Billy Jenkins - Born Again (And The Religion Is The Blues)
Inimitably skewed guitar solos and quirky lyrics from UK jazz one-off
(VOTP Records)
Jenkins is a one-off on the British jazz scene, and continues his singular rampage through the blues here (it’s his second album this year, following the more jazz-based I Am A Man From Lewisham, and he has also re-released a load of long-unavailable early material). The core band here is his Trio Blues Suburbia with hard-hitting organ player Jim Watson and drummer Mike Pickering, but there are lots of guests thrown in, including singer Carol Grimes and violinist Dylan Bates.
Jenkins’ adaptations of the blues to the everyday realities of life in south east London possess all the hallmarks we have come to expect in his idiosyncratic work, including his inimitably skewed guitar solos and quirky where-others-fear-to-tread lyrics (try ‘I Hate Dogs’ or ‘When the Parents Come to Stay’ for prime examples).