The John Dummer Band also known as John Dummer's Blues Band, John Dummer's Famous Music Band, John Dummer's Oobleedooblee Band and The John Dummer Band Featuring Nick Pickett was a British blues band, of the 1960s and 1970s, noted for its extensive roster of members, including

Graham Bond Graham John Clifton Bond (28 October 1937 – 8 May 1974) was an English rock/blues musician and vocalist, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s. Bond was an innovator, described as "an important, und ...

, Dave Kelly,

Jo Ann Kelly Jo Ann Kelly (5 January 1944 – 21 October 1990) was an English blues singer and guitarist. She is respected for her strong blues vocal style and for playing country blues guitar. Early life Kelly was born in Streatham, South London, England ...

Tony McPhee Anthony Charles McPhee (born 23 March 1944) is an English guitarist, and founder of the blues rock band Groundhogs. An early version of this band backed Champion Jack Dupree and John Lee Hooker on UK concerts in the mid-1960s. He is often cred ...

, Bob Hall, John O'Leary and

Pick Withers David "Pick" Withers (born 4 April 1948) is an English rock and jazz drummer. He was the original drummer of rock band Dire Straits and played on their first four albums, which included hit singles such as " Sultans of Swing", " Romeo and Jul ...

, and for supporting US bluesmen such as

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

and

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

on UK tours.

History

The band was formed by drummer John Dummer (born Anthony John Dummer 19 November 1944,

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it has ...

, Surrey). He formed Lester Square and the G.T's in 1963 with Chris Trengove (alto saxophone and vocals) and Elton Dean (tenor saxophone, later of

Soft Machine Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–196 ...

) and toured the UK and Germany for two years. Dummer formed the John Dummer Blues Band in 1965. The original line-up was John Dummer (vocals, harmonica), Roger Pearce (guitar) and Pete Moody (bass) - both recruited from London R&B band The Grebbels – plus Bob Hall (piano) and Dave Bidwell (drums). Moody later left to be replaced by Tony Walker (bass) and his sister Regine Walker joined Dummer as a second vocalist. The featured guitarist was Tony 'Top' Topham, the original Yardbirds guitarist. The band changed its line-up and began a regular Sunday afternoon residency at the Studio 51 Club in London's West End. Dummer had moved onto drums, and Dave Kelly and Tony McPhee joined as guitarist/vocalists, with Iain "Thump" Thomson (bass) and John O'Leary (harmonica). Dave's sister, Jo-Ann Kelly, was also a regularly featured vocalist at these sessions. The band picked up a following at the club with visiting artists such as

John Mayall John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, musician and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among it ...

Keef Hartley Keith "Keef" Hartley (8 April 1944 – 26 November 2011)
was an English drummer and bandleader. He fronted his own band ...

Champion Jack Dupree William Thomas "Champion Jack" Dupree (July 23, 1909 or July 4, 1910 – January 21, 1992) was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. His nickname was derived from his early career as a boxer. Biography Dupree was a New Orleans ...

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including t ...

Duster Bennett Anthony "Duster" Bennett (23 September 1946 – 26 March 1976) was a British blues singer and musician. Based in London, his first album ''Smiling Like I'm Happy'' saw him playing as a one-man band, playing a bass drum with his foot and blowing ...

and

Alexis Korner Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major in ...

. The band was signed to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

and their first album, ''Cabal'', was released in 1969. Dave and Jo-Anne Kelly and Tony McPhee were featured artists, and the band was the same as had regularly played the Studio 51 Club. Tony McPhee left the band shortly after to re-form

The Groundhogs Groundhogs are an English blues and rock band founded in late 1963, that toured extensively in the 1960s, achieved prominence in the early 1970s, and continued sporadically into the 21st century. Tony McPhee (guitar and vocals) is the sole c ...

. The second album, ''The John Dummer Blues Band'', featured Dummer, Hall, Thomson, Dave and Jo Ann Kelly (vocals), with a new lead guitarist Adrian "Putty" Pietryga, from The Deep Blues Band from Bristol. This band toured extensively in Britain and Europe for two years. By the third album, ''John Dummer's Famous Music Band'' (1970), Dave Kelly and Bob Hall had left to be replaced by Nick Pickett (guitar, violin and vocals) Pietryga and Thomson remained, being augmented by Chris Trengove (alto sax). After the third album the band "drifted apart", only to reform to record again when their instrumental "Nine By Nine", featuring violinist Nick Pickett, was number 1 in France. The 1972 album ''Blue'', released as the John Dummer Band, featured a cover by Roger Dean, whilst the band had shrunk to a four-piece blues-rock band, comprising Dummer, Pickett, Pietryga and Thomson. The band's fifth album, ''Oobleedoobleejubilee'' (1973), released as John Dummer's Oobleedooblee Band, had a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

style, whilst the line-up again included the Kellys, along with Michael Evans (violin) and Roger Brown (vocals). The band's final album, recorded in 1973, included

(saxophone),

(drums), Pete Emery (guitar) and Colin Earl (

Foghat Foghat are an English rock band formed in London in 1971. The band is known for the use of electric slide guitar in its music. The band has achieved eight gold records, one platinum and one double platinum record, and despite several line-up ...

