Nottingham group May 1967.

Blues Yard was the name used by The Jaybirds for two gigs as they transitioned into Ten Years After.

Two gigs as Bluesyard at the Marquee in London:
Sunday May 7th 1967 – supporting Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band – source Ric Lee
Saturday May 27th 1967 – supporting The Syn – source Ric Lee & press cuttings

Some of the following account is reworked from Ric Lee’s book ‘From Headstocks to Woodstock’.

The Jaybirds had roots going back to 1960 but in the early part of 1967, The Jaybirds job as backing band for hitmakers The Ivy League gradually came to an end. Gigs had dwindled, the vocal line up had changed and the hits had stopped. Occasionally club owners had asked The Jaybirds to play a set without The Ivy League claiming they were better than the “front men” and Leo Lyons called a few places where they had played before and got a few gigs but the group was at a low ebb. At the time they would play Woodchoppers Ball (which was one of their staples), Ray Charles’ I Got a Woman, Duke Ellington C Jam Blues, Elvis Blue Moon of Kentucky and some current chart tunes but not having any records of their own it was hard to keep a crowds attention and the pay was less. In April of 1967 they played at the ‘Tulip Festival’, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, ‘a really enjoyable day out with the family’ both as the backing band for The Ivy League and on their own as The Jaybirds. After six years on the road you could imagine they might well have thought about throwing the towel in.

They were all still living in London, Chick, Alvin and Ric with their girlfriends and Leo was living in a flat, shared with two girls, meeting Steve Simpson who later guitared for Roger Chapman. Gigs were very sparse, Leo picked up some solo spots but times were tough. Odd jobs, and visits to the pawn shop kept them afloat but at Leo’s flat, a lodger Tony Burfield, moved in, who was the booking agent for The Morris King Organisation and had handled The Walker Brothers and The Ivy League. Amen Corner were the latest act they were working with and Leo badgered Tony Burfield to try them out. At an almost empty gig at the Speakeasy, Tony turned them down because blues bands weren’t good for bookings, but feeling sorry for them he gave them the name of someone who might be interested.

It was Chris Wright (later of Chrysalis Records) at The Ian Hamilton Organisation in Manchester and after contacting him they drove north to play a gig in a club he ran with a friend Keith Bizeret called J&Js. After a great gig, ending with an extended version of Sonny Boy Williamson’s Help me baby, Chris revealed his intention to use them a backing band for a blues singer he was booking but this was rejected by the lads who now wanted to strike out on their own. Chris’s business partner offered them some work in Cornwall and Devon and numbers were exchanged. Before they left for London they told Chris about an audition Leo had secured at the Marquee Club, famous for featuring some of the best known bands and also at the forefront of the British Blues boom. Chris promised to keep a check on them.

Leo had arranged the audition with owner John Gee and assistant Jack Barrie, who Alvin and Leo had met in the early sixties when he was working in a chip shop in Norfolk before going into rock management. Those early days of endless gigs had built a network of people who they would continue to meet throughout their career. When the audition took place Jack gave them the nod when John Gee turned up and they played Woodchoppers Ball which was a favourite of John’s, who liked Sinatra and Big Band music. It worked, and a gig as interval band for the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band on Sunday May 7th 1967 was arranged. They decided on the name The Bluesyard which was in keeping with their repertoire and the direction they wanted to go. Chris Wright turned up and was impressed but unsure as to signing them up whereupon Jack Barrie persuaded him it was the right move. The crowd, which had been seated as in a jazz concert, ended up giving the group a standing ovation. They did one more gig under this name supporting The Syn (with future Yes members) at the Marquee on Saturday May 27th 1967 before Chris who was now wanted to manage them suggested that they come up with a new name and an image as they didn’t want a name that wouldn’t tie them down musically like ‘Bluesyard’.

There are a few accounts of how the name was chosen and it will probably never be known for sure but I lean towards an account by Don Reed who worked in Chris Wright’s office in Manchester. Leo Lyons cut various headlines out of the Radio Times publication and left them with staff at Chris’s office in Manchester to choose one. It was Don Reed, who worked as part of the team, who picked out “Ten Years After” and the decision was made. There was a film documentary about the Suez crisis ten years on, which is why there might have been that ‘cutting’ and you can imagine Alvin and the lads saying it was ten years after Elvis as well, and agreeing to it. Leo Lyons can claim he thought of it because he cut out the press cuttings, Don Reed can claim it because he picked out the cutting and maybe the rest of the group can claim some part in it for agreeing to it. Let’s call it a draw. Don Reed who had a long career in jazz and rock management, coincidently, moved to West Bridgford, Nottingham in the 1970’s and lived there into his nineties. One of the other names on offer was ‘Life Without Mother‘ which was used by a local Nottingham group who had the brother of Alvin’s girlfriend Lorraine, as guitarist. Another press statement suggested that the group were thinking of using ‘One Step Beyond’ as another possible name. It was in Midland Beat newspaper which by August 1967 was a two monthly edition. So either, a correspondent got the wrong end of the stick completely or if we throw them a lifeline maybe this was old information that was current when it was heard but long out of date when printed.

Although the received wisdom is that the group went out as TYA after that second Bluesyard gig, their next gig on Monday May 29th, in their home town, Nottingham, was still billed as The Jaybirds. Maybe they hadn’t picked their new name yet or were just honouring a gig they had previously arranged as ‘The Jaybirds’. One of the first gigs as TYA, if not the first, was on Friday 2nd June at the ‘Benn Memorial Hall’ in Rugby. On Friday June 23rd TYA played Nottingham again with the added headline ‘Formerly The Jaybirds’ but to all intents and purposes The Jaybirds were over. In Nottingham, no doubt, some fans still liked to call them The Jaybirds, such had been their following and reputation but Ten Years After were now signed up and heading for a career they had probably never dreamed of. In a couple of months they played the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival on the bill with the likes of John Mayall, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, The Small faces and Cream and in two years they were heroes of Woodstock. History indeed!