Kenny Barker & Martin Drew LIVE at The Plough, Stockwell - 1970

This piece will probably get about ten hits - of whom perhaps ONE will read this info panel - so WELCOME, whoever you are.
You are listening to Kenny Barker on piano and organ (with left-foot bass) and Martin Drew on drums.
Kenny Barker was a brilliant musician. He did gigs for the BBC (who had to record LIVE studio sessions to pad out their union-enforced limit on "needle time") wrote music books and had a residency at then-one of London's premier Jazz-pubs - The Plough, Stockwell.
Its tiny stage barely accomodated his Lowery organ (he preferred its MELLOW tone to the harsher Hammond) which he customised, by bypassing the vibrato switch to a biased toggle, with a sweep arm that he could control with his right knee.
This was attached to his Leslie Cabinet, which in turn was customised, by feeding the bass to a separate 100W amp, hooked to an 18" bass unit in a large speaker cabinet.
And he played the left-foot bass manual with his foot shod with a ballet shoe - so he could better feel the pedals.
Further - he liked to play some melodies on piano - but the position of same meant he had to play it left-handed, while playing the organ accompaniment with his RIGHT!
He and Martin Drew (who sadly died a few months ago) played at The Plough, Stockwell, from about 1969-72.
However, this residency came to an abrupt end when the manager (he's the one singing on stage on this piece - having the merciless PEE taken out of him, by Kenny and Martin) decided to open a Country Club.
It was called - with startling originality - The Country Club.
Martin attended their opening night - then went off to tour with Oscar Peterson. He told me he had HATED the place - a haven of "cocktail jazz" - YECCH!
But he - like me - mourned the fact that Kenny actually LIKED the place. What a waste - his words. And Mr Barker has never been heard from since - not even after The Country Club burned DOWN. Unlike Martin, he's nowhere on Google.
The "Last Night" of The Plough was bizarre. Despite having MAGIC music every night, it was often almost EMPTY (as was the case with THIS gig) - so as I travelled there, I hoped a few people would turn UP.
I arrived about an hour before ANYONE usually showed up, opened the door and six people FELL OUT. It took me half the night to reach the BAR, never mind the stage. Where were these people BEFORE?
But this gig is not THAT gig. It is a much earlier one. I recorded several, but since I could go see them anytime - I recorded over them all (you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone).
The reason this one survived is - it is SCREWED. On the night I recorded it, EVERYTHING went wrong. I took the wrong mic. The table I used for its acoustic positioning was occupied - and I had bought a cheap tape which had crap sound quality - and kept JAMMING.
Which is the reason the tape survived - I wasn't about to record on it AGAIN.
So I'm SORRY about the APPALLING quality - it is REALLY BAD - but it may be the only recording of Kenny that SURVIVES from the era.
The thing is: over five decades I've seen, heard - and collected the recordings of - THOUSANDS of great musicians. But Kenny was a superb artist who is UNDOCUMENTED.
As mentioned above, in the Seventies I heard he'd produced books of arrangements (like those featured here) and I KNOW he recorded sessions for Auntie (I HEARD a couple at the time, on Radio 2) - but to the best of my knowledge no-one else ever RECORDED him.
People like Tony Lee - and many others from the Seventies London Jazz scene - were professionally-recorded and video-taped and thus their material survives (some of it here on KZbin).
But the only such record of Kenny Barker is those Beeb tapes. However, since today only old farts like me who stumbled into The Plough in those far-off days KNOW about the man, Auntie is unlikely to release them on CD.
And that's assuming she didn't RECORD OVER said tapes.
Is Kenny still ALIVE? If he is, he'd be around EIGHTY today. Anyone???
At the moment, this dreadful recording is IT - unless YOU have information about what happened to the genius that was Kenny Barker. If you do, please leave a message on my channel - or as a comment, below.
[UPDATE] This piece has now had several dozen hits - but since no-one has left a comment, I don't know whether those people were folks like me who were THERE - or just people who hit this piece accidentally, looking for ANOTHER Kenny Barker (there are a FEW of them).
So if you ARE one of those who was ALSO there, all those years ago - please leave a comment or message. Thanks!

[@MrEarldawkins]

Very moving and emotional story of this great musician. Really appreciate the share.

[@johnnyluddite]

Stuff like this, posts like this, are important. Thankyou

[@wildatlanticman128]

Very enjoyable recording and also your story of Mr Barker, The Plough, etc. I was going to day these sounds remind me of Ronnie Scotts but then i see its mentioned in the comments...glad it lead to people connecting!!

