Terry Webster with Jet

[JimN]

I suspect that the Holloway Road scenario was to do with leading up to Jet's first recording session /s with Decca.

The "leading up" would have had to be quick, Rob.

Jet left The Shadows on Sunday 15th April 1962 and Decca released Besame Mucho on Friday 11th May!

There were only twenty-five days between those dates, days in which Jet got a management contract, a recording contract, had arrangements made for a session and material and maybe found a backing band for live dates (though there weren't many of those at this stage).

It sounds to me as though Jet's career was - at least at that stage - being quite briskly directed, probably by the business-like Jack Good.

[UlrichS]

Very quick!!!
"Besame Mucho" was recorded on 19. April and the flipside, "Chills And Fever", on 29. April.

Ulrich

[Arpeggio]

What I am saying is that some of those clandestine Holloway Road rehearsals took place well before Jet actually quit the Shadows on April 15th, 1962.

[JimN]

What I am saying is that some of those clandestine Holloway Road rehearsals took place well before Jet actually quit the Shadows on April 15th, 1962.

Aaaaah....

[webstarsmusic]

The Jetblacks were not involved with any of Jet's recordings apart from my vocal contribution on 'Some People'. We were prepared purely to go on the road with Jet.
I have no memory of where Jet was rehearsing for his recordings, but one to one at his home with guitars and a record player I had first hand knowledge of the tunes he was given to do by Jack Good.
Big Jim a legend I would love to have met at that time but would have to wait until the late 1980's when I was in the Rockin Berries. Chuck our guitarist nearly 'cacked' himself when we found the support band at a hotel in Bournemouth was a bunch of 'studio rats' in need of a live gig that featured the man himself. We were so nervous of his presence our opening number was a disaster. Jim was very kind about it afterwards.

[Arpeggio]

There exists a pounding, doomy, unfinished (no lead line) RGM demo of Besame Mucho. It remained unissued for 45 years. It was supposedly arranged by Outlaw Billy Kuy and performed by Dave Rowland. Bill Kuy cannot recall it and no one knows who Dave Rowland was. No direct evidence, but Jack Good or Big Jim may have heard it at Holloway Road. Not Jet, because he recalled that he was directed to record Besame Mucho.

[Iain Purdon]

Interesting to have Terry's comments, shedding new light on events in 1961.

It comes as little surprise that Jet might have been getting fed up in mid-61 - I imagine the tensions that led to his eventual departure were already present then. As we know, Tony was still there at the time but was also the first to leave. We've all been told how that came about but I do wonder if he already knew of Jet's thinking.

[MeBHank]

Interesting to have Terry's comments, shedding new light on events in 1961.

It comes as little surprise that Jet might have been getting fed up in mid-61 - I imagine the tensions that led to his eventual departure were already present then. As we know, Tony was still there at the time but was also the first to leave. We've all been told how that came about but I do wonder if he already knew of Jet's thinking.

Fascinating thread.

As an aside, I know from personal experience that tensions and bad feelings have to really take root and must be tolerated for a fair while before coming to the daunting decision to leave a well-liked and successful band. It's a risk, and many months of inaction can roll past in the hope that things might improve. The abyss is ominous and you need a great deal drive and enthusiasm to make a success of your new venture, even with a supportive team of people behind you. Eventually, though, if things don't change the boiling point does arrive and you have to make the jump.

J

[Moderne]

...I agree - a bit like a marriage! We have to be careful in case knuckles get rapped for it 'not being about the music' but the unhappiness surrounding Jet's position in The Shadows is well documented in Mike Read's Story of The Shadows and Bruce's autobiography. As Jet was such a charismatic presence in the band, the prospect of him leaving and becoming a solo artist must have been a source of ideas for a long time before his actual departure, although no mention of this is made in either of the above-mentioned books - or anywhere else as far as I'm aware. Furthermore, the blueprint of a Fender VI bass guitar as a lead instrument had been established early in 1961 with The Piltdown Men's Great Imposter single: this was far closer to the eventual 'Jet' sound than Duane Eddy's recordings with his Danelectro Six-String bass and I can't help wondering how influential its sound was on Jet, Tony, Jack Good etc (if indeed they were aware of it!)

[webstarsmusic]

When Jet dropped the bombshell news confiding in my singer sister Patti Brook in that summer of '61 that he was leaving The Shadows, I can honestly say Jet managed to keep his reasons for leaving to himself. We just took it he wanted out and never questioned it. He did say Bruce and Hank didn't approve of his drinking habits but nothing to suggest he just might have been given the elbow. It was a habit we eventually had to endure on many a live gig.
The Jetblacks were not involved with any of Jet's recordings apart from my vocal contribution on 'Some People'. We were prepared purely to go on the road with Jet. Our line up can be seen in the Brit film 'Just For Fun' on Jet's "The Man From Nowhere".
I have no memory of where Jet was rehearsing for his recordings, but one to one at his home with guitars and a record player I had first hand knowledge of the tunes he was given to do by Jack Good.

TW