All-Stars (band)

This article is about the 1960s British blues combo. For the 1940s jazz sextet, see Louis Armstrong.

"The Velvettes" redirects here. For the Motown singing trio, see The Velvelettes.

The All-Stars
Also known as	The R&B All-Stars The Cyril Davies All-Stars The Immediate All-Stars
Origin	London, England
Genres	Blues
Years active	1962-1965
Labels	Pye Records Immediate Records
Associated acts	Cyril Davies Jimmy Page Jeff Beck Eric Clapton Long John Baldry
Past members
Nicky Hopkins Carlo Little Micky Waller Johnny Parker Mick Jagger Ian Stewart Bill Wyman

The All-Stars (originally known as the Cyril Davies (R&B) All-Stars) were a short-lived British blues combo active in the early-mid 1960s that later evolved into a studio supergroup. Their later recordings are often credited less ambiguously to the Immediate All-Stars due to their strong ties to Immediate Records.

History

Cyril Davies

The All-Stars were initially formed as a backing band for Cyril Davies after his departure from Blues Incorporated in October 1962. The original lineup was tentatively christened the Cyril Davies Blues Band, and was made up of members of Screaming Lord Sutch's group, the Savages, including Nicky Hopkins on piano, Carlo Little on drums and Rick Brown on bass. The band also featured Jimmy Page on guitar for a brief period, though he soon backed out to focus on his burgeoning career as a session musician and was replaced by Bernie Watson, another former member of the Savages.

In December 1962, Davies was in competition with Blues Incorporated frontman Alexis Korner to recruit Long John Baldry as a second lead vocalist. Baldry played a few gigs with each band before eventually deciding to join Davies' camp in January 1963. At the same time, Davies also added female backing singers to the lineup in the form of South African trio The Velvettes (not to be confused with Motown trio, The Velvelettes), who had previously been touring with a musical stage production of King Kong. On 27 February, the band recorded their first single for Pye Records; the original compositions "Country Line Special" and "Chicago Calling", released under the name Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars.

In May 1963, illness forced the departure of Hopkins as he was hospitalised for several months. Former Blues Incorporated pianist Keith Scott was recruited in his stead, but growing tensions between Davies and the other band members meant that Brown, Little and Watson each soon left the group to be replaced by bassist Cliff Barton, guitarist Geoff Bradford and drummer Micky Waller. In August, this lineup recorded the R&B All-Stars' second single for Pye; "Preaching the Blues", a Robert Johnson cover, and "Sweet Mary", a Lead Belly cover.

Towards the end of 1963, Scott and Waller were themselves replaced by the group's final members Johnny Parker and Bob Wackett. Two more cover songs are known to have been recorded for Immediate Records; Little Joe Walter's "Someday Baby", first issued in 1968 on the compilation album Blues Anytime Vol. 3, and Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away", which would remain unreleased for more than thirty years until it was included as a bonus track on the 1996 CD box set The Immediate Blues Anthology. These tracks were credited to Cyril Davies and the All-Stars, although it is not clear when these recordings were made, nor with which lineup(s). Following Davies' death at the beginning of 1964, Baldry took the helm and the surviving All-Stars lineup of Barton, Bradford, Parker and Wackett were joined by Rod Stewart to become known as the Hoochie Coochie Men.^[1][2]

Immediate Records

By 1965, Jimmy Page had established himself as a prolific session guitarist and was signed to Immediate Records as an in-house producer. Around eighteen months after Cyril Davies' death, Page brought together Hopkins, Little and Barton to record with him and his friend Jeff Beck under the All-Stars banner.^[3][4] Together they recorded five original tracks, with Hopkins taking the lead on "Piano Shuffle", Beck on "Chuckles" and "Steelin'", and Page on "Down in the Boots" and "L.A. Breakdown".

That same year, Charles Dickens (a pseudonym for London fashion photographer David Anthony)^[5] recorded a cover of The Rolling Stones' "So Much in Love" for Immediate Records. This was then released as a single with the All-Stars' track "Steelin'" under the title "Our Soul Brother TH" as its b-side, also credited to Dickens.^[6] The rest of these tracks would eventually also be released by Immediate in 1968, on their series of Blues Anytime compilation albums.

