james LLEWELYN morgan

A LIFE IN MUSIC

HEAD OF SALE MARC ALLUM SHARES INSIGHTS INTO JAMES’S LIFE FROM HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH MEMBERS OF THE MORGAN FAMILY AND JAMES’S FRIENDS…

Sadly, I never met James, however, it has been my great honour to take an emotive journey through his life, carefully curating the memories and artefacts of his musical career and presenting them to a new band of musicians and collectors. As a guitarist myself, it has been an emotional  voyage through James’ many decades of making and recording music, narrated with great poignancy by his brother and sister Will and Harriet.

His first encounter with a stringed instrument was with a cello. By all accounts it didn’t go well. He then played the drums in the army cadet band at school before making his first stage appearance as a ‘rock’ drummer and then playing drums in the blues boom of the 1960s in various amateur bands.  Some of his fellow musicians went on to form Genesis!

By 1969 James was living in London and was hungering for a little more limelight. He taught himself guitar and like many guitarists, found that the lure of acquiring a much cherished instrument inevitably drew him to Denmark Street. It was here, in the early 70s that he found his beloved ’59 Les Paul. Reputedly, it cost a whopping £450 and his credit card bore the burden! This iconic guitar became James’ companion for life and he’d say ‘you can take my guitar when you can prise my cold dead fingers off it’. Many guitars came and went but the ’59 was always a constant in his life, right up until the end when hampered by arthritis, he could barely play it.

It was also in the early 70s that James met a man called Graham Noden. Having spoken to Graham at length I know he held James in high esteem and they remained great friends until the end of James’ life. However, it was the ’59 that brought them together and Graham, now renowned as one of the greatest guitar techs and luthiers to the stars, earned his first paying job out of college, refretting the ’59 for James. Graham made several instruments for him and also maintained his guitars especially the ’59, giving it a seamless and well documented 50 year provenance.

However, James’ passion for creating music led him to set up a small 4-track studio in his ‘cottage’ near Wandsworth Common. This compact home studio, complete with layers of sound-proofing fabricated from mattresses and screwed up newspaper, gradually improved, and became an 8-track with both the convivial atmosphere and ever -better equipment attracting a growing number of loyal ‘analogue’ artists. Arthur Brown (Fire), Pretty Things, Peter Perrett and The Only Ones, UK Subs, Glen Matlock,  Wilko Johnson from Dr Feelgood, to name just a few. Hundreds of artists passed through the studio making demos and masters with musical input from James. The studio featured in Melody Maker in February 1980 where it’s noted rates were £8 per hour by cheque, £6 for cash, plus tape! Many items of equipment in the sale date from that period and were used by these people.

All the while, James continued to perform in many bands playing both guitar and bass, including the George Hatcher Band (As credited on their Wiki entry) until by the 90s, the studio started to take a back seat, with his love of music taking centre stage at festivals, pubs, clubs and universities and venues across Europe, most notably with Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack.  James gained some notoriety touring with bands in the UK by wearing a stripy top, beret and a string of onions and garlic and acquired the nickname ‘Frenchie Morgan’. While sorting through his papers, I rather poignantly found the original hand typed invoice from 1985 for the replica vegetables!  Of course, his love of guitars always endured and it is those cherished and historic instruments that Dore and Rees are offering in memory of James Morgan.

James will be sadly missed by his family, friends and fellow musicians.

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