Charles William Jenkins (born 5 July 1956), known as Billy Jenkins
is an English
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
guitarist,
composer and
bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...
. He was born in
Bromley
Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023.
Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...
,
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, England.
Jenkins was a member of Burlesque, then Trimmer & Jenkins.
After a short period, he was a member of
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...
's Nutters.
For several years, he ran Wood Wharf Studios.
He worked on his own VOTP Records label and led the Voice of God Collective,
a group which included
Iain Ballamy
Iain Ballamy (born 20 February 1964) is a British composer and saxophonist. He is considered one of the 25 greatest jazz saxophonists of all time and was featured as one of the world's all-time greats in ''BBC Music Magazine''s "100 Jazz Legen ...
,
Django Bates
Django Bates (born Leon Bates, 2 October 1960) is a British jazz musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist, band leader and educator. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. Bates has been described as "one of the most talented musici ...
, Steve Watts,
Ashley Slater
Ashley Slater (born 1961) is a Canadian-born British trombone player and best known for his narration on the television series '' Boo!'' as well as his work with Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) in the band Freak Power.
Career
In 1983 after le ...
and other members of the group
Loose Tubes.
The band released several albums, including ''Sounds Like Bromley'' and ''Uncommerciality''.
In the 1990s, Jenkins recorded several albums on
Oliver Weindling's
Babel Records, and led some seasons at the
Vortex Jazz Club. He is now best known as a blues guitarist.
Until 2009, Jenkins was captain of Francis Drake
bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...
club on Hilly Fields,
Lewisham
Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...
. He masterminded a successful season of live music to accompany the
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...
at the Vortex Jazz Club.
In the mid-1990s, Jenkins and his band The Blues Collective,
took part in a parody documentary entitled ''
Virus Called The Blues'', produced and directed by Craig Duncan.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Sounds Like Bromley'' (1982)
* ''Greenwich'' (1985)
* ''Uncommerciality Vol 1'' (1986)
* ''
Scratches of Spain'' (
Babel
Babel is a name used in the Hebrew Bible for the city of Babylon and may refer to:
Arts and media Written works Books
*Babel (book), ''Babel'' (book), by Patti Smith
* Babel (2012 manga), ''Babel'' (2012 manga), by Narumi Shigematsu
* Babel (20 ...
, 1987)
* ''Wiesen'' (1987)
* ''Round Midnight Cowboy'' (1988)
* ''In the Nude: Standards, Vol. 1'' (1988)
* ''In the Nude'' (1988)
* ''Motorway At Night'' (1988)
* ''Uncommerciality Vol 2'' (1988)
* ''Blue Moon in a Function Room'' (1990)
* ''Entertainment USA'' (1994)
* ''East West'' (1996)
*''S.A.D'' (1996)
*''Still Sounds Like Bromley'' (1997)
*''True Love Collection'' (1999)
*''Suburbia'' (1999)
*''Blues Zero 2'' (2002)
*''When the Crowds Have Gone'' (2004)
*''Born Again (And the Religion is the Blues)'' (2010)
*''I Am A Man From Lewisham'' (2010)
Live albums
* ''Jazz Cafe Concerts Vol 1'' (1989)
* ''Jazz Cafe Concerts Vol 2'' (1989)
* ''Billy Jenkins / Fun Horns: Mayfest ‘94'' (1995)
* ''Billy Jenkins / Fun Horns: East / West'' (1996)
*''Songs of Praise Live'' (2007)
Compilation albums
*''First Aural Art Exhibition'' (1992)
DVD
*''Blues Al Fresco'' (2003)
See also
*
The Oxcentrics
References
External links
Billy Jenkins websiteBilly Jenkins' MySpace pageBabel Label websiteVortex website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Billy
1956 births
Living people
English blues guitarists
English jazz guitarists
English male guitarists
English male jazz musicians
Voice of God Collective members
Oxcentrics members