The Page/Clapton jams

In June 1965, Page also invited Eric Clapton to join him in a jam session at his home studio on Miles Road, and the two guitarists recorded seven instrumental tracks together; "Choker", "Draggin' My Tail", "Freight Loader", "Miles Road", "Snake Drive", "Tribute to Elmore" and "West Coast Idea". At the end of the session, Page and Clapton were both of the opinion that the tracks they recorded were merely rehearsals, rather than complete songs, but representatives of Immediate Records soon approached Page informing him that they legally owned the publishing rights to all recordings he made as per the terms of their contract. Page reluctantly gave them the recordings of the jam session in fear of a law suit and was asked to clean them up them by adding overdubs, which he recorded that August at Olympic Studios with a new lineup of the All-Stars. This time, the group featured members of The Rolling Stones; Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman and Ian Stewart, together with drummer Chris Winters (noted as a possible pseudonym for Charlie Watts), as Immediate Records was co-founded and owned by the Stones' manager at the time, Andrew Loog Oldham. This was seen by Clapton as a betrayal of confidence on Page's part, and greatly damaged the personal relationship between the two guitarists for years to come.^{[4][7][8][9][10][11][12]}

Immediate Records released these tracks alongside the All-Stars' previous recordings on their 1968 Blues Anytime compilations, crediting them simply to "Eric Clapton" or "Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page", although many subsequent releases have given due credit to the All-Stars.

Personnel

1962–1964

Cyril Davies and the R&B All-Stars^[1][2]

Cyril Davies – vocals, harmonica (October 1962 – Janunary 1964) Jimmy Page – guitar (October 1962) Nicky Hopkins – piano (October 1962 – May 1963) Rick Brown – bass (October 1962 – June 1963) Carlo Little – drums (October 1962 – June 1963) Bernie Watson – guitar (November 1962 – July 1963) Long John Baldry – vocals (January 1963 – January 1964) The Velvettes – backing vocals (January 1963 – January 1964)

Keith Scott – piano (May – September 1963) Cliff Barton – bass (June 1963 – January 1964) Micky Waller – drums (June – September 1963) Jeff Bradford – guitar (July 1963 – January 1964) Johnny Parker – piano (September 1963 – January 1964) Bob Wackett – drums (September 1963 – January 1964)

Timeline

Note: Dates represented here are approximate, accurate only to within a month.

1965

The All-Stars featuring Jeff Beck[3][4] Jimmy Page – guitar, production Jeff Beck – guitar Nicky Hopkins – piano Cliff Barton – bass Carlo Little – drums

The Immediate All-Stars[4][7][8][9] Jimmy Page – guitar, production Eric Clapton – guitar (original jam session) Mick Jagger – harmonica (overdubs) Ian Stewart – piano (overdubs) Bill Wyman – bass (overdubs) Chris Winters, possibly Charlie Watts – drums (overdubs)

Recordings

1. Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars – "Country Line Special"
2. Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars – "Chicago Calling"
3. Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars – "Preaching the Blues" (Robert Johnson cover)
4. Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars – "Sweet Mary" (Lead Belly cover)
5. Cyril Davies and the All-Stars – "Someday Baby" (Little Joe Walter cover)
6. Cyril Davies and the All-Stars – "Not Fade Away" (Buddy Holly cover)
7. The All-Stars featuring Nicky Hopkins – "Piano Shuffle"
8. The All-Stars featuring Jeff Beck – "Chuckles"
9. The All-Stars featuring Jeff Beck – "Steelin'" (aka "Our Soul Brother TH")
10. The All-Stars featuring Jimmy Page – "Down in the Boots"
11. The All-Stars featuring Jimmy Page – "L.A. Breakdown"
12. Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page – "Choker"
13. Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page – "Draggin' My Tail"
14. Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page – "Freight Loader"
15. Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page – "Miles Road"
16. Eric Clapton – "Snake Drive"
17. Eric Clapton – "Tribute to Elmore"
18. Eric Clapton – "West Coast Idea"

Notable releases

Note: These tracks have been released several times on many different compilation albums. This list includes only those releases that feature three or more tracks, and were released by a record label that is itself notable.

