2008-01-13 14:14:20

BBC Apologise To Billy!

Thanks to some diligent reporting by local SE London journalists Mark Chandler (The Newshopper) and Lawrence Conway (South London Press/Mercury), the BBC have issues an apology for having two video clips of Billy's 'Songs of Praise' ensemble removed from YouTube.

The Billy Office was contacted and spoken to by the charming Robert Brosgill on the telephone and also sent the following email:


Dear Mr Jenkins,

Further to our conversation a moment ago, I can confirm that the BBC takes no issue with your use of the name "Songs of Praise" for your band.

As I explained, the BBC actively seeks to protect the copyright in its programmes and routinely flags copyright infringing content on Youtube and other such sites for takedown by the website administrators.

It recently came to the BBC's attention that a great deal of footage from the BBC's "Songs of Praise" programme is being made available on Youtube in breach of copyright.

It appears that, in dealing with the high volume of BBC "Songs of Praise" content on Youtube, your legitimate content may have been accidentally flagged for removal. I can assure you that the BBC makes every effort to ensure that only infringing content is flagged and there was no intention to remove your legitimate clips.

With kind regards.

Yours sincerely

Robert Brosgill
Solicitor
BBC Litigation & Intellectual Property Department

The clips are now available to view, listen and enjoy on Youtube via www.billyjenkins.com/links

 2007-08-18 12:14:00

New Live! CD Released

Song of Praise Live! has just been released on the Babel Label - Billy's first release for over two years.

Recorded very live and dangerous off the desk last autumn, it offers a 'forward thinking retrospective collection'. Jazz funk, free form danger, corny pop tunes and serious political work all wrapped up with a blanket of blues....

Musicians on the recording are:

Billy Jenkins - guitar, shouting and singing
Nathaniel Facey - alto saxophone
Dylan Bates - violin
Gail Brand – trombone
Oren Marshall - tuba
Charles Hayward – drums

This is real live music making in the raw. And you’re hearing it from within the mixing desk. For the live sound engineer for The Wardrobe, Martin Hudson didn’t know on the night of this concert on 11th October 2006 that his artistry too, would be documented on CD.

Thus, the sound you hear is mercifully far away from the safe, manicured and over produced blandness that makes up most recordings these days.

Everything is inside out. Because Mr Hudson was mixing for the room, the drums are slightly down in the PA mix, here and there a quiet violin becomes overloud. It’s Billy’s take on compression – where loud becomes soft and soft is turned into loud. But it’s of the time, for and with the music.

There’s a method in Billy’s recording madness, but it works. He previously used this ‘closed miked voyeuristic upside down inside out aural experience’ on ‘Mayfest ‘94’, recorded live in Glasgow and released by Babel in 1995.

Don't forget, by purchasing one of Billy's recordings, you'll be helping him continue his life's work!

AVAILABLE HERE AND NOW AT JAZZCDS!

 2007-02-28 11:54:43

Blues Is A Healer!

Those of you who have enjoyed the delicate yet emphatic drumming of Mike Pickering with the Blues Collective, or heard him adding his intuitive and complimentary hand, stick and brush work to such fine artists as vocalists Claire Martin, Christine Tobin or saxophonist Jason Yarde, might be interested to know that he is also a first class osteopath. His final dissertation focused, unsurprisingly, on musicians' injuries.

Having spent the last eighteen months working as both a sports masseur and associate osteopath at the famous Garry Trainer Clinic in Primrose Hill, where the great and the good from the entertainment and sports world flock, he has now opened his own practice in East Dulwich, London SE 22.

And to get his new base off the ground, Mike (who also is a qualified acupuncturist) will be offering special deals for the next few weeks. Just tell him Billy sent you!

Contact Mike on 07966 505872 or by email at mikepickering@homechoice.co.uk

 2006-11-29 17:20:53

YouTube Going Billy Mad!

There suddenly seems to be a plethora of Billy video clips on YouTube.

Five stand alone songs from 'Here Is The Blues!', the guitar duo with SE London bluesmeister Steve Morrison; a snippet of the Songs of Praise band from their recent gig at the Leeds Wardrobe: ten minutes and three songs from the Belgium Blues Collective and, perhaps of most interest, the 2001 spoof documentary made by maverick director Craig Duncan 'A Virus Called The Blues' can now be viewed in three parts.

Centred around the Blues Collective's season at the Blue Elephant Theatre in South London, it not only captures the band offstage but also zones in on Billy's rather bizarre attempt to improve the street lighting by the power of the blues......

Hilarious and uncomfortable in equal doses - it's well worth investigating.

You can get straight to the sights via the News page at www.billyjenkins.com

HELP BILLY ZOOM UP THE YouTube CHART BY REMEMBERING TO RATE EACH VIDEO!