Geoffrey Frank Bradford (13 January 1934 – 24 March 2014) was an English guitarist who played alongside

British blues British blues is a form of music derived from American blues that originated in the late 1950s, and reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s. In Britain, it developed a distinctive and influential style dominated by electric gu ...

musicians in the 1950s and 1960s, such as

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 ...

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 ...

Early life and influences

Bradford was born in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...

, England, and went to school in East Barnet. From the age of 14 he took piano lessons, playing transcriptions of Meade Lux Lewis and

Albert Ammons Albert Clifton Ammons (March 1, 1907 – December 2, 1949) was an American pianist and player of boogie-woogie, a blues style popular from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s. Life and career Ammons was born in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were ...

; although he soon lost interest in the instrument, exposure to blues music left a lasting impression on him. After leaving school, he briefly obtained a position in an insurance office, before signed on for the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

as a stoker-engineer when he was 17 years old. In 1954, whilst on leave, he met and married his wife Jean. During his service with the Navy, Bradford visited

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and bought his first guitar. Bradford bought himself out of the Navy, then worked briefly as a baker and butcher, before obtaining a position as a screen printer.

Early musical career

He joined a

skiffle Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United Stat ...

group called the Sunrisers, and initially emulated the work of

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...

and

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, inc ...

. Eventually, he placed an advertisement in the ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' for other blues players, and one of the respondents was Kevin Scott. Bradford and Scott appeared as a duo at

The Roundhouse The Roundhouse is a performing arts and concert venue situated at the Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England. The building was erected in 1846–1847 by the London & North Western Railway as a roundhous ...

blues club, which was run by

Cyril Davies Cyril Davies (23 January 1932 – 7 January 1964) was an English blues musician, and one of the first blues harmonica players in England. Biography Born at St Mildred's, 15 Hawthorn Drive, Willowbank, Denham, Buckinghamshire, he was the so ...

and

. This is not the famous Roundhouse at

Chalk Farm Chalk Farm is a small urban district of north London, lying immediately north of Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden. History Manor of Rugmere Chalk Farm was originally known as the Manor of Rugmere, an estate that was mentioned ...

in London's

Camden Town Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as ...

. The one mentioned here was a pub on the corner of

Wardour Street Wardour Street () is a street in Soho, City of Westminster, London. It is a one-way street that runs north from Leicester Square, through Chinatown, across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street. Throughout the 20th century the street became a ...

and

Brewer Street Brewer Street is a street in the Soho area of central London, running west to east from Glasshouse Street to Wardour Street Wardour Street () is a street in Soho, City of Westminster, London. It is a one-way street that runs north fro ...

, which was London's "Skiffle Centre" until 1956, when Cyril Davies and Alexis Korner started the London Blues and Barrelhouse Club. The Thursday night sessions often took the form of impromptu jams amongst the blues enthusiasts present and were visited by touring American bluesmen such as

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post- war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicag ...

Otis Spann Otis Spann (March 21, 1924 or 1930April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician, whom many consider to be the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist. Early life Sources differ over Spann's early years. Some state that he was born in Jackson, Mis ...

, and Big Bill Broonzy.

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically dr ...

also played there in their early days. The Roundhouse was recently open as The O Bar.

Blues By Six

Bradford and Scott formed the band, Blues By Six, with Brian Knight on vocals and harmonica,

Charlie Watts Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021. Originally trained as a graphic artist, Watts developed an i ...

on drums and Peter Andrews on bass. The band played a form of

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

, with Bradford's guitar work now inspired by

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

and Willie Johnson.

The R&B All-Stars

Cyril Davies had formed a successful Chicago blues band named the R&B All-Stars; original guitarist Bernie Watson left, and Davies asked Bradford to replace him. The band had a residency at the

Marquee Club The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed ...

, London. The band released a single on Pye, "Preachin' The Blues" / "Sweet Mary".

Later career

The R&B All-Stars were at the forefront of a wave of British Blues bands at the beginning of the 1960s; other groups that were part of the wave included

The Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwe ...

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two diffe ...

and

. However Davies died, and the R&B All-Stars became the Hoochie Coochie Men, fronted by Davies's backup singer,

. The blues boom evolved into what would become rock, and the music of the Hoochie Coochie Men failed to evolve with the times. As a result, Bradford faded from the view of the general public. He recorded infrequently, most recently in 1995. Bradford also appeared on the

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) sy ...

''Masters of British Guitar'', and on the film, ''Living with the Blues'' on

Channel Four Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in ...

Discography

* Geoff Bradford and the Hoochie Coochie Men – ''Geoff's Blues'' (1965) * Geoff Bradford – ''The Right String'' (1976) Black Lion Records * Geoff Bradford – ''Rockin' the Blues'' (1979) Black Lion Records * Geoff Bradford – ''Tribute to Fats Waller'' (1985) * Loren Auerbach with Richard Newman (and

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...

) - ''Playing the Game'' (1985) * Geoff Bradford – ''Magnolia'' (1986) Christabel Records * Geoff Bradford – ''The Return of a Guitar Legend'' (1995) BGO Records

Bibliography

Bob Brunning Robert Brunning (29 June 1943 – 18 October 2011) was a British musician who was, as a small part of a long musical career, the original bass guitar player with the blues rock band Fleetwood Mac. Career Fleetwood Mac When Peter Green left t ...

(1986): ''Blues: The British Connection'', Londra 2002 – Helter Skelter *

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer. He was previously the lead vocalist of R&B and rock band the Animals and funk band War. He is regarded as one of the British Invasion's most distinctive singers with his deep, pow ...

con J. Marshall Craig: ''Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood'', New York 2001 – Thunder's Mouth Press *

Dick Heckstall-Smith Richard Malden Heckstall-Smith (26 September 1934 – 17 December 2004) was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most influential English blues rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s. He is known for pri ...

: (2004) ''The Safest Place in the World: A personal history of British rhythm and blues'', Clear Books * Christopher Hjort (with foreword of

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 ...

): ''Strange brew:

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list o ...

and the British blues boom 1965–1970'', Jawbone, 2007 * Paul Myers: ''It Ain't Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues'', Vancouver Canada 2007 – GreyStone Books * Harry Shapiro: ''Alexis Korner: The Biography'', Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, Londra 1997 with discography of Mark Troster

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford, Geoff 1934 births 2014 deaths Blues revival musicians English blues singers English blues guitarists English male guitarists English male singer-songwriters Singers from London All-Stars (band) members