Gallery

These are images chosen, from the ancient sedimented deposits of my archives, to illustrate the various stages of my ‘career’ so far.

I have chosen mostly images that are directly related to my musical life, but I’ve not included photographs of my theatre work because there are Galleries relating to those musicals on the Archive pages for that project. There are also separate Galleries on the pages for ‘The Requiem Mass’ and ‘Orfeas’ CDs. There are also Illustrated Blogs or Articles that can be accessed from the pages for ‘The Climber’, ‘The Tribal Elders’ Single, the ‘Live In Italy’ DVD, and ‘The Full English’. As for ‘Curly’s Airships’, there is an entire website-full of visual material!

Hardly any of these pictures have been published before. Sadly I cannot remember who took many of the photographs, even though I know they were done by people doing me a favour. Please forgive. Any image-makers who recognize their work here should get in touch with me. Please respect the photographers’ copyright in all these images.

PART ONE. 1950 – 1981: THE BLACK AND WHITE YEARS

	1939: A MUSICAL FORBEAR My late Uncle Les was a dance band trumpeter before the Second World War. That’s him, blowing-up a storm next to the smooth operator rocking the mic.Photographer Unknown
	1951(?): ONCE UPON A TIME, IT HAD HAIR. This probably dates from 1951. Don’t know where it was taken. Possibly somewhere in Wales; Pa was a production engineer, and we moved around a lot in the early days.Photographer Unknown.
	1960 (?): A STRANGE FAMILY GATHERING These are my cousins, doing strange things to each other’s hair. I am on the far right, trying to play the trumpet (probably the one belonging to Uncle Les). I never learnt to play anything properly.Photographer Unknown.
	1964 (?): OUNDLE SCHOOL One of the few advantages of a boarding school education (and in my case, education, as such, wasn’t one of them) was that it provided a captive audience, hungry for any kind of entertainment. In this atmosphere, all manner of terrible bands flourished. This might be me with ‘The Bayswater Underground Blues Brethren’, or perhaps with ‘The Gut-Bucket Stompers’, (but not ‘The Big ‘R’ Soul Band’, for which I failed the audition.)Photographer Unknown.
	1964: SCHOOLDAYS At sixteen, I was very Steampunk, but I don’t think they called it that back then, they tended to use the phrase ‘poncy little gits’.Photographer Unknown.
	1965: THE OUNDLE SCHOOL CADET CORPS BAND I am the gallant little drummer-boy; front rank, third from the Left. We are wearing standard 2nd World War uniform, and this was shortly after the Band’s outfits had been modernised. Before then, we wore army uniforms from 1914-18, including puttees wound round our legs.Photographer Unknown.
	1965: THE FREEWHEELIN’ HUTCHINSON M. & SMITH C.J.J Oundle School, June 1965. According to the back of the photo, we were a part of an event called ‘Sanderson House – Music & Song’ (oh, the horror…). Max Hutchinson and I are sitting on a roof doing numbers from the second Bob Dylan album. As you see from our appearance, we were just wild, out-of-control rebels.Photographer Unknown.
	1965: THE CHELSEA BUNS (YOUR CURRENT FAVOURITES) Oundle School, March 1965. Rehearsing for the School Review ‘The First Signs Of Madness’ with Dave Mitchell (sax), Max Hutchinson (harmonium) & Nick Lucas (guitar). (These guys will keep cropping up for the next forty years.) The Review was, for a few years, a successful and anarchic school institution. Inspired by ‘That Was The Week That Was’, ‘Beyond The Fringe’ and ‘The Goon Show’, we had surprising license to take pot shots at the school establishment. This particular Review was co-written by myself and (later to be the famous playwright) David Edgar.Photographer Unknown.
	1966: POETRY AND JAZZ Oundle School. Certainly the most pretentious ensemble of my schooldays was the ‘Poetry and Jazz’ team, photographed above for the Peterborough Evening Telegraph. (We were pictured on the front page, sharing space with news of the first B-52 raids of the Vietnam War). Portentous declaiming of typical adolescent poetry was accompanied by stuff that sounded rather like, but wasn’t actually anywhere near, Modern Jazz. Hilariously awful, but we managed to do quite a few gigs. The cool youth in the shades would become the playwright David Edgar, while Judge, with his swinging bongos, Max Hutchinson and David Mitchell are on the left. Like, wow, man…Photographer Unknown.
