Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Graham Bond Organization - Discography

Graham Bond Organization

An important, underappreciated figure of early British R&B, Graham Bond is known in the U.S., if at all, for heading the group that Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker played in before they joined Cream. Originally an alto sax jazz player -- in fact, he was voted Britain's New Jazz Star in 1961 -- he met Bruce and Baker in 1962 after joining Alexis Koerner's Blues Incorporated, the finishing school for numerous British rock and blues musicians. By the time he, Bruce, and Baker split to form their own band in 1963, Bond was mostly playing the Hammond organ, as well as handling the lion's share of the vocals. John McLaughlin was a member of the Graham Bond Organization in the early days for a few months, and some live material that he recorded with the group was eventually issued after most of their members had achieved stardom in other contexts. Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith completed Bond's most stable lineup, who cut a couple of decent albums and a few singles in the mid-'60s.

In their prime, the Graham Bond Organization played rhythm & blues with a strong jazzy flavor, emphasizing Bond's demonic organ and gruff vocals. The band arguably would have been better served to feature Bruce as their lead singer -- he is featured surprisingly rarely on their recordings. Nevertheless, their best records were admirably tough British R&B/rock/jazzsoul, and though Bond has sometimes been labeled as a pioneer of jazz-rock, in reality it was much closer to rock than jazz. The band performed imaginative covers and fairly strong original material, and Bond was also perhaps the very first rock musician to record with the Mellotron synthesizer. Hit singles, though, were necessary for British bands to thrive in the mid-'60s, and Bond's group began to fall apart in 1966, when Bruce and Baker joined forces with Eric Clapton to form Cream. Bond attempted to carry on with the Organization for a while with Heckstall-Smith and drummer Jon Hiseman, both of whom went on to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Colosseum.











2015 - Live at the BBC (and Other Stories)





16 comments:

Tel said...

Thanx Ozzieguy
Another Gem,Great Under Rated Outfit
Cheers
Tel

Rhodb said...

Thanks for the Graham Bond,
He was a foundation stone along with John Mayall of the British Blues

Great share


regards

Ozzieguy said...

Thank you Tel and Rhodb

Tel yes without a shadow of a doubt

Rhodb so true, I hope that you enjoy them all.

Regards
Ozzieguy

Dr. Dream said...

the pw has disappeared??

Ozzieguy said...

Hi Dr. Dream
I shall replace all links as they have all been deleted.
Check back tomorrow.

Regards
Ozzieguy

antony j said...

excellent! Ta!

Ozzieguy said...

Very welcome anthony j

Dr. Dream said...

Thank you - very nice site. I'm learning a lot.

Ozzieguy said...

You are very welcome Dr Dream, glad that you are enjoying the contents of my blog.

Regards
Ozzieguy

Dave said...

Thanks for the Graham Bond Much appreciated

Ozzieguy said...

Hello Dave
You are very welcome mate, please enjoy the great music.

RalfV said...

Thanks!

hudi said...

Thank you so very much for that great music!
Dieter

Guitarradeplastico,scraping oddities said...

Many thanks

Anonymous said...

Please update the Graham Bond Discography, there are links that have disappeared. Thank you.

RFelis said...

Many thanks as always