History of B.J.S.

 

"It was the early days of Rock 'n' Roll in this country. We were all struggling to learn music, it might be Country, Jazz, Classical, Blues or even Rock 'n' Roll. None of us younger musicians wasted to much time doing teenage things. I remember John McLaughlin sitting in Lew Davies practising his jazz chords and licks. We, all of us that knew John, knew that this lad had extraordinary potential. I remember him later coming onto a session and raving about how 'Giant Steps' rotated down in major 3rds and how it was centred around 3 key centres. We had to think about this revelation but John had grasped its significance absolutely. When I talk about us I include the musicians who were on the session scene at this time (1958-onwards). The guitarists were Johnny Mc, Joe Morretti, Colin Green and Vick Flick  Jimmy Page & Alan Parker were a little later 1963), among the younger set. The older guys were Eric Ford, Brian Dayley, Ernie Sheer, Judd Proctor, Jack Llewelyn, Ike Isacks, Roland Shaw, Dave Goldberg, and to many more to name. All of the older guys had their Gibson L5's or Epiphone Emperor's, De Angelico's, Guild's, and other exotic guitars. All of them full bodied with a separate pickup attached to the instrument. Vick Flick had a Fender Stratocaster, possibly the first solid body guitar on the session scene. I used a 1955 Gibson gold top on my first sessions early in 1958 with Marty Wilde. It belonged to a gospel singer called Sister Roseta Tharp and Marty bought it from her in the mid 50's. I used this guitar until 1959 when American guitars were allowed to be imported into this country. I then bought a cherry red Gibson 345 stereo from Ivor Mairants it was magnificent. I used to go to Ivor's shop a lot. I met many great guitarists at Ivors. I think the 345 cost me about £300 in 1959 so I am not surprised to hear that they cost about £5000 now. I used this guitar on many hits of the early mid 60's. The Wildcats, who by this time had left Marty and had changed their name to the Krewcats, even had a bit of an instrumental hit with "Trambone" in 1961 and I used this guitar on that track. Jack Good the producer of the 'Oh Boy' show loved that guitar and used me on all of his early sessions. I remember one session, this little girl was screaming and shouting with incredible dexterity, she made my hair curl. The track was 'Shout' and the little girl was LuLu, she was 14 years old. The older session men used to call me the 'Electric Monster' because I used to make the guitar scream and groan when I bent and pulled the strings. I remember making quite an impact with the tone and volume pedal when I used it on Dave Berry's "Crying Game". Even to this day people still argue as to whether it was me or Jimmy Page playing on the track. Also before that I did the solo's on P.J Proby's "Hold Me" & "Together". It caused the same argument because this was the first fuzzbox used in this country.Lots of people think it was Jimmy Page who had the first fuzzbox. It wasn't, No! it wasn't me either. Eric Ford came to a session one day and produced this little gold box with Gibson written on it. It had one button for off and on and he wasn't quite sure about what it did. I knew what it was because I knew Chet Atkins had used such a gismo on one of the Everly Brothers tracks. Eric lent it to me and I used it on the track we were recording at the time. It blew the mind of Keith Grant, the engineer at Olympic studios, and we only did one take of that particular track. It was 'Hold Me' and it put Jim Proby on the way to becoming a big star. The guitar was very popular at this time during the 60's and almost every session had at least 2 guitars on them. Folk music was popular and so was country, but the Memphis sound was being overtaken by the 'Stacks' & 'Motown' sound. The late Mid 60's had the groups taking over the charts. The solo artist was still around but groups were in the studios and most of my work was with them. 'Small Faces', 'Freddie and the Dreamers', 'The Kinks', 'The Tremelos', I could go and on. Take a look at the list (1,000 chart entries) and you will see most of them. This list only shows the chart entries. There were more groups that made records and didn't make it than there were groups that made it. So you can imagine the work that we did. Most of the groups couldn't handle the studio, it was a very nerve racking experience if you never worked in studio conditions before. You sit there waiting for the RED LIGHT to go on. You could be sitting there for five minutes, waiting, while the producer talks to the engineer. Then the light goes on you know that you mustn't make a mistake for at least 4 minutes. So your concentration must be %100. If you can't control your nerves you fold and make mistakes. All session people suffer from nerves. I knew some guitar players who suffered from RED LIGHT NERVES so bad that they literally stopped playing in the middle of a take. I used to get nervous so I took up Yoga to help me calm down. It worked and I went on to study eastern philosophy for many years. It tied in nicely with the study of Indian music. All the time I was playing on sessions I never got time to make an album for myself. In all I think I have made about 6 of my own albums in my life. 3 of these were with 'TIGER' in the 70's. The 1st Album I made was on Sitar and was called 'SITAR BEAT' 1967 this album was the one that Johnny Mc played on. I then made and Album for MAM. This was called 'Sullivan Plays O'Sullivan' 1971. This Album was all Gilbert O'Sullivan songs. The last solo album I made was 'Big Jims Back'1974 and is the biggest embarrassment of my life. I had to sing on this album. It was the brainchild of my production partner Derek Lawrence. The only redeeming thing on this album is the fact that Chas 'n'Dave wrote most of the songs on it. They also played on it and we had a great time making the album. So I gave up making albums. Then came 3 Albums with 'Tiger' 1975-76. I still play on the odd session but I have refused to make another album under my name and I will refuse until I can make one the way I want to".

