Nottingham group May 1967.

The Bluesyard was the name used by The Jaybirds for two gigs as they transitioned into Ten Years After. This is the story of that short few weeks.

Line up:
Alvin Lee: Guitar
Leo Lyons: Bass
Chick Churchill: Keyboards
Ric Lee: Drums

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 near their end.

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. On Saturday 29th April, 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.

Meeting Chris Wright, the Marquee audition with John Gee and Bluesyard gigs.

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, and 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 new lodger Tony Burfield, moved in. Tony 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’.

Choosing the new name.

There are a few accounts of how the name was chosen, memories will differ, 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 book published in 1967 based on the 1966 BBC documentary called ‘Suez, Ten Years After’, and there may well have been an advert for that book in the Radio Times. You can easily imagine that Alvin and the lads saying it was ten years after Elvis as well, and agreeing on that option. 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, Alvin might claim it for the Elvis connection (he was an Elvis fan) 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. I met and spoke to Don Reed twice about his career in music which went as far back as 1949 with the Johnny Dankworth Band, and to his Nottingham born wife Susan, who had known Sam and Doris Barnes (Alvin’s parents) and also met Big Bill Broonzy at her parents house in the fifties. That as they say, is another story.

One of the other names on offer was ‘Life Without Mother‘ which was subsequently 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.

First gig as Ten Years After.

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!

Summary of gigs as the name changed.

April
Jaybirds – Sometime in the last couple of weeks in April at the Speakeasy, London. Tony Burfield watched.
Jaybirds & Ivy League – Saturday 29th at the Tulip Festival, Birmingham

May
Jaybirds – Audition for John Gee at the Marquee. Estimate either late April or early May.
Bluesyard – Sunday 6th at the Marquee supporting the ‘Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band’
Bluesyard – Saturday 27th at the Marquee supporting The Syn
Jaybirds – Monday 29th at the Dancing Slipper, West Bridgford, Nottingham

June
Ten Years After – Friday 2nd at the Benn Memorial Hall, Rugby

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Which Radio Times were the cuttings from?

In a TV series called ‘Scrutiny’, one documentary was called ‘Life Without Mother’ about young children in care without a mother. It aired on BBC1 on Friday June 2nd and would have been publicised at least a week before in the Radio Times.
Edition May 27th – June 2nd.

A book was published in 1967 called ‘Suez Ten Years After’ based on the BBC radio series of 1966 and maybe there was an advert for this book in the same edition.

So, it was most likely this edition that the cuttings were taken.

There may have been an edition of the Radio Times for the north of England but it would likely have much the same listings as the South and West edition.

As for One Step Beyond, well, there was a programme of that name listed on Border TV on 25th May so that could be it. There was also group called ‘One Step Beyond’ supporting John Mayall’s Blues Breakers in Buxton the week before so that might add fuel to the ‘Midland Beat’ journalist getting it wrong.