Nottingham beat group 1960-67 who later became Ten Years After.

Although, as Ten Years After they would achieve international fame, The Jaybirds themselves were often hailed as Nottingham’s greatest sixties group with a following from both fans and musicians alike. A blend of rock and roll, blues and jazz, they were a formidable force and as they say ‘could tear the place up’. They never quite broke through as a national group with a record deal but after nearly throwing in the towel a couple of times they eventually got a break, changed their name and the rest, as they say, is history.

This is going to be a long and complicated journey. There are myths and mistakes out there (we all have suspect memories) so this is going to be a slow methodical process. I already have some pages on this website talking about particular moments in their career and eventually I hope to bring all these elements into one concise story. On this page I am going to refrain from adding the many newspaper cuttings I have (with a few minor exceptions) so as not to muddle the whole thing up. Those newspaper cuttings will appear on the separate pages dedicated to each phase of the ‘Jaybirds’ story. They are obviously interesting and do add weight to my conclusions.

My own endeavours in trying to put a chronology to this story were first helped by the work put in by the alvinlee.de website and later by John Warburg who has often helped to clarify some of the facts. There are some great accounts of The Jaybirds (63 onwards) from Loraine Burgon’s book ‘“Magical Highs: Alvin Lee and & me, a Sixties Woodstock memoir” and Ric Lee’s book (65 onwards) “From Headstocks to Woodstock”. Leo Lyons is also writing down his memoirs and he is one of the last links to those very early days.

To start with, let’s get this out of the way. The “Embassy label” vinyl records you will often see on eBay or Discogs by Ray Pilgrim and the Jaybirds are not by The Jaybirds from Nottingham. They are by Ray Pilgrim! They are not Alvin Lee and Leo Lyons et al. There are no newspaper cuttings eluding to it. Alvin Lee never mentioned it. Leo Lyons has never mentioned it and he regularly posts on his facebook page. The Discogs page is wrong! The Jaybirds did record as a backing band for The Ivy League and did some other session work but as I say I have never come across any evidence linking them with Embassy Records.

Apart from the obvious “same name”, I think some of the confusion has come from an original mention on the very excellent alvinlee.de website made many years ago where ‘they’ thought it might be true and maybe they’ve added that info to the Discogs page. The information about the group in the entry is correct but not the “Embassy Records” releases. People pick it up and assume….
I mean, I could be wrong but, unless Leo Lyons contacts me personally and tells me otherwise, I stand by what I say. If I am wrong I humbly apologise. According to wikipedia (2026) Ray Pilgrim is still alive and there is a website detailing some of his music career. RayPilgrim.

SOME BASICS ABOUT THE JAYBIRDS

They were firstly Ivan Jaye and The Jayemen (April 1960-Oct/Nov 1960)
then Ivan Jaye and The Jaycats ( Oct/Nov 1960 / May 61)
before becoming the Ivan Love and The Jaybirds in May 1961,
Farran Kristy and the Jaybirds in December 1961
and finally The Jaybirds in June 1962.

There were also a few different line ups over the years. Alvin Lee had been in groups before that and so had Leo Lyons. Later in 1966 they did appear as backing musicians with The Ivy League both live and on record. They did record at Joe Meeks studio (Jan 1962 and maybe the summer of 1961) and these may be released by Cherry Red records “eventually” who now have in their possession the famous “Tea Chest Tapes”.

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LINE UPS

OR CHAPTERS IF YOU LIKE

AND A FEW BULLET POINTS

EARLY GROUPS OF ALVIN LEE, LEO LYONS including other early members of THE JAYCATS/JAYBIRDS. This does not include early groups of Ric Lee or Chick Churchill. We will look at them later.

In Nottingham

ALAN UPTON AND THE JAILBREAKERS 1958. Read about them here.
Alan Upton: Piano, Vocals
Graham Barnes (Alvin Lee): Guitar
Max Barnes: Bass
Jim Cartwright: Drums

VINCE MARSHALL AND THE SQUARE CAPS 1959. Read about them here.
Vince Marshall
Graham Barnes (Alvin Lee): Guitar
???
???
???

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Meanwhile around Mansfield way

THE ATOMITES #1 1958-59. Read about them here.

Alan Williamson: lead guitar
Roy Cooper: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Bas Kemp: double bass
Geoff Kemp: drums

THE ATOMITES #2 1959. Read about them here.

Alan Williamson: lead guitar
Roy Cooper: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Bas Kemp: double bass
Pete Redman (Pete Evans): drums, Vocals

THE ATOMITES #3 1959. Read about them here.

Alan Williamson: lead guitar
Roy Cooper: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Oscar ?: double bass
Pete Redman (Pete Evans): drums

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Meanwhile, also around Mansfield way

PAUL DENNIS THE PHANTOMS 1959. Read about them here.