[@paulstephens8530]

I used to work behind Bar at Plough for 2-3 years until 68 just before Ken left to start the Country Club...place was normally buzzing and music was stunning...still cant work out how so many great musicians went there...remember Martin well, he also used to step in for regular drummer few years before called Johnny Eydon who used to play with Harry Stoneham as house Duo (Harry became Micheal Parkinson's Musician)

[@carllafong69]

My pleasure. The power of the number near the end - "Ronnie Scott's '1612 Overture'" (?) is FANTASTIC. I'm STILL trying to find out what happened to Kenny. Of course, one cannot turn the clock back over FORTY YEARS - but it'd be nice to know his genius didn't waste away in some "cocktail jazz bar".

[@patkirby4953]

I used to dep for Kenny Barker at the Plough, Stockwell, Martin Drew was usually the drummer. I swopped my Lowrey Heritage for Kenny's Lowrey Holiday, modded by Bill Dunne. Happy days!

[@mattbarker8099]

Hi Pat. Im Kenny's son Matthew. do you happen to have any old recordings of dad?

[@planettvlondon4292]

@@mattbarker8099 Hi Matt, great to hear from you. Unfortunately don't have any recordings, luckily some on here! Any idea what happened to the Lowrey heritage? best wishes, Pat.

[@ronbowater2664]

I remember the club where Kenny worked it was in Crockenhill (near Swanley) Kent - afterwards he worked for many years in various "Music Pubs" around London - during the late 70's through to 90's these were prolific - many featuring many good players 6/7 nights a week. He mainly worked with numerous drummers as duo's on piano/electric plus bass pedals.He also did a few ship jobs - mainly on the New York route and continued to do the odd BBC 2 thing. He always had a cigarette hanging from his lip and sadly he died as a result (I believe) of lung cancer. Somewhere I have a couple of cassettes recorded live in one of the venues - but having recently moved house I would have to search for them !! Surviving as a "pro" player has over the years become more and more hazardous - with dwindling venues and even more dwindling fees . I hope this info is of interest.

[@carllafong69]

Ron Bowater VERY MUCH SO. THANK you, for that. I moved out of London in the late '70s, so was out of the scene. I'm glad to know he continued. Shame about the lung cancer. If you FIND those cassettes, PLEASE upload them and LET ME KNOW!! It is a shame he never became famous - he was IMMENSELY talented. Regards, Mike.

[@mikefahey7555]

Used to see Martin Drew and a host of top line performers on Monday nights at Ye Olde Leather Bottle on Merton London. We are talking Getz downwards here - on Monday Night Ronnie’s was closed and the great jazzers used to come and jam at the bottle. One of the best kept Jazz secrets at that time. I seem to remember it was

[@mikefahey7555]

To continue: this was 1979/80 ! Martin Drew is one pc the great truly understated jazz drummers - sadly missed RIP Martin.

[@mikefahey7555]

Only 2pence a pint to go and listen in the music room in this pub Great! This was in 1979/80 - seems like yesterday! Martin Drew had a profound effect on my drumming, and I was taught by Kenny Clare and Bobby Kevin

[@ronniebowater3918]

Purely on impulse I typed in Kenny's name - he was a good mate for over 30 years ( I am also a pedal bass playing piano/organ player) - but Kenny was the "Guvnor" - I say "was" as sadly Kenny died some years ago. As far as I know he did not make any commercial recordings - but it is good that a few private recordings survive.

[@carllafong69]

Ronnie Bowater At LAST! Anything you can tell me about Kenny would be welcome. Up until the Plough Stockwell gig ended, all I know is he did some pieces for BBC R2 (late night) and wrote some books of arrangements. And AFTER the Plough, he (according to Martin Drew) wasted his talents at a "dinner jazz" club in Kent. It burned down, after which - NOTHING. He was an IMMENSE talent. I'm sad to hear he is no more. But anything you can add - particularly what he did after the mid-Seventies - would be VERY welcome. Also, WHAT private recordings? It KILLS me that my tape is so bad (for the reasons described in the "about" panel). Could these private recordings be UPLOADED onto KZbin???

[@mattbarker8099]

Hi Ronnie. Please get in touch Im Kenny's son Matthew and would love to chat. Im on the hunt for any old recordings of dad. He didn't have many at home at all. cheers