	1967: STRANGE KNEE-RELATED ACTIVITY (WITH AUTOHARP) I was very keen on the autoharp for quite a long while. It sounds thin and feeble, but it’s so simple to play, even I could manage it. I have absolutely no idea what is going-on in this photograph. Whatever is happening, the girl doesn’t look too thrilled about it.Photographer Unknown.
	1967: VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR – FIRST EDITION Manchester University. This is the only photograph I know of that shows the proto-group or Ur-band, consisting of Peter Hammill and myself. This poptastic duo did one or two gigs together even after teaming up with Organist Nick Pearne, since the dear fellow didn’t have an Organ at the time.Photographer: Gordian Troeller.
	1967: VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR – SECOND EDITION Manchester University. Photograph from the University newspaper, the Manchester Independent. It illustrated the last of a series of articles about the band written by ‘Daviona Burman’ a pen-name of old school-friend David Edgar, who was also there, reading Drama, a year ahead of me. This article was headlined ‘Van Der Graaf Bow Out’ and announced that Peter and I were leaving Manchester to ‘go pro’. “It’s going to be a great scene,” Daviona concludes.Photographer: Gordian Troeller (?).
	1968: VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR – THIRD EDITION Somewhere on the South Coast. Left to Right: Judge, Peter Hammill, Hugh Banton. I can remember the session, just about, but had no Idea where it was taken, or who the photographer was, until recently, when I read ‘Van der Graaf Generator – The Book’; the tautologically titled, but most informative and beautifully put-together work of research by Jim Christopulos and Phil Smart. Hugh is dressed as Beethoven; I appear to have returned after a hard day as an extra on ‘Witchfinder General’, and Peter has an endangered species on his head. How could we not have been successful?Photographer: Dunstan Pereira.
	1968: VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR – FOURTH EDITION Hampstead Heath, 1968. Left to Right: Keith Ellis, Guy Evans, Hugh Banton, Me, Peter Hammill. I don’t remember doing this either, but hey, if you can remember the Sixties, you weren’t there, right? Four highly-skilled musicians and a non-playing fifth wheel; four babe-magnets and a bearded wonder. Remind me, why did I leave the band again?Photographer: Barry Wentzell.
	1968: TRYING TO GROW A CHIN South Coast. Don’t try to look serious and romantic, Judge. It doesn’t work on you… However, if you think I look awful with that hair and the beard, you should have seen what I looked like before I grew them.Photographer: Dunstan Pereira.
	1969: HEEBALOB London. This is one of the very few photographs that exist of Heebalob, the band I formed after leaving Van der Graaf. Left to Right: John Weir (Bass), Judge (Vocals), Martin Pottinger (Drums), Max Hutchinson, (Guitar, Piano, Sax), David Jackson (Sax). Taken in a rehearsal room above a pub in Blackheath. Heebalob was a noble experiment, but it would have taken a lot more rehearsal than we could afford, to get it into presentable shape. Our complex songs and ambitious, zapparesque, jazz-rock stylings really needed better musicians than most of us were at the time. David Jackson was our star player.Photographer Unknown.
	1969: NATIONAL JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL Plumpton, Sussex, 8th August 1969. This was Heebalob’s finest hour. I believe we played quite well, and after the gig I was summoned to meet Giorgio Gomelski, the producer who had discovered and managed The Rolling Stones. As I sat at the great man’s feet, Arthur Brown (a global superstar at that time) wandered past, and though I’d only met him a couple of times, contrived to give Mr Gomelski the impression that he and I were best buddies, which did me no harm at all. A recording contract for the band eventually materialized, but alas, all went dramatically pear-shaped for Gomelski’s Tangerine Record label, before the band could get anywhere. Someone was supposed to be taking photos of us on stage at the Festival, but he’d left his telephoto lens on by mistake, and from a whole film’s worth of knees and guitar-straps in extreme close-up, this was the only usable image.Photographer Unknown.
