The Cyril Davies R&B All-Stars The All-Stars were initially formed as a backing band for vocalist and
blues harmonica player
Cyril Davies after his departure from
Alexis Korner's
Blues Incorporated in October 1962. The original lineup was tentatively named 'The Cyril Davies Blues Band' and was made up of former members of
Screaming Lord Sutch's group,
the Savages, including
Nicky Hopkins on piano,
Carlo Little on drums and
Ricky Fenson (
aka Rick Brown) on bass. The band also featured
Jimmy Page on guitar for a brief period, though he soon backed out to focus on his burgeoning career as a
session musician and was replaced by Bernie Watson, another former member of the Savages. On 27 February, the All-Stars recorded their first single for
Pye Records: the original compositions "Country Line Special" and "Chicago Calling", released under the name 'Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars'. Baldry assumed the role of band leader, and with fellow All-Stars Barton, Bradford and Parker went on to perform as 'The Hoochie Coochie Men' together with
Rod Stewart on vocals and Ernie O'Malley on drums. Carlo Little also joined them briefly in June 1964, but soon left due to "a difference in musical opinion" between himself and Baldry. Baldry and Stewart went on to form
Steampacket with former All-Stars Ricky Fenson and Micky Waller. At least one further song is known to have been recorded by the All-Stars during Davies' lifetime: a cover of
Little Walter's "Someday Baby", first issued by
Immediate Records on the 1968 compilation album
Blues Anytime Vol. 3. This track was credited to 'Cyril Davies and the All-Stars', although it is not clear when the recording was made, nor with which lineup.
The All-Stars featuring Jeff Beck By 1965,
Jimmy Page had established himself as a prolific
session musician and was signed to Immediate Records as an in-house producer. Around eighteen months after
Cyril Davies' death, Page brought together former All-Stars
Nicky Hopkins,
Carlo Little and Cliff Barton to record with him and his friend
Jeff Beck. Together they recorded five original tracks, with Hopkins taking the lead on "Piano Shuffle", Beck on "Chuckles" and "Steelin'", and Page on "Down in the Boots" and "L.A. Breakdown". The first track from this session to be issued was "Steelin'", although its initial release was not credited to the group. London fashion photographer David Anthony (under the pseudonym 'Charles Dickens') had recorded a cover of
The Rolling Stones' "So Much in Love" for Immediate Records, and when this was released as a single in 1965 it featured "Steelin'" as its b-side under the title "Our Soul Brother TH", credited solely to Dickens. The rest of the tracks from this session would eventually get their first release in 1968, alongside "Steelin'", properly credited to 'The All-Stars featuring...' on the Immediate compilation album
Blues Anytime Vol. 3.
Page, Clapton and the Immediate All-Stars In June 1965,
Jimmy Page invited
Eric Clapton to join him in a
jam session at his home studio on Miles Road in London, and the two guitarists recorded seven instrumental tracks together: "Choker", "Draggin' My Tail", "Freight Loader", "Miles Road", "Snake Drive", "Tribute to
Elmore" and "West Coast Idea". Page and Clapton were both of the opinion that the tracks they recorded were merely rehearsals rather than fully formed songs, but representatives of
Immediate Records soon approached Page informing him that they legally owned the publishing rights to all recordings he made as per the terms of their contract. Page reluctantly gave them the recordings of the jam session in fear of a lawsuit and was asked to clean them up by adding
overdubs, which he recorded that August at
Olympic Studios with a new lineup of the All-Stars. This time, the group featured members of
The Rolling Stones:
Mick Jagger,
Bill Wyman,
Ian Stewart and
Charlie Watts (credited as Chris Winters), Immediate Records first released these tracks alongside the All-Stars' previous recordings in 1968, spread out across their compilation albums
Blues Anytime Vol. 1–3. The tracks were initially attributed simply to Eric Clapton, or 'Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page', although many subsequent releases have given the credit to 'The Immediate All-Stars'.
The Carlo Little All-Stars In late 1962,
the Rolling Stones were beginning to gain a following as a new band on the London blues scene. At the time, the band consisted of vocalist
Mick Jagger, guitarists
Keith Richards and
Brian Jones, and pianist
Ian Stewart. The group played with a number of different bassists and drummers during this period, including members of the Cyril Davies All-Stars
Carlo Little and
Ricky Fenson. Little and Fenson made a strong impression on the younger musicians, and were repeatedly asked to join the band, but the Stones at the time couldn't afford to match what they were earning with the All-Stars. Little flew to Paris for the documentary, where he was reunited with the Stones, meeting them backstage at one of their shows and being invited to attend Jagger's 55th birthday party at their hotel. They recorded an album together in 2001, named
Never Stop Rockin', which also featured
Ronnie Wood,
Jeff Beck,
Long John Baldry,
Matthew Fisher and the
Chanter Sisters, though this remained unreleased for several years. Carlo Little died of
lung cancer on 6 August 2005. The Carlo Little All-Stars' album
Never Stop Rockin' was released posthumously by
Angel Air Records in January 2009. ==Personnel==