All-Stars (band)

This article is about the 1960s British blues combo. For other "All-Star" bands, see All-star (disambiguation)#Music.
"The Velvettes" redirects here. For the Motown singing trio, see The Velvelettes.
The All-Stars
Also known as The R&B All-Stars
The Cyril Davies All-Stars
The Immediate All-Stars
Origin London, England
Genres Blues
Years active 1962-1965
Labels Pye Records
Immediate Records
Associated acts Cyril Davies, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Long John Baldry
Past members Nicky Hopkins, Carlo Little, Rick Brown, Bernie Watson, The Velvettes, Keith Scott, Cliff Barton, Micky Waller, Geoff Bradford, Johnny Parker, Bob Wackett, Mick Jagger, Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman, Chris Winters

The All-Stars (originally known as the Cyril Davies (R&B) All-Stars) were a short-lived English blues combo active in the early-mid 1960s that later evolved into a studio supergroup. Their later recordings are often credited less ambiguously to the Immediate All-Stars due to their strong ties to Immediate Records.

History

Cyril Davies

The All-Stars were initially formed as a backing band for Cyril Davies after his departure from Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated in October 1962. The original lineup was tentatively christened the Cyril Davies Blues Band and was made up of former members of Screaming Lord Sutch's group, the Savages, including Nicky Hopkins on piano, Carlo Little on drums and Rick Brown on bass. The band also featured Jimmy Page on guitar for a brief period, though he soon backed out to focus on his burgeoning career as a session musician and was replaced by Bernie Watson, another former member of the Savages.[1][2]

With Davies, the All-Stars had standing engagements at a number of London's jazz clubs.
"I went over to Eel Pie Island that night to see Sutch and the Savages as billed. In the event, members of the Savages had teamed up with Cyril Davies, from Alexis Korner’s Blues Inc., to perform as the Cyril Davies Rhythm and Blues Allstars. Cyril had been in Blues Inc., and he’d recruited members of the Savages rather than taking over from Dave Sutch."
— Don Craine, leader of contemporary band The Downliners.

In December 1962, Davies was in competition with Korner to recruit Long John Baldry as a second lead vocalist. Baldry played a few gigs with each band before eventually deciding to join Davies' camp in January 1963. At the same time, Davies also added female backing singers to the lineup in the form of South African trio the Velvettes (not to be confused with Motown trio, the Velvelettes). This trio was made up of Hazel Futa, Patience Gcwabe and Eunice Mamsie Mthombeni, all of whom had emigrated to England after touring with a musical stage production of King Kong.[3] On 27 February, the band recorded their first single for Pye Records: the original compositions "Country Line Special" and "Chicago Calling", released under the name Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars.[1][2] However, Baldry and the Velvettes are not featured on these recordings.[4]

In May 1963, illness forced the departure of Hopkins as he was hospitalised for several months. Former Blues Incorporated pianist Keith Scott was recruited in his stead, but growing tensions between Davies and the other band members meant that Brown, Little and Watson each soon left the group to be replaced by bassist Cliff Barton, guitarist Geoff Bradford and drummer Micky Waller. In August, this lineup recorded the R&B All-Stars' second single for Pye: "Preachin' the Blues", a Robert Johnson cover, and "Sweet Mary", a Lead Belly cover.[1][2] As with the previous recordings, Baldry and the Velvettes are not featured. Instead, backing vocals for "Preachin' the Blues" are provided by Alex Bradford and Madeline Bell.[4] Towards the end of 1963, Scott and Waller were themselves replaced by the group's final members Johnny Parker and Bob Wackett.

Following Davies' death in January 1964, Baldry took the helm and the surviving All-Stars lineup of Barton, Bradford, Parker and Wackett were joined by Rod Stewart to become known as the Hoochie Coochie Men.[1][2] Pye Records paid tribute to Davies by re-releasing the four tracks he had recorded for them as the EP The Sound of Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars.[4] Two more cover songs are known to have been recorded during Davies' lifetime which were later released by Immediate Records: Little Walter's "Someday Baby", first issued in 1968 on the compilation album Blues Anytime Vol. 3, and Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away", which would remain unreleased for more than twenty years until it was included as a bonus track on the 1986 CD compilation White Boy Blues, Volume 2 (Castle Communications). These tracks were credited to Cyril Davies and the All-Stars, although it is not clear when these recordings were made, nor with which lineup(s).[1][2]

Immediate Records

By 1965, Jimmy Page had established himself as a prolific session guitarist and was signed to Immediate Records as an in-house producer. Around eighteen months after Cyril Davies' death, Page brought together Hopkins, Little and Barton to record with him and his friend Jeff Beck under the All-Stars banner.[5][6] Together they recorded five original tracks, with Hopkins taking the lead on "Piano Shuffle", Beck on "Chuckles" and "Steelin'", and Page on "Down in the Boots" and "L.A. Breakdown".

