''Scratches of Spain'' is an album by English experimental jazz guitarist and bandleader Billy Jenkins, featuring the Voice of God Collective. It was released on the

Babel Records Babel Label is a jazz record label founded in 1994 by Oliver Weindling. It released more than 130 recordings in its first 20 years, two of which were nominated for the Mercury Prize. Formation Weindling was a banker in England in the 1980s whe ...

label in 1987. As with many of Jenkins' records, ''Scratches of Spain'' showcases Jenkins' "spaß jazz" approach''All About Jazz'' review of ''Scratches of Spain'' download reissue
by Roger Farbey, 9 June 2017 which combines serious musicianship with conceptual irreverence, musical jokes and

détournement A détournement (), meaning "rerouting, hijacking" in French, is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Letterist International, and later adapted by the Situationist International (SI),''Report on the Construction of Situations'' (1957) that ...

. This is reflected in the album title (which refers to the classic

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

album ''

Sketches of Spain ''Sketches of Spain'' is an album by Miles Davis, recorded between November 1959 and March 1960 at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City. An extended version of the second movement of Joaquín Rodrigo's ''Concierto de Aranjuez'' (1939) ...

'', with the cover art also being a parody of the ''Sketches of Spain'' artwork), the piece titles (which refer to down-to-earth, mass culture or tourism-related topics rather than the grander romantic conceptions featured on ''Sketches of Spain'') and in the musician credits (which make jokey reference to the stylistic and technical approaches used by each player).

Track listing

All compositions by Billy Jenkins. # "Monkey Men" – 6:15 # "Cuttlefish" – 6:09 # "Barcelona" – 7:57 # "Benidorm Motorway Services" – 4:00 # "Bilbao/St. Columbus Day" – 4:51 # "Cooking Oil" – 5:12 # "McDonalds" – 4:41

Personnel

* Billy Jenkins - "spaß"

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

Chris Batchelor Chris Batchelor is a British jazz trumpeter and composer. He gained his first professional experience with Dudu Pukwana's Zila aged 17, at the suggestion of Harry Beckett. He subsequently became a founder member, composer and soloist with Loose ...

- "straight"

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

John Eacott John Eacott (born 19 December 1960) is a British jazz trumpeter and composer. Life Beginnings, early influences John Eacott was born in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. His father Kenneth Eacott was a pianist, arranger and composer. His moth ...

- "

trad Trad. is often an abbreviation of the word "traditional". It may also refer to: Music *Trad jazz, a style of jazz music in the 1950s and 1960s *Néo-trad, a musical style that arose in Quebec around the turn of the 21st century *Irish traditional m ...

* Skid Solo - "spaß"

Iain Ballamy Iain Ballamy (born 20 February 1964) is a British composer and saxophonist. He is considered one of the greatest modern jazz saxophonists. Career Ballamy was born in Guildford, Surrey, and educated at George Abbot School, Guildford, from 1975 ...

- "bigtime"

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

s *Steve Buckley - "straight"

s *

Dai Pritchard Dai may refer to: Names * Dai (given name), a Welsh or Japanese masculine given name * Dai (surname) (戴), a Chinese surname Places and regimes * Dai Commandery, a commandery of the state of Zhao and in early imperial China * Dai County, in Xinz ...

- "spaß"

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

s * David Jago - "grown-up"

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

* Ashley Slater - "juvenile"

bass trombone The bass trombone (german: Bassposaune, it, trombone basso) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to ...

, tuba, vocals * Davo Cooke - " heavy metal"

* Django Bates - "doodle"

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Jimmy Haycraft Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 f ...

- "golden"

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

Jo Westcott Jo, jo, JO, or J.O. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Jo'' (film), a 1972 French comedy * ''Jo'' (TV series), a French TV series *"Jo", a song by Goldfrapp from ''Tales of Us'' *"Jo", a song by Mr. Oizo from ''Lambs Anger'' * Jo a fictio ...

- "proper"

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

* Tim Matthewman - "fat" electric

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Simon Edwards - "skinny" acoustic bass guitar * Dawson - "experienced" hand drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, *

Steve Argüelles Stephen Argüelles Clarke (born 16 November 1963) is an English jazz drummer, producer and is the proprietor of the Plush record label. He has also worked in film and theatre. He is the elder brother of saxophonist Julian Argüelles. Steph ...

- "stuntman" hand drums, "midget" drumkit * Roy Dodds - excited

, "spaßtic" drumkit

References

1987 albums Billy Jenkins (musician) albums {{1980s-jazz-album-stub