Jess Roden - Hidden Masters

On 1st September I wrote about the 1970's band named Bronco that were fronted by one of the finest British vocalists ever, Jess Roden.

I first became aware of his work when he sang with a Northern Soul band The Alan Bown Set. They released a few singles and one side of an LP record which was recorded live at the famous Marquee Club in London. The album, released in 1966 was entitled 'London Swings' and the other side featured Jimmy James & The Vagabonds. I played the Alan Bown side to death and loved it for its high energy as the band tore through several soul based numbers which then formed part of their stage repertoire. After that I never missed an opportunitiy to catch them live when they played in the north east of England.

As pop music became more psychedelic, the seven piece band featuring trumpet, saxophone, keyboards, guitar, bass and drums, changed their image and renamed themselves as The Alan Bown! With Jess Roden on vocals they released one more album, the imaginatively titled 'Outward Bown' but then having recorded the follow up album in 1969, Roden decided to leave the band. His replacement was none other than Robert Palmer who recorded new vocals for the UK version of the album, though the US version was released with the original Jess Roden vocals.

Roden subsequently went on to form Bronco, then played with two surviving members of The Doors under the name The Butts Band. A band called The Rivits followed and then a trio of albums under Roden's own name. Despite being critically acclaimed as they say, none of the albums were commercially successful and for a time, Roden left the music business altogether. He re-emerged in the mid 1990's as Jess Roden & The Humans, but after one album, he disappeared again.

At the end of my last blog on the subject of Roden, I hinted that there was some very interesting and exciting news for the hard core of Jess Roden fans out there. In 2010 almost 800 pieces of music recorded by Roden were discovered in the archives. These included released works (most of which have been deleted) and many that have never seen the light of day. From these tapes, a five CD anthology has been lovingly compiled and restored and I am now told is due to be released in the very near future. This covers all of his career and the release will be strictly limited to 950 hand numbered copies. The collection will not be available through the usual outlets. For more information and a full track list, check out the Jess Roden website at http://www.jessroden.com/news.html