The first track from this session to be issued was "Steelin'", although its initial release was not credited to the All-Stars. London fashion photographer David Anthony (under the pseudonym 'Charles Dickens')[7] had recorded a cover of The Rolling Stones' "So Much in Love" for Immediate Records, and when this was released as a single in 1965 it featured "Steelin'" as its b-side under the title "Our Soul Brother TH", also credited to Dickens.[8] The rest of the tracks from this session would eventually get their first release in 1968, alongside "Steelin'", properly credited to the All-Stars on the Immediate compilation album Blues Anytime Vol. 3.

The Page/Clapton jams

In June 1965, Page also invited Eric Clapton to join him in a jam session at his home studio on Miles Road, and the two guitarists recorded seven instrumental tracks together; "Choker", "Draggin' My Tail", "Freight Loader", "Miles Road", "Snake Drive", "Tribute to Elmore" and "West Coast Idea". At the end of the session, Page and Clapton were both of the opinion that the tracks they recorded were merely rehearsals rather than complete songs, but representatives of Immediate Records soon approached Page informing him that they legally owned the publishing rights to all recordings he made as per the terms of their contract. Page reluctantly gave them the recordings of the jam session in fear of a lawsuit and was asked to clean them up by adding overdubs, which he recorded that August at Olympic Studios with a new lineup of the All-Stars. This time, the group featured members of The Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman and Ian Stewart, together with drummer Chris Winters (later noted as a possible pseudonym for Charlie Watts),[6] facilitated by the Stones' manager at the time and Immediate Records' co-founder, Andrew Loog Oldham. This was seen by Clapton as a betrayal of confidence on Page's part, and greatly damaged the personal relationship between the two guitarists for years to follow.[6][9][10][11][12][13][14]

Immediate Records released these tracks alongside the All-Stars' previous recordings in 1968, spread out across their compilation albums Blues Anytime Vol. 1–3. The tracks were initially attributed simply to Eric Clapton or Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, although many subsequent releases have given the credit to the Immediate All-Stars.[6][9][14]

Personnel

1962–1964

Cyril Davies and the R&B All-Stars[1][2]

  • Cyril Davies – vocals, harmonica (October 1962 – Janunary 1964)
  • Jimmy Page – guitar (October 1962)
  • Nicky Hopkins – piano (October 1962 – May 1963)
  • Rick Brown aka Ricky Fenson – bass (October 1962 – June 1963)
  • Carlo Little – drums (October 1962 – June 1963)
  • Bernie Watson – guitar (November 1962 – July 1963)
  • Long John Baldry – vocals (January 1963 – January 1964)
  • The Velvettes – backing vocals (January 1963 – January 1964)
       (Hazel Futa, Patience Gcwabe, Eunice Mamsie Mthombeni)[3]
  • Keith Scott – piano (May – September 1963)
  • Cliff Barton – bass (June 1963 – January 1964)
  • Micky Waller – drums (June – September 1963)
  • Geoff Bradford – guitar (July 1963 – January 1964)
  • Johnny Parker – piano (September 1963 – January 1964)
  • Bob Wackett – drums (September 1963 – January 1964)

Timeline
Note: Dates represented here are approximate, accurate only to within a month.

1965

The All-Stars featuring Jeff Beck[5][6]
  • Jimmy Page – guitar, production
  • Jeff Beck – guitar
  • Nicky Hopkins – piano
  • Cliff Barton – bass
  • Carlo Little – drums
The Immediate All-Stars[6][9][10][11]

Discography

Pye Records

All releases credited to Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars.

DateReleaseNotes
1963 "Country Line Special"
b/w "Chicago Calling"
 Recorded 27 February 1963. Baldry and the Velvettes not featured.[4]
"Preachin' the Blues" (Robert Johnson cover)
b/w "Sweet Mary" (Lead Belly cover)
 Recorded in August 1963. Baldry and the Velvettes again not featured.
Backing vocals on "Preachin' the Blues" by Alex Bradford and Madeline Bell.[4]
1964 The Sound of Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars Compilation EP of all 4 tracks from the previous 2 singles.[4]