Paul Dennis: lead vocals
Leo Lyons: bass
Bob ?: lead guitar
Norton ?: rhythm guitar
????: rhythm guitar,
????: rhythm guitar
Dave Quickmire: drums

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Meanwhile, back in Nottingham

IVAN JAYE AND THE JAYEMEN (April – Oct 1960) (After the Jailbreakers and the Square Caps Alvin forms his first group). Had an audition for Tito Burns, the London agent on Saturday 21st May 1960. Read about them here.

Ivan Jaye: Lead Vocals
John Clifton: Rhythm guitar
Graham Barnes (Alvin Lee): Lead guitar.
Max Barnes: Bass
Alan McKennon: Drums.

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Meanwhile, back around Mansfield way

THE ATOMITES #4 (circa Sept/Oct 1960) (Leo joins from The Phantoms). Read about them here.

Alan Williamson: lead guitar
Roy Cooper: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Leo Lyons: double bass
Pete Redman (Pete Evans): drums

THE ATOMITES #5 (circa Oct 1960, Alvin joined 2 weeks after Leo as Ivan Jaye and the Jayemen break up). Read about them here.

This line up is extremely short lived.

Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Roy Cooper: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Leo Lyons: double bass
Pete Redman (Pete Evans): drums

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IVAN JAYE AND THE JAYCATS #1 (Oct/Nov 1960 – May 1961) (Basically, as lead vocalist Ivan Jaye rejoined Alvin, The Atomites changed their name to Ivan Jaye and the Jaycats). Read about them here.

The new joint Nottingham/Mansfield group, managed by Phil Smith who had managed The Atomites, pick up local gigs and in 1961 head off to London as:

Ivan Jaye: lead vocals
Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Roy Cooper: rhythm guitar,
Leo Lyons: double bass
Pete Redman (Pete Evans): drums

IVAN LOVE AND THE JAYBIRDS (May 1961 – Dec 1961) (Ivan Jaye became Ivan Love for a while and the band became The Jaybirds) There was talk of a record called ‘Sometimes I Wish / Oh Angel Face’ in the summer of 1961 being recorded at Joe Meek’s studio but nothing has surfaced. In Sept 1961, Eden Kane was billed with his group ‘The Jaybirds’ for a few gigs in Manchester. Read about them here.

Ivan Jaye: lead vocals
Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Roy Cooper: rhythm guitar,
Leo Lyons: double bass
Pete Redman (Pete Evans): drums

This line up remained until December 1961 when Ivan Jaye left and Farran Kristy took over on vocals

FARRAN KRISTY AND THE JAYBIRDS (Dec 1961 – June 1962) (This line up recorded at Joe Meeks in Jan/Feb 1962 but I don’t think Farran Kristy was involved. The tunes were called “Husky Team” & “Alvin’s Tune”). Read about them here.

Farran Kristy: lead vocals
Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Roy Cooper: rhythm guitar,
Leo Lyons: double bass
Pete Redman (Pete Evans): drums

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The first time the group was just called just
‘THE JAYBIRDS’ was in June 1962 when the three remaining members went to Germany to play the Star Club.

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THE JAYBIRDS #1 (June 1962 – Oct 1962)

Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Leo Lyons: double bass
Pete Evans: drums

Both Roy and Farran had left and the remaining three became the first version of ‘The Jaybirds’ and went to Germany for the first time in the summer of 1962). However their contract stipulated a four piece so rhythm guitarist, Larry ‘Costos’ Gooch stood in with them.

So, for 6 weeks in June / July it was:

Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Leo Lyons: double bass
Pete Evans: drums
Larry ‘Costos’ Gooch: rhythm guitar

THE JAYBIRDS #2 (Oct 1962-65) (Pete left and Dave Quickmore took his place)

Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Leo Lyons: double bass
Dave Quickmire: drums

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Meanwhile, in Nottingham

IVAN JAYE AND THE JAYCATS (Sept 1962 – 1963) Pete Evans & Roy Cooper rejoined Ivan Jaye in a reformed Jaycats but this has nothing to do with Alvin, Leo and The Jaybirds. Read about them here.

Ivan Jaye: vocals
Pete Evans: drums
Roy Cooper: rhythm guitar
Pat Wright: lead guitar
Alan Towers: bass guitar

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THE JAYBIRDS #3 (1965)
Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Leo Lyons: double bass
Ric Lee: drums

THE JAYBIRDS #4 (1965-67) (Worked with The Ivy League). Read a little bit about The Ivy League here.
Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Leo Lyons: double bass
Ric Lee: drums
Chick Churchill: Keyboards

THE BLUESYARD (May 1967) (Two gigs) (At the time they were also considering the name ONE STEP BEYOND. Another name that was on their list but eventually used by another Nottingham group was LIFE WITHOUT MOTHER.

Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Leo Lyons: double bass
Ric Lee: drums
Chick Churchill: Keyboards

TEN YEARS AFTER (Aug 1967 – 1975) Chose this new name and stuck with it.

Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Leo Lyons: double bass
Ric Lee: drums
Chick Churchill: Keyboards

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