Nov 14 2009
Long John Baldry (Pt. I)
He was one of the truest legends from the British blues scene of the Sixties — yet very few Americans have actually heard of him.
Long John Baldry (6′ 7″ — hence, the “Long” in his name), a strong-voiced blues singer from Northamptonshire, England. was born in 1941 and, by the early Sixties, had already established a name for himself by playing blues gigs in clubs like the Station Hotel in Richmond — one of the earliest venues of The Rolling Stones.
Then came a shot with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated (I’ll have a post on Korner next week).
In fact, with them, he recorded the first British blues album in 1962, R&B at the Marquee. As part of the band, he found himself occasionally amongst future superstars Charlie Watts and Mick Jagger (Stones) and Jack Bruce (Cream). At times, Keith Richards and Brian Jones would appear with Blues, Inc. as well … and, as the fame of the Stones spread, so did John’s: He appeared with them in support at their first concert at the Marquee Club, and was the announcer on their only live album, 1966’s Got Live If You Want It! He also became friends with Paul McCartney after a show at the Cavern, and was invited to play on one of The Beatles’ 1964 TV specials.
Baldry also had his hand in the careers of other superstars by way of the bands he either joined or created: First, there was the Cyril Davies R&B All-Stars, which boasted a young Jimmy Page on guitar.
Then, at Cyril’s death, he took over and renamed the band Long John Baldry and the Hoochie-Coochie Men. Jimmy left the band (Geoff Bradford took his place) and John found a new singer in a busker named Rod Stewart (Rod already had a taste of success with Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions, and occasionally busks, even today*.)
(*=for our stateside readers: busking was simply “street corner music”, usually with just a guitar, harmonica and a hat or box in front for donations. See the beginning of The Fore’s video, Love For Sale, as an example …)
By 1965, there was another name change for John’s band — it became Steampacket and included himself, Rod, Brian Auger (later of Trinity) and Julie Driscoll. A year later, though, the band broke up and John formed a new ensemble called Bluesology. This included Elton Dean on vocals, John Baldry on vocals and guitar, and a young keyboardist named Reg Dwight … who, eventually, changed his name to reflect both Dean and Baldry and became … Elton John!
(Pt. II will be posted on Monday, so stay tuned …) For more on Long John Baldry, just click the following link:


Lemme quote the email verbatim:
WAIT! The story gets better!
THE FORE (-1,+1)
A rare yellow spider that’s found only in the country of Malaysia has been given a new scientific name — and I wonder if you can tell who it’s named for.
Before I sign off for this session, I just hadta include a pic of this cute little ten-year-old! Actually, it’s from a school photo where, despite being among the rest of his classmates for the group shot, he chose, instead, to read a paper!
A-HA!! Now we know the real reason for the famous Abbey Road Crossing of 1969! If you remember, in the original shot, Paul was walkin’ across the street, barefoot and obviously trying not to focus on his burning soles (hey … it’s what he said!).
Ya just gotta appreciate British broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson as he’s trying to stop plans to evict residents from the historic Jesus Hospital (and surrounding almshouses) in Bray, England.
Ain’t no doubt about it: Blues-tinged Soul is BACK!! And, bruthahs an’ sissstahs, I mean BIG-time!
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY
This past weekend, Sir Paul McCartney took the stage at the new Citi Field in New York — and what a show it was!!
The musicians in the band were great, the same band he’s had the last 10 years or so, including Wix, the great keyboard player who was with them back when I first saw them in 1989.
THIS IS A SPECIAL EDITION ROCK REPORT:
Yep … that’s what the score was after Macca’s visit to The Late Show With David Letterman on Wednesday night.
But he did look fantastic — even to the extent that fans couldn’t even envision him as a 67-year old.
All right … before you start wondering if I’d had some kind of writer’s block in composing that title, let me explain:
But didja know that he was offered the front-man job with another band first? Yeah! A young guitarist with some great ideas asked him to sing for one he was forming. At the time, Paul thought the band wouldn’t really make it, and opted to stay with his own.
I feel a bit safe writing this … especially since it’s Wednesday …
He’s got a great idea, IMHO. Y’see, food production is responsible for 20% - 30% of the world’s green house gas emissions.