Immediate Records

Tracks released on Blues Anytime Vol. 1 to 3
  1. Cyril Davies and the All-Stars – "Someday Baby" (Little Walter cover)
  2. Cyril Davies and the All-Stars – "Not Fade Away" (Buddy Holly cover, apparently first released on White Boy Blues Vol. 2)
  3. The All-Stars featuring Nicky Hopkins – "Piano Shuffle"
  4. The All-Stars featuring Jeff Beck – "Chuckles"
  5. The All-Stars featuring Jeff Beck – "Steelin'" (aka Charles Dickens' "Our Soul Brother TH")
  6. The All-Stars featuring Jimmy Page – "Down in the Boots"
  7. The All-Stars featuring Jimmy Page – "L.A. Breakdown"
  8. Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page – "Choker"
  9. Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page – "Draggin' My Tail"
  10. Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page – "Freight Loader"
  11. Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page – "Miles Road"
  12. Eric Clapton – "Snake Drive"
  13. Eric Clapton – "Tribute to Elmore"
  14. Eric Clapton – "West Coast Idea"
Notable releases
Note: These tracks have originally been released on the Blues Anytime series and reissued on many different compilation albums since Immediate Records was shut down in 1970. This list includes only those releases that feature three or more tracks, and were released by a record label that is itself notable.
DateReleaseTracks FeaturedLabelLink
1968Blues Anytime Vol. 1 (aka An Anthology of British Blues Vol. 1)12, 13, 14Immediate RecordsDiscogs
1968Blues Anytime Vol. 2 (aka An Anthology of British Blues Vol. 2)8, 9, 10Immediate RecordsDiscogs
1968Blues Anytime Vol. 3 (aka The Beginning: British Blues)1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11Immediate RecordsDiscogs
1969Anthology of British Blues Volume 11, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13Immediate RecordsDiscogs
1969Anthology of British Blues Volume 29, 11, 14Immediate RecordsDiscogs
1970British Archive Series – Blues for Collectors Vol. 112, 13, 14RCA VictorDiscogs
1970British Archive Series – Blues for Collectors Vol. 28, 9, 10RCA VictorDiscogs
1971British Archive Series – Blues for Collectors Vol. 31, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11RCA Victorlast.fm
1971Guitar Boogie4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14RCA CamdenDiscogs
1980Immediate Blues4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14Virgin RecordsDiscogs
1984White Boy Blues (2 double LP's)all tracksCastle Comms.Discogs
1986Blues Anytime – An Anthology of British Blues (4 LP set)exact reissueLine Records
1987Eric Clapton – The Early Clapton Collection8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14Castle Comms.Discogs
1991Down and Dirty – The Immediate Blues Story Vol. 39, 10, 11, 13Sony Musicallmusic
1992Stars of British Blues Volume One4, 6, 11, 13K-Tel Recordsallmusic
1993Stars of British Blues Volume Two1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14K-Tel Recordsallmusic
1996The Immediate Blues Anthology (4 CD box set)all tracksCharly RecordsDiscogs
1998Eric Clapton & Friends – Strictly the Blues4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14Castle PulseDiscogs
1998Clapton, Page, Beck: Three Guitar Giants and Their Seminal Works4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14Cleopatra Recordsallmusic
1999Eric Clapton – The Blues Years4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14Castle SelectDiscogs
2000Eric Clapton – West Coast Idea8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14Sony Musicallmusic
2000Jimmy Page and His Heavy Friends – Hip Young Guitar Slinger2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14Sequel RecordsDiscogs
2006Blues Anytime Vol. 1 – An Anthology of British Bluesexact reissueJVC Victor
2006Blues Anytime Vol. 2 – An Anthology of British Bluesexact reissueJVC Victor

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cyril Davies and the birth of the UK R&B scene at bluesinlondon.com
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Cyril Davies R&B All Stars at cyrildavies.com
  3. 1 2 Confessions of a Sixties Drummer at carlolittle.com
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Sound of Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars liner notes, Pye Records, 1964.
  5. 1 2 Blues Anytime Vol. 3 liner notes, Immediate Records, 1968.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 White Boy Blues liner notes, Castle Communications, 1985.
  7. ↑ "Immediate Records history". Licence Music mailing site.
  8. ↑ John Kearney. "The Immediate Singles Boxed Set review". Making Time.
  9. 1 2 3 West Coast Idea liner notes, Sony Music Distribution, 2000.
  10. 1 2 Strictly the Blues liner notes, Castle Pulse, 2000.
  11. 1 2 John Hamilton's Ultimate Eric Clapton Discography - 1965a (archived from 2007).
  12. ↑ Steven Davies, Hammer of the Gods, William Morrow & Co, 1985.
  13. ↑ Marc Roberty, Eric Clapton: The Complete Recording Sessions 1963-1992, Blandford or St. Martin’s Press, 1993.
  14. 1 2 The Early Clapton Collection album liner notes, Castle Communications, 1988.

External links

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