Billy Jenkins

Billy Jenkins ( born July 5, 1956 in Bromley, Kent ) is a British guitarist and composer of the jazz fusion.

Life and work

In his youth, he sang in choirs that were heard in the Saint Paul 's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Between 1972 and 1977 he was a member of the art-rock band Burlesque. In 1979 he founded the comedy duo Trimmer & Jenkins, only to play in Ginger Baker's Nutters. With his own band Voice of God Collective, which existed from 1981 to 1997, he performed internationally at festivals and in clubs; to the band were temporarily Iain Ballamy, Django Bates, Steve Watts and Ashley Slater. In the 1990s, he also appeared with the Fun Horns on to Volker Schlott and Jörg Huke. Under the name BIg Fights! he improvised with Roberto Bellatalla, Elton Dean, Steve Noble, Steve Argüelles, Lol Coxhill, Paul Rutherford, Steve Beresford, Claude depa, John Edwards, Jim Dvorak and Simon Picard. In 1995 he founded his Blues Collective.

He wrote more than 350 compositions, partly for bizarre formations, including for six guitars or drums for half a dozen sets. From the Royal Academy of Music, he was invited to give guest lectures. On Resonance 104.4FM he put in his own radio show before improvising musicians.

He has a reputation as a " Monty Python of Jazz" (Wolf Kampmann ).

Disco Graphical Notes

• Sounds Like Bromley (1981 )
• Uncommerciality Vol 1 (1986 )
• Suburbia (2000)

Lexigraphic entries

• Wolf Kampmann: Reclam Jazz Encyclopedia. Stuttgart 2002; ISBN 3-15-010528-5