Keith “Keef” Hartley (8 April 1944 – 26 November 2011) was an English drummer and bandleader. He fronted his own band, known as the Keef Hartley Band or Keef Hartley’s Big Band, and played at Woodstock. He was later a member of Dog Soldier, and variously worked with Rory Storm, the Artwoods and John Mayall.
Keith Hartley was born in Plungington, north-west Preston, Lancashire. He studied drumming under Lloyd Ryan, who also taught Phil Collins the drum rudiments. His career began as the replacement for Ringo Starr as a drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, a Liverpool-based band, after Ringo joined the Beatles. Subsequently, he played and recorded with the Artwoods, then achieved some renown as John Mayall’s drummer (including his role as the only musician, other than Mayall, to play on Mayall’s 1967 “solo” record The Blues Alone).
He then formed The Keef Hartley (Big) Band, mixing elements of jazz, blues, and rock and roll; the group played at Woodstock in 1969. However, the band was the only artist that played at the festival whose set was never included on any officially released album (prior to 2019), nor on the soundtrack of the film.
They released five albums, including Halfbreed and The Battle of North West Six (characterised by a reviewer for the Vancouver Sun as “an amazing display of virtuosity”).
While in John Mayall’s band, Mayall had pushed Hartley to form his own group. A mock-up of the “firing” of Hartley was heard on the Halfbreed album’s opening track, “Sacked”. The band for the first album comprised: Miller Anderson, guitar and vocals, Gary Thain (bass), later with Uriah Heep; Peter Dines (organ) and Ian Cruickshank (as “Spit James”) (guitar). Later members to join Hartley’s fluid line-up included Mick Weaver (aka Wynder K. Frog) organ, Henry Lowther (b. 11 July 1941, Leicester, England; trumpet/violin), Jimmy Jewell (saxophone), Johnny Almond (flute), Jon Hiseman and Harry Beckett. Hartley, often dressed as an American Indian sometimes in full head-dress and war-paint, was a popular attraction on the small club scene. The Battle of NW6 in 1969 further enhanced his club reputation, although chart success still eluded him. By the time of the third album both Lowther and Jewell had departed.
After that Hartley released a ‘solo’ album (Lancashire Hustler, 1973) and then he formed Dog Soldier with Miller Anderson (guitar), Paul Bliss (bass), Derek Griffiths (guitar) and Mel Simpson (keyboards). They released an eponymous album in 1975, which had a remastered release in early 2011 on CD on the Esoteric label.
In 2007, Hartley released a ghostwritten autobiography, Halfbreed (A Rock and Roll Journey That Happened Against All the Odds). Hartley wrote about his life growing up in Preston, and his career as a drummer and bandleader, including the Keef Hartley Band’s appearance at Woodstock.
Hartley died of complications from surgery on 26 November 2011, aged 67, at Royal Preston Hospital in Fulwood, north Preston. (wikipedia)
After the subtleties and suppleness of 1970’s The Time Is Near…, the Keef Hartley Band’s third full-length, the group returned the following year with Overdog, a set that kicks them into overdrive. Opening with a dramatic flourish of wah-wah guitar, the anthemic “You Can Choose” instantly wipes all memories of the intricate design of the preceding album off the board. Big and brash, “Choose” pounds rock into funk with savage delight. In contrast, “Plain Talkin'” is all grit and glory, strutting its Stax-y antecedents center-stage, and smugly smirking at their hard-rocking ex-Brit beat contemporaries, who lost the blues in their rush to rock. Elsewhere, “Overdog” puts paid to prog rock pretentiousness, as the band slyly slide from haunting wah-wah guitar and spacy effects straight into funk, and back out again through coursing, driving instrumental sections. It’s a spliced styling that’s reiterated to even more dramatic effect on “Theme Song.” Keef Hartley’s drums keeps those segments pulsing, but it’s “Roundabout” that’s his true showcase, as his skins rumble away under layers of dramatic brass passages and crash around the guitar solos.
His drumming reaches an apotheosis on the song’s 7″ version, a blistering attack of swing-styled beats that prods the brass to even greater heights, while his crack drumming on the flip side of the single pushes the guitarist into hyper-speed and the horns into rousing solos of speed jazz, only to collapse into slower passages of big rock that slams straight into Detroit. After that, the gentler, jazzy excursions of “Imitations from Home” are a well-deserved breather, although not for Hartley, whose intricate patterns keep him on his toes. Only the Beatlesque “We Are All the Same” provides any concession to contemporary pop audiences, but KHB cared little for them, so intent were they on proving to rock fans that there was no need to desert R&B, soul, and funk in their search for more experimental music and/or harder sounds. On their last set, they delicately pointed out the possibilities; here they hammer it home. (by Jo-Ann Greene)
And Miller Anderson is one of the most underrated guitarists from the UK.
Personnel:
Miller Anderson (vocals, guitar)
Dave Caswell (trumpet, flugelhorn)
Keef Hartley (drums, percussion)
Lyle Jenkins (saxophone, flute)
Mick Weaver (keyboards)
Gary Thain (bass)
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Johnny Almond (flute on 03.)
Peter Dines (keyboards on 05.)
Jon Hiseman (drums, percussion on 03.)
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background vocals:
Ingrid Thomas – Joan Knighton – Valerie Charrington
Tracklist:
01. You Can Choose (Anderson) 5.29
02. Plain Talkin’ (Anderson) 3.24
03. Theme Song – En Route – Theme Song – Reprise (Anderson/Hartley/Thain) 8.05
04. Overdog (Anderson) 4.20
05. Roundabout (Anderson) 6.07
06. Imitations From Home (Hartley) 3.36
07. We Are All The Same (Anderson) 4.41
More from the Keef Hartley Band in this blog:
ManyFantasticColors 