) (keyboards), but the album was shelved, and the band broke up in 1974. This final album was eventually released in 2008, as the ''Lost 1973 Album''.

Dummer's later career

Dummer became a promotion manager; spending three years at

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

and a year at

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

, before joining

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. In 1977 he became the drummer with

Darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...

, with former Dummer Band members "Thump" Thomson and guitarist George Currie, who had earlier re-formed with Dave Kelly to play the London pub scene as The John Dummer Band. Dummer wrote songs including Darts' "Late Last Night", "How Many Nights", and "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" which reached number 43 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, before leaving in 1980.
Dummer then played drums, toured and recorded with

Lowell Fulson Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921March 7, 1999) was an American blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. He also recorded for contractual reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, he was the most imp ...

and Eddie C. Campbell. (Lowell Fulson – ''Think Twice Before You Speak''; Eddie C. Campbell – ''The Baddest Cat on the Block''. Both JSP Records 1082 & 1087 respectively). His next group, True Life Confessions, featured his wife Helen April, second drummer Manic Esso from

The Lurkers The Lurkers are a British punk rock band from Uxbridge, West London. They are notable for being the first group ever on Beggars Banquet Records for whom they released two albums, the first of which charted in the UK Albums Chart, while five si ...

, bassist Harry Kakouli from Squeeze, guitarists Robin Bibi and Mark Nevin (later to form

Fairground Attraction Fairground Attraction were a London based folk and soft rock band. They are notable for the 1988 hit songs " Perfect" and " Find My Love", both taken from the group's multi-platinum selling debut album, '' The First of a Million Kisses''. The ...

and write the hit "Perfect") and two Afro-French girl singers, Any Toco-Salvetti and her sister Myriam. They issued several records on A&M, but none charted. Dummer and his wife also performed as a duo, and peaked at number 54 in the UK Singles Chart with their

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "Blues Skies", and were also known for "Own Up If You're Over 25". He then managed

The Screaming Blue Messiahs The Screaming Blue Messiahs were a rock band, formed in 1983 in London by guitarist and singer Bill Carter, bass player and backing singer Chris Thompson and drummer Kenny Harris. The group emerged in the wake of the pub rock and punk scenes th ...

for three years, before restoring properties in France and Portugal. He formed Screwy Truants with French musicians, sang and played harmonica with French guitarist Jean-Claude Manuel, and drummed with harmonica player and blues singer Nico Toussaint. Dummer is currently still drumming with various groups in Bordeaux and working as an antiques trader, furniture restorer and author. His bitter/sweet story of an ex-pat's dream ''Serge Bastarde Ate My Baguette: On the Road in the Real Rural France'' was published by Summersdale in 2009, and was followed by a sequel ''Son of Serge Bastarde: Mayhem In The Antiques Markets of Rural France''.

Discography

Albums

*''Cabal'' (1969) Mercury (SMCL 20136) – CD (1996) See For Miles (SEECD 456) *''John Dummer Band'' (1969) Mercury (SMCL 20167) – CD (2003) Sunrise (30809032) *''Famous Music Band'' (1970) Philips (6309 008) – CD (2003) Sunrise (30809042) *''Nine By Nine'' (Issued as ''This Is'' in the US) (1972) Philips (6382 039) – CD (1995) Indigo (IGOCD 2021) *''Blue'' (1972) Vertigo (6360 055) – CD (1994) Repertoire (REP 4450-WP) & (2003) Sunrise (30809052) *''Oobleedooblee Jubilee'' (1973) Vertigo (6360 083) – CD (2005) Walhalla (WH 90347) *''Try Me One More Time'' (1973) Philips (6382 040) *''Volume II'' (1973) Philips (6382 083) *''Lost 1973 Album'' (2008)

Singles

*"Travellin' Man" / "Forty Days" (1969) Mercury (MF 1040) *"Try Me One More Time" / "Riding at Midnight" (1969) Mercury (MF 1119) *"Nine By Nine" / "Going in the Out" (1970) Philips (600 6111) *"Nine By Nine" / "Move Me, Don't Leave Me" (1971) Fontana (600 7027) *"Medicine Weasel" / "The Endgame" (1971) Philips (606 176) *"Oobleedooblee Jubilee" / "The Monkey Speaks His Mind" (1972) Vertigo (6059 074)

References

External links

Alex Gitlin's extract from Tapestry of Delights plus John Dummer album covers
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1967 Musical groups disestablished in 1974 British blues musical groups British rhythm and blues musical groups Musical groups from London Vertigo Records artists 1967 establishments in England British blues musicians