Introduction
Chris Barber became particularly well-known for his music, which was influenced by New Orleans jazz, and his bands. With his Jazz Band, he dominated the European traditional jazz wave especially in the 1950s. By expanding the repertoire with his Jazz & Blues Band and interpreting many Duke Ellington tunes with the Big Chris Barber Band, he significantly broadened his musical scope. However, he did not limit himself to the New Orleans jazz based music alone; he was always open to other influences and styles. The most notable examples of this are undoubtedly that two tracks from his first LP, New Orleans Joys, recorded in July 1954, ultimately triggered the highly successful skiffle music craze in Britain around 1956/57, and that blues remained a constant element of his broad musical interests. This was reflected in numerous record releases as well as concert engagements with American blues musicians.
Less well-known but with significantly more profound impacts was his involvement and support in the subsequent development step in Great Britain, i.e., the fusion of rock ‘n’ roll, skiffle, and blues elements into rock music via the Liverpool Beat or Mersey Beat in the late 1950s and early 1960s. But how does this fit together: Chris Barber – on the one hand an extremely successful trombonist and bandleader associated with New Orleans jazz, and on the other hand critically involved in the early days of rock music? What lies behind this? What influence and role did he have or play?
To date, this has only been sporadically reported. Examples include Bill Wyman and Alwyn W. Turner.
Bill Wyman is globally known as founding member and long-time bassist of The Rolling Stones. He wrote a book about the band’s formation and their first ten years: Bill Wyman with Ray Coleman, Stone Alone – The Story of a Rock’n’Roll Band, Viking Penguin Books Ltd., London 1990. His memories begin with a description of the British music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Here, Bill Wyman also briefly discusses Chris Barber, who, as he writes, was “a key figure in the advancement of blues in England, which is severely underestimated even today. By providing the platform – first for skiffle, then for blues – he became the founding father of what came next: an original British rock scene.”
The same period that marks the beginning of Bill Wyman’s memories is also explored by Alwyn W. Turner in his book Halfway to Paradise – The Birth of British Rock, published by V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London in 2008. The roles of Chris Barber and his then-guitarist and banjo player Lonnie Donegan, the later King of Skiffle, are elaborated in more detail; the American blues musicians invited by Chris Barber are briefly addressed. The book Halfway to Paradise is particularly striking due to numerous large-format black-and-white photographs by Harry Hammond.
His role in the early days of British rock music – and indeed the entire development of the early 1960s – is vividly portrayed in another book. Stephen Tow clearly traced and illustrated the contribution of Chris Barber and his work in this musical development in his book London, Reign Over Me – How England’s Capital Built Classic Rock. Stephen Tow is a historian who has been teaching at Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, USA since 1999. He specializes in the history of popular music with a focus on rock ‘n’ roll and the general history of America in the 20th century. His book London, Reign Over Me was published by Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham/Boulder/New York/London in 2020, spans 207 pages, and is based primarily on interviews with more than 90 musicians from that time as well as extensive additional research.
At the very beginning of his book, in the first paragraph of the first chapter Out of The Gray into The Blues, Stephen Tow unequivocally states, “All of what became known as ‘classic rock‘ began with low-key jazz trombonist Chris Barber. … Nevertheless, Korner really didn’t get his start without Chris Barber; in fact, none of it would have really happened – not Korner, Mayall, the Stones, Yardbirds, Animals, or Led Zeppelin for that matter – without Mr. Barber.”
These clear and definitive statements are subsequently examined. First, it is explained what achievements Chris Barber accomplished that, in retrospect, led to such recognition and appreciation. In doing so, distinction is made between his musical contributions and other activities.
Skiffle
Skiffle is a unique genre of folk music that blends elements of folk, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz. It originated in the United States but gained immense popularity in the United Kingdom (UK) during the 1950s. The so-called Skiffle Craze began in 1956, attracting music-making teenagers from across the country. They typically used a mix of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments such as acoustic guitars, banjos, stand-up tea-chest basses, and washboards to create music with a distinctive beat. Musically, skiffle was mostly based on simplified versions of American folk songs.
