About Me
Band Bio;
well, the name of the band is GWELHELLIN GOTH
A.K.A The Gentleman’s Luncheon Club,
and you will soon find it on its own MySpace site – our first album,
Bad Provincial Boy, can be got from www.cornishmusic.com - but this is my personal page where I hope to put my solo work and, history into perspective.
Highlights:- Hearing George Butterworth’s ‘Banks of Green Willow’ on a portable radio with a battery like a house-brick as our caravan trundled towards the Malvern hills. Buying my first trumpet from comedian Stan Stennet back in ’47, for £2. The little guitar my father made for me from orange boxes when we were still on the road. Spending thirty shillings on an Essex and Cameyer banjo from a junk shop in Newbury, and finding it was really easy to play. Hearing Django Reinhardt for the first, second, third and five-hundredth time and forgetting all about the banjo. My first paid gig, aged 15, as political satirist and singer-songwriter on BBC TV from Plymouth. Discovering Russian music for the first time when a disabled Soviet trawler limped into Saint Ives harbour. Meeting the late, great Cyril Tawney, a very good friend to me, especially in my teens. I come from a temperance family, and Cyril taught me the necessary art of drinking! Running a folk club in Saint Ives, hosting Peter Bellamy, Royston Wood and the lovely Heather Wood, all of the Young Tradition. My own show, ‘Young Tomorrow’ (cringe) on Westward TV. Meeting Denis Ray, (alive and moving to Hawaii) arranger and fine jazz tenor sax soloist, who taught me practical music theory and, in the teeth of the Trad boom, pointed out that there was Modern Jazz. Sitting stunned at the Hammersmith Gaumont with Art Blakey and Thelonius Monk creating magic on the stand. Meeting the luthier Stephen Delft and, Judith Piepe. Jamming on String bass with Spencer Davis. Meeting Mox and all the folk and blues performers who then infested Soho; playing on the Amory Kane and Paul Korda albums; writing with George Kajanos of Eclection, (later 'Sailor').
Playing Keyboards for Barnaby Rudge. Trying to get a new band together with my neighbours John Bull, ex-Hapshash and the Coloured Coat and, Viv Prince, Ex-Pretty Things, and; failing. Sigh. Trying and Succeeding in getting a band together with Mick Hawksworth, ex-Andromeda, Tony Fernandez, ex- Cliff Bennett's Toe Fat, S.A.L.T (with Stevie Smith), Killing Floor, The Strawbs, and The Roy Hill Band (Between 1972/74 Tony worked with Alan Ross touring the U.S.A supporting such acts as The Doobie Brothers, Blue Oyster Cult, Kiss, and Eric Clapton) and, dear dead Rod Price ex-black Cat Bones and subsequently FogHat. Meeting Dorris and, lifelong friend Ron Henderson; Playing at the Marquee; Winning the Melody Maker Top Soloist award at the Roundhouse in ’74, while still recovering from the auto crash that finished me as musical director with the old Southern TV company. The publication of Farmer Fisher, the first book on the UK market to include a record. The fond e-mails I still get requesting replacements. (See Blog )
Rediscovering Russian Music. Meeting Bibs Ekkel and Xenia de Berner; Playing with my dear dead friend Domra Virtuoso and Great Man Alyosha Zolotuhin and getting a standing ovation at the Albert Hall. Meeting John Holden, who became my partner in the duo Muzika Muzikantov. Touring internationally with the Kazatka Cossacks. Learning much from playing with the fine guitarist Dusko Popovic. Meeting Segovia.
Wildly musical and seriously drunken nights (sorry, Cyril!) in Zurich with John, Xenia, Pascal, Arno and dear dead Fritzi, a fine Hungarian Gypsy fiddler who survived the horrors of Ravensbruck only to succumb to cancer. Playing as the Albion Trio with John and the pianist and accordionist Goggi Bestavachvili. Meeting Celso Machado at Pomodoro and watching him bring my guitar to a totally new life. Premiering my own ‘Caballetta Suite’ for Spanish Guitar in concert with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Festival Hall. Jamming with old friend and amazing flamenco innovator Esteban Antonio. Playing in Russia in concert with Qvartet Zabava of Saint Petersburg, and being asked to give a guitar class at the Conservatory.
Finally, in the nineties, getting round to learning to play that 1947 trumpet! My first gig as a trumpeter with the Cadgwith Rough Jazz Ensemble. Rough indeed! Discovering that Noel Murphy had come to live in my nearest village.
Meeting Dickie Neville, Tony Apple and David Painter and forming Gwelhellin Goth, known to family and detractors as The Gentleman’s Luncheon Club, and thus finding three dear new friends and fine musicians to fill the awful black deletions in my phone book. I know I've left a lot of other dear friends and fine musicians out of this, but I'm reminded that it's a profile and not a book; that's in the future.
Meanwhile, Thank You All for the part you’ve played in shaping my music and, my life. JXC