	1969: FLOWER CHILDREN, NATIONAL JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL Plumpton, Sussex, August 1969. Back-stage at the festival. I’m feeling cheerful about the positive audience reaction to the gig, and Heebalob’s prospects. Peter Hammill did a solo spot on the Main Stage the next day. (We were only on the Second Stage, but then so were King Crimson) and I also remember seeing Gilbert & George, then at the start of their art career, as ‘living statues’. Whatever happened to chicks in headbands?Photographer Unknown.
	1972: THE FREE ART RESEARCH TRIO RONNIE SCOTT’S CLUB, SOHO. 23rd July 1972. The Free Art Research Trio, usually known by its acronym F.A.R.T. was a ‘free music’ improvisation group, comprising Max Hutchinson, playing ‘Electrapiano with Filters’ (an old electric piano with its case removed, played through fuzz boxes and a wa-wa pedal), myself, on ‘Lignaphones’ (i.e. a set of home-made wooden percussion instruments covered in war-surplus contact microphones), and on this particular occasion, David Mitchell, playing his sax through various effects boxes. Our gimmick was this: We would merrily improvise, while our funny noises were recorded onto a three-minute tape loop mounted on one of a couple of ancient quarter-inch tape-recorders. At the end of three minutes, this loop would be automatically played back through loudspeakers, while we improvised over the top of it. The second three minutes was recorded on another tape-loop, and then that was played back, while we played a third layer on top of the others. All our numbers were therefore exactly nine minutes long. We always wore white laboratory coats, and made an extraordinary racket. Because we didn’t take ourselves too seriously, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at our gigs, and considering it was ‘honks, squeaks and bangs’ music, the audience seemed to as well. However, I remain convinced that avant-garde music is always far more fun to do than it is to listen to.Photographer Unknown.
	MID-1970s JUDGE A dear friend eventually persuaded me to lose the beard. “You’ll never get a girl with that disgusting thing on your face”, she said. A powerful argument, I thought, and did the deed, with rapid and highly satisfactory results. I believe this photo might have been taken by Les Chappell, musical-and-life-partner of singer Lene Lovich, friends who I’d known since 1970, when we all had rooms above a Greek fish-and-chip shop off the Tottenham Court Road. I would have had this taken because I was trying to promote one project or another, now lost in the landfill of time.Photographer: Les Chappell (?)
	ANOTHER MID-SEVENTIES JUDGE What on earth was this one all about? I remember going to a lot of trouble to get the tropical kit. On reflection, I think it might have been connected with a last desperate attempt I made to make a commercial single. Instead of one of my own numbers, I reasoned, I’ll do a cover version. I recorded a rather Cockney Rebel-ish arrangement of a lovely old show-tune by Kurt Weil, ‘September Song’, with all the usual suspects roped-in to help, but the fish still weren’t biting for me. Back to the drawing-board.Photographer Unknown.
	1977: THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL THE NATIONAL BRASS BAND FESTIVAL. Oct 8th 1977. This was the premiere of ‘Samson’, a cantata for Brass Band and Choir by composer Joseph Horovitz, for which I wrote the libretto. Broadcast live on Radio Three, this was a very exciting event for me. Sitting in a box, and hearing my lyrics sung by the London Philharmonic Choir and a splendid baritone soloist, while the ‘Massed Bands’ (that’s at least two of the things down there) blasted away, was a tremendous thrill. I’ve now done a couple of these ‘classical’ projects, and hope to do more. It’s all rock’n’roll to me…Photographer: Judge Smith.
	1977: A NEW WAVE For some extraordinary reason, there seems to be not one existing picture of the last regular rock band I put together, ‘The Imperial Storm Band’, in 1977. This is a shame, as it was quite a visual outfit. We scaled the dizzy heights of a several week ‘residency’ at the Marquee Club, played Dingwall’s at Camden Lock and supported Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. (If anyone has any snaps of us, hidden away, I’d love to see them.) This photo was taken around the same time, by celebrated rock photographer Anton Corbijn, for a nice article about me in the Dutch music magazine OOR, written by Bert van de Kamp.Photographer: Anton Corbijn.