The UK revival of skiffle emerged from the post-war British traditional jazz scene. Lonnie Donegan was the banjo player in Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen, a band formed by Chris Barber in 1953, and later in Chris Barber‘s Jazz Band, which was founded after Ken left the group. During the intervals of both bands’ performances, Lonnie played skiffle music, singing and playing guitar with the accompaniment of other band members, e.g., Chris Barber (bass), Ken Colyer (guitar, vocals), and Bill Colyer (washboard). These skiffle breaks turned out to be very popular and soon became a regular part of gigs and concerts.
Chris Barber’s Jazz Band recorded their first LP, New Orleans Joys (Decca LF 1198), on July 13, 1954, which also included two tracks featured by Lonnie Donegan’s Skiffle Group, comprising Lonnie (guitar, vocals), Chris Barber (bass), and Beryl Bryden (washboard). In his book Halfway to Paradise – The Birth of British Rock Alwyn W. Turner highlights this LP as follows: “It was 5th July 1954, the day after Derationing Day in Britain, when Elvis Presley went into the legendary Sun Studio on Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, to record the tracks for his first single, That’s Alright Mama and Blue Moon of Kentucky. The following week Chris Barber’s Jazz Band went into the slighty less legendary Decca studios in West Hampstead, London, to record their first album, New Orleans Joys. If the latter event has not been quite so celebrated, it was in its own way just as revolutionary a moment, and one that certainly had a greater immediate impact on British music and the society beyond: singer-songwriter Billy Bragg was later to claim, perfectly plausible, that it ‘changed the face of Britain‘…“.
However, it wasn’t until Decca released those tracks, Rock Island Line with John Henry, as a single about two years later that the skiffle phenomenon truly took off. Propelled by its rise in the charts and the fact that skiffle didn’t require expensive instruments or advanced musicianship, the skiffle craze quickly set in. These tracks are considered the starting point for the development and immense popularity of British skiffle music.
The skiffle wave peaked in 1957/58. By the end of 1958 it started to decline as enthusiasts either abandoned music for more stable employment or moved into some other forms of music. Nevertheless, despite its rapid transience, the do-it-yourself aesthetic of this music genre had a significant influence on the subsequent British generation of musicians. Skiffle showed thousands of young people how to make music with relatively modest means and achieve fame and recognition. Many British superstars of the 1960s and 1970s started with skiffle or in skiffle bands in the 1950s, such as The Beatles (one of the precursor groups was The Quarrymen with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison), The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Roger Daltry, Chris Farlowe, Mark Knopfler, Van Morrison, or Rod Stewart.
However, Chris Barber stayed away from the booming skiffle trend, instead primarily pursuing and expanding his path in jazz, most notably to the blues.
Ottilie Patterson
Ottilie Patterson was Ireland’s finest blues vocalist and also an excellent jazz and folk singer. She was engaged by Chris Barber at the end of December 1954, and their first joint performance took place at a concert in the Royal Festival Hall, London, on January 9, 1955. From then until 1962, Ottilie toured relentlessly with Chris Barber’s Jazz Band in Europe and the United States. It should be emphasized that, in those days, Chris Barber was the one and only bandleader augmenting his band with a female singer, thus broadening and enlarging its New Orleans jazz repertoire with blues songs and ballads.
Due to numerous concerts, radio and television engagements, as well as the release of many records, Ottilie Patterson became a key figure in the band’s success. Her love of the blues and her interpretation of the blues – in small ensembles, as the vocalist of Chris Barber’s Jazz Band, or alongside American blues musicians touring with the Barber Band – are manifested in numerous tunes. She received great acclaim throughout Europe and the United States, where even native blues musicians praised her vocal distinction, performance, instinctive feeling, and true authenticity while singing jazz and blues tunes. Thus, Ottilie Patterson made a considerable contribution to publicizing and popularizing the blues in Great Britain. This is all the more true regarding the musical developments that were based on these influences and would hardly have been possible without them.
