Graham Bond Organisation

Graham Bond Organisation

Genres: blues, jazz, mod, blues rock, 60s

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About Graham Bond Organisation

The Graham Bond Organisation (GBO) was a British blues/blues-rock group of the mid-1960s led by Graham Bond (vocals, keyboards, alto-saxophone) (died 1974), and featuring Jack Bruce (bass) (died 2014), Ginger Baker (drums) (died 2019), Dick Heckstall-Smith (tenor/soprano saxophone) (died 2004), and John McLaughlin (guitar). The band recorded several albums and further recordings were issued when the group's members achieved fame in rock bands like Cream and Blind Faith, and also in jazz rock. On original releases, the spelling of the band's name varied between the British "Organisation" (with an S) and the American "Organization" (with a Z). Bond was the primary songwriter, and he also produced the group's two studio albums, The Sound of '65 and There's a Bond Between Us. The GBO is notable in popular music history for jump-starting the careers of two future Cream members, bassist/singer Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. One song Bruce and Baker originally recorded with Bond, "Train Time," later wound up in the repertoire of Cream. When Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker left the band, Jon Hiseman joined the GBO. In a sense, Bond was a catalyst in the formation of British groups Cream and Colosseum, as members of those groups came from Bond's group. Although highly influential within English music circles, the GBO never experienced the popular chart success of their peers. One factor for this could have been Bond's rough, growling singing voice, which was an acquired taste. Another was the decided lack of conventional star appeal of the four members: Bond, Bruce, Baker, and saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith. In addition, the group's studio albums were never released in the United States. Bruce, then Baker, left the band to form Cream in July 1966. Amid internal band struggles and Bond's worsening problems with substance abuse, the GBO disbanded in 1967. Graham Bond reunited with his former bandmates in the early 1970s, playing with Ginger Baker's Air Force and also spending a short time touring with Jack Bruce's band. He subsequently signed a contract with Vertigo Records and was reportedly off drugs by this time.

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