In early 1969 Jim joined Tom Jones, touring extensively and although often in the background with the rest of the band he featured many times with special guests on Toms TV. shows.

"At this time I was able to spend a lot of time on my classical guitar. The 8-9 months a year on the road left me with a lot of time on my hands. It wasn't all spent on practicing, I did do other things! but the classical guitar means a lot to me so I spend many hours building good chops and getting a good program together. These 4 titles are all that remains of my time on the classical guitar. These tracks were recorded on a small tape recorder so please excuse the sound. PRESS TO PLAY the 4 Tracks. I still love the classical guitar and am thinking of putting a few pieces into my public appearances when I play jazz."

Jim left Tom late 1974 and immediately teamed up with Derek Lawrence, the producer of 'Deep Purple', 'Wishbone Ash' and more. Derek and Jim had a record label called 'Retreat'. They also produced various artists over a period of two years or so. Among these artists were 'Labi Sifri', 'Chas 'n' Dave', 'Mcguiness Flint', 'Tiger' and more. Together they went to the states and produced a Glam Metal band called 'Angel'. This band was very big in America and Derek and Jim Stayed in the States and produced more artists and a second 'Angel' album. In 75 Jim came back to England to carry on with 'Tiger'. Derek stayed in America for a few years. for the next couple of years Jim concentrated on 'Tiger'. Making a further two albums. None of the albums sold great amounts of records, the third and best album,produced by Mike Vernon, was shelved by E.M.I They didn't think it was worth the trouble. A few years later John Glover, who was Tigers manager during their brief life, bought the album from E.M.I and printed a couple of thousand for his own distribution company. The album has been released a third time 1994 by Ozone Records in America. The players on that album are:- Nicky Moore & Les Walker-VOCALS, Percy Jones Mo Foster-BASS, Simon Phillips-DRUMS, Dave Lawson-Alan Parks-KEYBOARDS, Big Jim Sullivan-GUITAR. This band made its one and only live appearance at the Reading Festival in 1976. After that Jim decided to go his own way and disbanded Tiger. In 1978 he became part of the James Last Orchestra which took care of the next 9 years with a brief spell away to do a major tour with Olivia Newton-John following her success in Grease. After so many years 'on the road' Jim turned to composing music for film and jingles. His guitar took a back seat for a few years until a mutual friend suggested he should go and sit in with a musician playing in a nearby pub. He did just that and found playing locally was to his liking. This musician was Willie Austen. Jim Played with Willie from early-mid 80's right up to 1997. "I think we opened new vistas in Pub entertainment, we always played to full houses and we got paid well doing it". You hear some of the work Willie and Jim created on the Music Page as well as on Willie's Page. "We were together for about 12 years", quotes Jim," And of course the inevitable happened, so we got divorced. It is hard for 2 creative people to work together for that length of time and not fall out." Willie is still doing his thing but with another guitarist and Jim is now embarking into the more academic side of the business. He still plays in the local clubs & pubs covering all types of music from rock to jazz. Jim worked with another close friends band in the late eighties. This band was called the 'Diamonds' led by Steve Gordon. Jim had met Steve whilst playing with Willie and made a few public appearances with the Band. Jims love for jazz had always haunted him because he never got the chance to play jazz that often, so he decided to put a band together when 'Guitarist Magazine' asked him to appear at the Mag's convention in Hammersmith 1990. A band was put together for the show and later (1991) turned into the group called 'US'. At the show Jim met guitar maker Patrick Eggle and started a relationship with the company that has lasted for years. In fact Jim still plays the 'JS Legend' model that he help to design in 1991. "I had hoped to get Fender to make me a special Telecaster but as yet no sign has been made". "I would love to have a signature model, after all everybody else has one" said Jim with a big smile on his face. The Jazz Group 'US' (1990-1994) which had Derek Austen(piano), Malcolm Mortimer(Drums) & Herbie Flowers on Bass, You can hear some of the tracks they recorded if you go to the music page. The next jazz group consisted of  Derek Austin, Hammond C3, Malcolm Mortimer, Drums and Jim on Guitar and Guitar synth and was called 'The 3 of US' (1997-1998). You can hear some of the tracks they recorded if you go to 'The 3 of US'  page. Jim say's "I do like to get home at night. When you are on an eight-month tour home seems to become hazy and fade. You tend to forget what it is like to have a home."  At this time Jim is also playing live gigs with Duncan Mackenzie, a friend of long standing and a great artist in his own right. The duo covers music from jazz standards to Jimmy Hendrix. Jim says "I like to work with artists who are as wide in their musical taste as I am. It gives the listener a good workout, to listen to the music, the same as it does us to play it." "My whole life is geared to play guitar. I play what I want when I want and I hope the listener gets as much pleasure listening to the music as I get playing it."  "Just recently I worked with Van Morrison and I came to realize that money can't make a decent human being out of you". "Here is a man worth 50 million pounds and is as unhappy a person as I have ever seen". "He is so unhappy that he treats everybody as if he had bought them and they belonged to him to do what he likes with them". "My stay with Van was very short lived and the lesson learned from him will stay with me for a long time". "A nice way to spend the rest of my life." said Jim "Would be to work for Love instead of Work to Live". "I am a very lucky man. I am living my life with my hobby as my profession."

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