American Blues Musicians
Chris Barber’s interest and love for the blues go back to the very beginnings of his musical life. Just over seven months after founding his Jazz Band on May 31, 1954, this passion became evident with the engagement of blues singer Ottilie Patterson at the end of that year. This preference became even more apparent a few years later. In 1957/58, Chris Barber began inviting and engaging a plethora of American blues musicians, sometimes at his own expense, who were often completely unknown to British or European audiences and would have had little chance without the accompaniment of his successful band.
In January 1957, he toured with his Jazz Band, accompanied by Big Bill Broonzy (guitar, vocals) and Brother John Sellers (vocals). At the end of the same year, he invited female musician Sister Rosetta Tharpe (electric guitar, vocals) for a tour in Great Britain, which began with a concert at the Town Hall in Birmingham on November 22, 1957. Jean Buzlin writes in the booklet for the double CD Complete Sister Rosetta Tharpe Vol. 6 1958-1959, Frémeaux & Associés FA1306: “Chris Barber’s band, with singer Ottilie Patterson, played the first half, and after listening to her in the wings, Rosetta invited her [Ottilie] to join her on stage at the end of her set. … And this continued to work well throughout the tour. … Chris Barber also suggested she play a few pieces alone on stage with her guitar.” This suggestion was implemented and is documented in Alwyn W. Turner’s book through three very beautiful photographs of Sister Rosetta Tharpe with guitar and amplifier/speaker during her solo performances.
The following year, blues singers Sonny Terry (harmonica, vocals) and Brownie McGhee (guitar, vocals) joined his invitation. Both musicians had long worked as a duo. They arrived in London at the end of April 1958 and were introduced to the English audience as part of a tour. However, Chris Barber did not limit himself to joint concert appearances; he also arranged joint record releases with them (Chris Barber’s Jazz Band with Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Sonny, Brownie & Chris, Pye Nixa NJT 515).
In October 1958, Muddy Waters (guitar, vocals) and Otis Spann (piano) performed with him and his Jazz Band; recordings from this tour were also released (Chris Barber’s Jazz Band with Muddy Waters and Otis Spann, Muddy Waters and Otis Span in Concert 1958, Krazy Kat 7405). According to Alwyn W. Turner, Muddy Waters’ performances, in particular, became a key element in the development of the British Rhythm & Blues (R&B) scene.
In the following years, Chris Barber continued to perform with American blues musicians such as Champion Jack Dupree (1959), Roosevelt Sykes (1961), Louis Jordan (1962), Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Witherspoon, Howlin’ Wolf, and Hubert Sumlin (1964).
His collaboration with American blues musicians is well documented on CD in The Blues Legacy series Lost & Found Vol. 1 – 3 issued by Classic Studio T in 2008 (C.S.T 5067X, C.S.T 5068X and C.S.T 5069X). In this way, Chris Barber primarily introduced the British audience to the blues and the electrically amplified guitar as the fundamental instrument for playing the blues. He himself took this development into account by becoming the first trad band leader to engage a blues guitarist: in June 1964, John Slaughter joined his Jazz Band as the seventh member.
The importance of the electric guitar as the dominant instrument was evident in the evolving British rhythm & blues scene with Alexis Korner as the most important representative, and in the British rock ‘n’ roll scene with home-grown stars such as Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde or Cliff Richard and The Shadows (themselves originally involved in skiffle, too). As to the latter scene in particular, it should be noted that, since the mid-fifties, British audiences were beginning to encounter American rock ’n’ roll. For many, this was initially through American movies, including Blackboard Jungle and Rock Around the Clock.