	1978: WHAT’S A CROCHET, AGAIN? THE BOOK OF HOURS, YOUNG VIC THEATRE, June – July 1978. This was an important bit of composing for me, and was a sort of Chamber Opera for one voice, scored for a String Quartet, Bass Guitar and Drums. I was still groping around for a different way of telling a story with words and music, a search that eventually led to my current ‘songstory’ technique. It was produced at the Young Vic Theatre (opposite the Old Vic) and directed by Mel Smith, before he became famous as a comic actor on ‘Not The Nine O’Clock News’. The production was very under-funded, and because they couldn’t afford to bring in a proper drummer, I sat behind a kit for the last time. (I am so not very good at it.)Photographer Unknown.
	1978: WHAT DO YOU MEAN, PLAY QUIETER? THE BOOK OF HOURS, YOUNG VIC THEATRE, June – July 1978. It was a difficult piece to do well, and frankly none of us were really up to the technical demands of the thing (me particularly). Later, Michael Brand the arranger and I attempted to record it for release as an album, but, even with the better musicians we had in place, we would have had to spend much longer in the studio than we could afford, to get an acceptable master tape. Too bad, but these days I’m out of sympathy with the rather miserable, musician-down-on-his-luck story, anyway.Photographer Unknown.
	1980: THE MODERN BEATS ‘Too fast, too loud and fifteen years too late’, The Modern Beats were more-or-less a New Wave Pub Rock band. Left to Right: Max Hutchinson (Guitar), Judge, Martin Pottinger (Drums – hidden), Ian Fordham (Bass – ex Imperial Storm Band). Max and I were involved in writing musicals at the time, and both Martin and myself worked in Max’s architectural practice in Islington. The band was supposed to be a relief from all this, so, to avoid having to take the thing too seriously, we had a policy of doing no original material whatsoever. Instead, we drew our repertoire from hit songs of the Beat group era of the early to mid ’60s, which we played very fast in a punky mode. We kept going for several years, playing round the rock pubs of North London, and we got pretty good at what we did.Photographer Unknown.
	1980: LONDON, LYCEUM THEATRE 3rd February 1980. This was a big gig supporting Lene Lovich. The Modern Beats were augmented for the occasion by Dave Mitchell on sax, and the band learned some Imperial Storm Band material at Lene’s request. Also on the bill were The Body Snatchers, an all-girl ska band, and Holly & The Italians, stable-mates of Lene’s at Stiff Records; and I think we might have been announced as the ‘Judge Smith Band’.Photographer Unknown.
	1980: LONDON, LYCEUM THEATRE Maxwell Hutchinson had a unique guitar style which combined the hyper-percussive rhythm technique of the best Beat group guitarists with an ability to create solos of irresistible outrageousness. Atonality and counter-rhythms were freely deployed in a way I have never heard equalled. Max’s solos always make me smile, and sometimes fall about laughing. He is also responsible for writing some of the very best tunes I have ever heard.Photographer Unknown.
	1980: LONDON, LYCEUM THEATRE David Mitchell, is now a highly distinguished medical doctor who ran one of the biggest teaching hospitals in the country. He is also a serious and respected jazz saxophonist. Over the years, however he has always been willing to get involved in music projects, including mine, of a bewildering variety, some of which required him to play music that was pretty ludicrous. Hats off to the good Doctor.Photographer Unknown.
	1981: MY PLATINUM RECORD Not The Nine O’Clock News was a tremendously successful comedy TV show, running from 1979 to 1982. Through my connection with Mel Smith, I was invited to submit musical material for the show, and ended up writing several, not very subtle, not very sophisticated, comic songs for them. Some of this material featured on an LP album of the same name put out by BBC Records, which got to No.3 in the album charts and promptly ‘went Platinum’.This photo was taken at a presentation ceremony on 18th March 1981. The album featured the work of so many different writers, that there was never any possibility of actually getting a thing-in-a-frame to call my own. However, I was graciously allowed to hold the sacred object. An auspicious beginning for what would prove to be a rather dull decade for me.Photographer Unknown.
	1991: DEMOCRAZY A photo from the artwork for ‘Democrazy’, my first CD, which according to that date-on-a-stick, happened in 1991.Photographer: Judge Smith.