Year	Title	Tracks	Label	Link
1964	The Sound of Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars (EP)	1, 2, 3, 4	Pye Records
1968	Blues Anytime Vol. 1 (aka An Anthology of British Blues Vol. 1)	16, 17, 18	Immediate Records	Discogs
1968	Blues Anytime Vol. 2 (aka An Anthology of British Blues Vol. 2)	12, 13, 14	Immediate Records	Discogs
1968	Blues Anytime Vol. 3 (aka The Beginning: British Blues)	5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15	Immediate Records	Discogs
1969	Anthology of British Blues Volume 1	5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17	Immediate Records	Discogs
1969	Anthology of British Blues Volume 2	13, 15, 18	Immediate Records	Discogs
1970	British Archive Series: Blues for Collectors Vol. 1	16, 17, 18	RCA Victor	Discogs
1970	British Archive Series: Blues for Collectors Vol. 2	12, 13, 14	RCA Victor	Discogs
1970	British Archive Series: Blues for Collectors Vol. 3	5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15	RCA Victor
1971	Guitar Boogie	8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18	RCA Camden	Discogs
1980	Immediate Blues	8, 9, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18	Virgin Records	Discogs
1984	White Boy Blues: Classic Guitars of Clapton, Beck & Page	5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18	Castle Comms.	Discogs
1987	Eric Clapton – The Early Clapton Collection	12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18	Castle Comms.	Discogs
1991	Down and Dirty: The Immediate Blues Story Vol. 3	13, 14, 15, 17	Sony Music
1992	Stars of British Blues Volume One	8, 10, 13, 17	K-Tel Records	allmusic
1993	Stars of British Blues Volume Two	5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 18	K-Tel Records	allmusic
1993	Eric Clapton – For Your Love	12, 13, 14, 16	Pilz	Discogs
1996	The Immediate Blues Anthology	5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18	Charly Records	Discogs
1998	Eric Clapton & Friends – Strictly the Blues	8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18	Castle Pulse	Discogs
1998	Clapton, Page, Beck: Three Guitar Giants and Their Seminal Works	8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18	Cleopatra Records	allmusic
1999	Eric Clapton – The Blues Years	8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18	Castle Select	Discogs
2000	Eric Clapton – West Coast Idea	12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18	Sony Music	allmusic
2000	Jimmy Page and His Heavy Friends – Hip Young Guitar Slinger	6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18	Sequel Records	Discogs
2006	Blues Anytime I: An Anthology of British Blues	12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18	JVC Victor	allmusic
2006	Blues Anytime II: An Anthology of British Blues	5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15	JVC Victor	allmusic

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Cyril Davies and the birth of the UK R&B scene at bluesinlondon.com
2. ^ ^{a b} The Cyril Davies R&B All Stars at cyrildavies.com
3. ^ ^{a b} Blues Anytime Vol. 3 liner notes, Immediate Records, 1968.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} White Boy Blues liner notes, Castle Communications, 1985.
5. ^ "Immediate Records history". Licence Music mailing site. http://lm-mail.com/mailouts/web11_web_3.html. 
6. ^ John Kearney. "The Immediate Singles Boxed Set review". Making Time. http://www.makingtime.co.uk/cdrev82000.html. 
7. ^ ^{a b} West Coast Idea liner notes, Sony Music Distribution, 2000.
8. ^ ^{a b} Strictly the Blues liner notes, Castle Pulse, 2000.
9. ^ ^{a b} John Hamilton's Ultimate Eric Clapton Discography - 1965a (archived from 2007).
10. ^ Steven Davies, Hammer of the Gods, William Morrow & Co, 1985.
11. ^ Marc Roberty, Eric Clapton: The Complete Recording Sessions 1963-1992, Blandford or St. Martin’s Press, 1993.
12. ^ The Early Clapton Collection album liner notes, Castle Communications, 1988.

External links

• Immediate All-Stars, The Discography at Discogs