of his recording sessions. He has established himself as a leading Jazz musician and would now regaularly record with reputable musicians such as Oscar Peterson, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and many others.

By the 1960s Getz returned to the US from Scandinavia, where he had moved to battle a drugs problem. Getz became a central figure in introducing bossa nova music to the US. During this time he teamed up with Charlie Byrd, who had just returned from a tour of Brazil. In 1962 Getz recorded Jazz Samba. In 1963 Getz won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance for “Desafinado” from the same album. It sold over a million copies and was awarded a gold disc. Shortly after Getz would record ‘Jazz Samba Encore!’, which would also achieve a gold disc.

The success of bossa nova in the US can largely be attributed to these two albums. But Getz crowning achievement and perhaps most famous album was Getz/Gilberto. Recorded in 1963, with Tom Jobim, João Gilberto and his wife, the totally unheard of, Astrud Gilberto. The album won two Grammys.

The Getz/Gilberto musical partnership would end abruptly after Getz affair with Astrud Gilberto and would signal Getz movement away from the bossa nova scene towards cool jazz. Whilst Getz remained a prominent musician throughout the 70s, the 60s remained his most successful period of his career.

Getz was a capable of a wide range of behaviours, indeed Zoot Sims a long time friend, famously described him as ‘a nice bunch of guys’. Toward the end of his life Getz would finally end his drug addictions, but in 1991 he died of cancer aged 64.

King hails from Indianola, Mississipi. His expressive singing style, developed as he grew up singing in the gospel choir. At age 12, King bought his first guitar. In 1946, age 21, King moved to Memphis, Tennessee, which throughout the 50s would become the melting pot for Blues, Gospel and Rock and Roll. King would become a key player. His ten-minute radio spot on the legendary Memphis Radio station WDIA, affectionately became known as “King’s Spot” and later as a disk jockey he would become known as “Beale Street Blues Boy” after the street at the epicenter of the Blues scene.

King’s band, the B.B. King Review formed and began recording in 1949. During a performance later that year, a brawl would erupt between two men fighting for the attention of a young lady, resulting in a fire. King having left the building without his beloved $30 Gibson electric guitar, realized the imminent demise of the instrument and returned into the burning building to rescue the guitar. The woman at the heart of the brawl was named Lucille. King named that first guitar Lucille, as well as everyone he owned since that near fatal experience, as a reminder never again to do something as stupid.

King would forge his name over the following years, not only as a recording artists, but also for bringing to the fold new artists on his own ‘Blues Boys Kingdom’ recording label. King amassed a collection of hits in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. His contribution to music would continually receive recognition. In 1980 he would be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 1987, he garnered a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which would become the first of 15 Grammy Awards. In 2004 he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists “in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music”.

Despite a series of farewell tours, King continues to perform throughout the world, with tours of Europe, Brazil and the US. Collaborating with other artists of notoriety, including Eric Clapton, U2, John Mayall, Gladys Knight. Over a 52-year period, B.B. King has played in excess of 15,000 performances.

Some are of the opinion that Guy’s early career was held back by numerous parties including recording companies and other established artists. By the late 1960s, Guy’s career was in decline. The heavy blues-rock scene he had helped inspire was flourishing without him. For the next two decades, Buddy Guy had to endure the neglect many blues and rock artists faced in their careers. There are now online videos of Buddy playing with Hendrix in the late 60s. As visionaries and pathfinders they are overlooked while their followers received the fame, recognition and fortune.

Guy’s pathfinding guitar techniques are now recognized as path finding. Loud and aggressive he deployed distortion and feedback techniques for the first time within long solos. Shifts of volume and texture were driven by emotion and impulse. All these lessons were taken up by the new wave of 1960s British artists and later became basic attributes of blues-rock music and its offspring, hard rock and heavy metal music.
Jeff Beck “I didn’t know a Strat could sound like that”

It wasn’t until the late 80s early 90’s that Guy’s career finally took off. Clapton’s request that Guy be part of the ’24 Nights’ all-star blues guitar lineup at London’s Royal Albert Hall was in part responsible for this. Guy performed flamboyant live concerts of energetic blues and blues rock that predated the 1960s blues rockers. As a musician’s musician, he had a fundamental impact on the blues and on rock and roll, influencing a new generation of artists.

“Without Buddy Guy, there would be no Stevie Ray Vaughan.” Guitarist magazine observed:
Stevie Ray Vaughan once declared that Buddy Guy “plays from a place that I’ve never heard anyone play.”

Clapton has stated that he got the idea for a blues-rock power trio while watching Buddy Guy’s trio perform in England in 1965. Eric Clapton said “Buddy Guy was to me what Elvis was for others.” Clapton said in a 1985 Musician magazine article that “Buddy Guy is by far and without a doubt the best guitar player alive…if you see him in person, the way he plays is beyond anyone. Total freedom of spirit, I guess… He really changed the course of rock and roll blues.”

In recognition of Guy’s influence on Hendrix’s career, the Hendrix family invited Buddy Guy to headline all-star casts at several Jimi Hendrix tribute concerts they organized in recent years, “calling on a legend to celebrate a legend.” Jimi Hendrix himself once said that “Heaven is lying at Buddy Guy’s feet while listening to him play guitar.”

Alexis Korner was a pioneering blues musician and radio broadcaster who has sometimes been referred to as “a Founding Farther of British Blues. Throughout the 1960s, Korner had a major influence on the British music scene.

Born in Paris to a Greek mother and Austrian farther, Korner spent his childhood in Europe and Africa before arriving in London in 1940 at the start of the Second World War. Korner once recalled listening to a record by Jimmy Yancey during a German air raid, later stating, “From then on all I wanted to do was play the blues”.

Korner played piano and guitar. Along with fellow band member Cyril Davies, he formed the influential London Blues and Barrelhouse Club, bringing many American blues artists, previously unknown in England, to perform.

In 1961, Korner and Davies formed Blues Incorporated. The group included, at various times, such influential musicians as Charlie Watts and Ginger Baker. It also attracted a wider crowd of younger fans, some of whom occasionally performed with the group, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, John Mayall and others. Indeed it was in the earliest days of the Rolling Stones, that the members played for no money at the intervals of Alexis Korner’s gigs, borrowing his equipment to perform.

Korner’s influence on the British music scene is equally well demonstrated by his introduction of Jimmy Page to a young Robert Plant. Plant had been jamming with Korner and together they were recording a full album together. Page was so impressed he asked Plant to join “the New Yardbirds”, which would eventually become Led Zeppelin.

Korner’s broadcasting career begun in the 60′s and became his main career in the 1970s. He wrote for a number of influential musical publications and presented TV and Radio. In 1967, he interviewed The Jimi Hendrix Experience for the BBC Radio Show. Korner himself appeared on some of the recordings made in that session.

Korner’s own musical ventures included, Rocket88 with Charlie Watts and C.C.S., New Church and Snape, which all featured singer Peter Thorup. Korner was widely respected and continued to collaborate with influencial musicians until his death from lung cancer in 1984, he was 55.