PART TWO. 1991 – NOW

1992: SMITH & BANTON LIVE
The ‘Scorched Earth II’ event, held at a Peterborough club on 03/05/1992, was an interesting, fan-led evening of VdGG and Hammill related music. (I also appeared at the first ‘Scorched Earth’ the previous year, but I have no photos of that.) Over the years, I have written several songs with Hugh Banton, and this was one of them. I rate his compositions very highly.Photo by Fred Tomsett.

1992: PIONEER 10This was the premiere of a ‘cosmic cantata’ by Michael Brand, for Wind Band, Choir and Narrator, at Warwick University Butterworth Hall on 27/09/1992. This cantata, for quite large forces as you can see, was composed to my libretto about the first space probe to leave the solar system. I think it’s a piece to be proud of, and Michael’s orchestral music is exciting and accessible. The work received an even grander 3rd performance in 1996 at Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Photographer: Judge Smith.

1993: JACKSON’S ‘BEAM MACHINE’David Jackson has written several impressive performance pieces involving youngsters and disabled people. Two of these were performed in one program at the South Hill Park arts centre, Bracknell, on 02/11/1993. In this one, ‘Beam Machine’, I was a performer only.

Photographer: Peter Ostrowski.

1993: THE HOUSE THAT CRIED

This is the second big Jaxon piece of that evening; the premiere of an ensemble show about the dramatic and troubled past of the South Hill Park mansion itself, which was reputed to be haunted. This work has gone on to be performed on numerous occasions in Italy, right up to the present day, and I have continued to sing the part of ‘The Major’. David writes brilliant and memorable music, and I feel privileged to have co-written the lyrics for this particular piece.

Photographer: Peter Ostrowski.

1983: DOME OF DISCOVERYThis image is from the artwork for my first ‘proper’ studio CD. This album is currently only available via ITunes, and I am very fond of the photo, so here it is. The skeleton was a cardboard kit, but very realistic.

Photographer: Chris Woodhams.

2001: LEWES

Lewes, Sussex – 29 Nov 2001. This was my first live appearance for a long time. Arthur Brown asked me to play the support slot at a gig he was doing in Lewes, Sussex, quite near to where I live. I was pretty doubtful about it, but it’s difficult to say ‘no’ to the God of Hellfire. Fortunately, the wonderful Rikki Patten, who was in Arthur’s band of the time, volunteered to learn some of my songs. And quite a few nice people who like my music actually turned up to see me. It could have gone a lot worse.

Photographer: Seán Kelly.

2002: WITH JAXON AT SWINDON

We went to see ‘Howard and the White Boys’, a fine Chicago Blues band whose drummer, Jim Christopulos was shortly to become the co-author of that mighty tome, ‘Van der Graaf Generator – The Book’. David sat in for a number with the band, I didn’t.

Photographer Unknown.

2003: THE VORTEX
A somewhat better prepared gig at a Pirate Jenny’s Club night at The Vortex, Stoke Newington, for ‘Judge Smith and the Young Offenders’, who on this occasion comprised John Ellis on guitar, Ian Fordham on bass, and, for the first time the incredible Michael Ward-Bergeman on piano and accordion. Ian was with me in the Imperial Storm Band in the mid ‘70s.Photographer Unknown.

2003: THE KOMEDIA , BRIGHTON
A solo gig at this nice, quite large and high profile venue in Brighton, once again supported by Rikki Patten (in his home town) 13/11/2003.Photographer Unknown.

2005: BARB JUNGR’S CAFE PRAGUE
At the Komedia, Brighton 04/04/2005. Rikki Patten, Ian Fordham and Michael Ward-Bergeman helped me out again for this gig at a club evening run by jazz chanteuse Barb Jungr. I was there to sing, but in that outfit, I look as if I’m going to try to sell you some very dodgy shares.Photographer: Seán Kelly.

2005: IN GUASTALLA, ITALY

I went to Italy in 2005 to mix ‘The Full English’ album, and while I was there I attended a meeting of the ‘Van der Graaf Generator & Peter Hammill Study Group’. This is a predominantly Italian organisation led by my dear friend Dr Emilio Maestri, who is a tireless supporter of VdGG & PH music, and of various associated artists, including me, I’m very glad to say. This serious and erudite gathering ended with a magnificent rustic banquet. There’s more about this trip to Italy at http://www.judge-smith.com/wp/sub-pages-not-in-menu/live-in-italy-2005-dvd-guastalla-article/

Photographer Unknown.

