Jet Harris & Tony Meehan on Decca

[JimN]

Strangely my favourites were main title theme, diamonds and besame mucho. Strange he couldn't learn them in time - they're not that complicated are they?

Main Title Theme isn't easy.

But in any case, Jet played on all three of those.

[Iain Purdon]

I think the Jet Harris story has been told often enough for people here either to know it or to discover it quite easily. This thread is going a bit off course. We're trying to hone a discography here!

[Moderne]

Hone away!

[russ]

I look at it this way, Tony Meehan was the producer at Decca and his job was to generate hit records by whatever means. We have seen over the years many manufactured bands that have really been the producers hiding behind an image. Boney M, Village People, Stars on 45 and right up to day with Mark Ronson to name a few. So I think Tony was using Jet's very commercial image as the shop window for his music and production during the time he was using session musicians on their last couple of hit singles .
As we have seen from live performances, Jet was very capable of playing all his hits on stage.
It's a shame Tony didn't find someone else with a similar appeal to team up with like Jet after 1964, but guess it was The Beatles that put an end to all that.
Wonder why Tony wasn't involved in Big Bad Bass though still being at the same label.

[Iain Purdon]

Big Bad Bass is credited to Jet Harris as performer, composers John Carter/Ken Lewis, music director Mike Leander, production Mike Smith. (Tony was not the only producer at Decca.)

Carter-Lewis were songwriters and performers who went on to become The Ivy League. Mike Leander was a well-known arranger at Decca who worked with loads of famous acts, not least the Rolling Stones. Mike Smith is the A&R guy at Decca who had to choose between the Beatles or Brian Poole/Tremeloes, and made the famous wrong decision: he did see the Tremeloes through plenty of hits though. He was no stranger to using session men and later replaced Love Affair on their records with pro musicians under the direction of Keith Mansfield, retaining only Steve Ellis for the vocals; this caused much controversy when it became known.

So anyway, Jet was in very good hands.

[Pinner Fan]

I still vividly remember seeing Jet playing live on (I think) "The Billy Cotton Band Show".

This would have been circa 1962 / 63. I can't remember if he was playing with Tony but possibly he wasn't
At that time I was playing guitar myself and was circa 14 or so.

My memory is of thinking that Jet could not play, he was terrible, really struggling to play and I was thinking I could do better myself even though I had only been playing myself for about 2 years. This memory is still with me.

Now with hindsight of course I wonder if his drinking problem was affecting him even then .............
So how capable was he of playing Scarlet O'Hara and Applejack, etc in the studio ?

Can anyone place the exact date of this TV appearance and what track he was playing ?
.

[anniv 63]

According to a website called TV Pop Diaries, both Jet&Tony appeared on the Billy Cotton Band Show
Sunday 10th Feb 1963.
Assume this may be a "live performance? , also they received a Silver Disc for Diamonds from Billy himself
a photograph of this is in a publication " Meet Jet &Tony" Star Special no11 - all 2/6d worth!!!!

Mike

[JimN]

According to a website called TV Pop Diaries, both Jet&Tony appeared on the Billy Cotton Band Show
Sunday 10th Feb 1963.
Assume this may be a "live performance? , also they received a Silver Disc for Diamonds from Billy himself
a photograph of this is in a publication " Meet Jet &Tony" Star Special no11 - all 2/6d worth!!!!
Mike

That Billy Cotton Band Show appearance certainly was a live performance.

Until TOTP started on 1st January 1964, no artiste was ever permitted to mime to a record on BBC TV. They only allowed it on TOTP because the technical obstacles to live performances (for nine or ten different performers inside half-an-hour) were way outside the programme's limited budget. Some years later, after TOTP had moved to the (London) Television Centre, the policy changes again and performers had to perform - or at least sing to a backing track - live.

I still remember the Jet/Tony appearance on the Cotton show. Tony had a large black diamond design on the front head of his bass drum.

[Moderne]

I still vividly remember seeing Jet playing live on (I think) "The Billy Cotton Band Show".

This would have been circa 1962 / 63. I can't remember if he was playing with Tony but possibly he wasn't
At that time I was playing guitar myself and was circa 14 or so.

My memory is of thinking that Jet could not play, he was terrible, really struggling to play and I was thinking I could do better myself even though I had only been playing myself for about 2 years. This memory is still with me.

Now with hindsight of course I wonder if his drinking problem was affecting him even then .............
So how capable was he of playing Scarlet O'Hara and Applejack, etc in the studio ?

Can anyone place the exact date of this TV appearance and what track he was playing ?
.

Jet was a natural bass player but I don't believe he was a natural lead player (or lead bass player) and it may be controversial but to me he was never as relaxed playing lead as he was playing bass - even in his later years when he had beaten his alcoholism. I saw him around 1995 in Tewkesbury at the Roses Theatre and by far the best thing he played all night was a version of the Jackie Wilson song Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher (with Billie Davis on vocals) where he drove the whole thing along with his incredible bass playing.