Support and Assistance
Chris Barber’s activities were not limited to purely musical interests. Continually busy as a bandleader himself, alongside his commitments in the studio, on tours, or at special events like festivals, he was also focused on finding suitable venues for his Jazz Band, particularly in London, the center of the British music scene. In April 1958, he and Harold Pendleton rented appropriate premises on London’s Oxford Street and opened the Marquee Club as The London Jazz Centre. In this club, his band performed with Ottilie Patterson, as did many other jazz bands that primarily played traditional jazz, although modern jazz was also accommodated.
Since traditional jazz bands were experiencing a fall-off in popularity with their regular audience, attendance at the Marquee Club naturally declined. On the other hand, rhythm & blues and rock bands increasingly sought performance opportunities. Chris Barber was immediately ready to assist, as Stephen Tow writes: “The Marquee, at this location [Oxford Street] and later when it moved to nearby Wardour Street, would host nearly every band you can think of that comprises what we now know as classic rock: the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, the Who, the Moody Blues, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, Pink Floyd, and countless others.” Chris Barber and Harold Pendleton continuously offered this performance opportunity during the 1960s and 1970s, allowing both newly founded or emerging bands to take their first steps and test themselves on stage, as well as established and famous bands to perform before an audience. In this way, the Marquee Club quickly gained worldwide fame as one of the most important venues.
In addition, Chris Barber developed further business interests as co-director of the National Jazz Federation. He got involved in the National Jazz & Blues Festival as a director, thereby providing further assistance. While such ventures prospered with acts far removed from the jazz and blues that the Barber Band played, they all benefited from the changes in audience tastes he brought about through his bandleading. Thus, the connections with the emerging bands were not only limited to offering them a place to perform at the Marquee Club. They were also solidified through many joint performances, such as the just mentioned National Jazz & Blues Festival, which was held annually in the 1960s, or at the West London Jazz Festival in June 1964.
Chris Barber not only supported the new rhythm & blues bands, but he was also there to help their musicians when they found themselves in distress. This is true, for example, for the two R&B musicians Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies, who had devoted themselves to the electrically amplified Chicago blues. After they could no longer perform at the London Blues and Barrelhouse Club, they sought new opportunities. Once again, Chris Barber stepped in and offered them to play within his Jazz Band. This allowed Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies to stay for several months in 1961, performing blues sets together with Ottilie Patterson, and subsequently finding their place at the Ealing Jazz Club. Here, they founded Blues Incorporated in 1962 – the first genuine electric blues band in England.
A small peculiarity regarding Chris Barber and Alexis Korner (who had first played together in the late 1940s) should be added. After a tour with the American blues musician James ‘Jimmy’ Cotton (harmonica, vocals) in the summer of 1961, Chris Barber, Alexis Korner, pianist Keith Scott, and Jimmy Cotton recorded a couple of tunes that were released on the two EPs Chris Barber Presents Jimmy Cotton Vol. 1 & 2, Columbia SEG 8141 and SEG 8189. In the recording sessions, Chris Barber not only played trombone and bass but also guitar on four tracks – his first and apparently only recordings with this instrument.
Concluding Remarks
Throughout his life and work as a musician, Chris Barber consistently pursued and implemented his ideas. On the one hand, this applied to the formations he led, whose music was based on traditional New Orleans jazz but never strictly copied it, remaining always open to other musical influences and ideas and adapting them accordingly. On the other hand, he invited other musicians to concerts, tours, or studio recordings with him and his bands, just as he played trombone with various musicians on stage and in the studio. However, he did not limit himself to this, but provided other musicians and bands with a stage where they could perform their music.
In this context, Chris Barber made decisive contributions to the development of the music scene in Great Britain, from which the initiation of the skiffle wave with its impact on the enthusiasm of young musicians as well as the promotion and turn towards the blues were essential foundations for the fusion of skiffle, folk, blues, and rock ‘n’ roll into British rock music that began in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In this respect, there is nothing to add to Bill Wyman’s words that Chris Barber was a key figure in the advancement of blues in England and became the founding father of the developing original British rock music.
Dr. Peter Brennecke, January 12, 2025