2005: THE COBDEN CLUB

The occasion of the ‘reunion’ gig of Van der Graaf Generator at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on 06/05/2005, gave some friends of mine, Seán Kelly, Alan Hutchinson, David Scoffield and Peter Ostrowski, the idea of promoting a lunchtime Judge concert. This would take advantage of the hoards of VdGG fans who would be in town, and who might actually have heard of me. It would also act as an album launch for ‘The Full English’. These friends, God bless’em, did a magnificent job. The venue, the historic and atmospheric Cobden Club in West London, was perfect; there was a splendid printed program; the band and I were treated like kings, and I was even put up in a posh London hotel the night before, My band consisted of John Ellis, Michael Ward-Bergeman, and René Van Commenée, the Dutch percussionist, who had travelled to the UK to do the gig. They did me proud and, best of all, the place was packed. I think the show was pretty good, and I think we rocked in places. The whole episode is a very happy memory for me.

Photographers: Sylvie Hamon & Seán Kelly

2005: ARTY PHOTO – COBDEN CLUB

This very fine photograph was taken at the Cobden Club gig by someone called ‘-fernando’ and posted on Flickr.com. However, I can’t find it there now, so I have not been able to ask -fernando for his permission to show it here. It’s a great image, and features my magic moonstone ring and René’s cymbals. ‘Can you hear the drums Fernando?’ Let me know if it’s okay.

Photographer: -fernando

2005: THE GREEN NOTE CLUB, CAMDEN, LONDON

Oct 2005, a gig in a small, and very dimly lit club, with Michael Ward-Bergeman doing that extraordinary thing he does with his accordion; a true Master.

Photographer: Seán Kelly

2007: THE PREMIERE OF ‘TWINKLE’

Perhaps David’s grandest work, ‘Twinkle’ is a piece featuring large numbers of children, and a group of disabled people playing David’s signature Soundbeam apparatus. They are the Gods of Olympus, and the show tells the story of how the constellations came into being. I am very proud to be the librettist, and this premiere, at The Anvil, Basingstoke, in July 2005, was a wonderful occasion.

Photographer: Seán Kelly

2007: ME AND THE POSTER-BOY

In September 2007, David and I performed ‘The House That Cried’ as part of a festival in Lecco, in Northern Italy. Here I am with one of the many giant posters around the city advertising the presence of Jaxon. He is such a big star in Italy (and quite right too.)

Photographer: David Jackson.

2008: THE MAJOR’S GOING BONKERS

Another Italian production of ‘The House That Cried’, once again in Lecco, in April 2008. The show is a lot of fun to do, and watching David working with the disabled Soundbeam players is inspiring.

Photographer Unknown.

2008: MY SIXTIETH BIRTHDAYIn July 2008, I celebrated my Sixtieth with a party at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne. (Well it only happens once, and one might as well do the job properly.) David Jackson, Arthur Brown and David Shaw-Parker performed, and I did a short set with John Ellis. (‘Song…..by Toad’, someone commented.)Photographer: Fiona Lindsay.

2008: AT THE LUNA LOUNGE

The Luna Lounge is a nice little club in East London, near to John Ellis’ home. He and Michael Ward-Bergeman were doing a gig there, and I sat in for a number or two. This is us running through stuff before they went on. 17/10/2008.

Photographer: Seán Kelly

2009: RETURN TO THE LUNA LOUNGE

A nice solo gig with John Ellis on guitar. 13/02/2009

Photographer Unknown

2009: OOMPAH! OOMPAH!

In March 2009, I was inveigled into playing the Euphonium on René Van Commenée’s album ‘Gridlock’, and here I am doing the deed in my own studio. René wanted a rough, unpolished performance – and that’s just what he got!

Photographer: René van Commenée.

2008: RESONANCE FM

I have been lucky enough to be featured on a couple of shows on this important, London alternative music station, on programs hosted by the remarkable Johny Brown. Here I am with Seán Kelly and David Scoffield, who organised the whole thing and did the actual interviewing. 17/10/08.

Photographer: Inga Tillere.

2010: SPECIALLY DEDICATED FESTIVAL.

John ‘Fury’ Ellis and I appeared at this small festival, in the depths of the countryside at Halls Green, Herts. 04/09/2010, which raised funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. We performed for an audience of at least… several people, almost all of whom we knew by name. But we had a great time. ‘Fury’ is a fun guy to be on stage with.

Photographer: Seán Kelly

2010: THE UNIQUE ARTHUR BROWN

Backstage after a 2010 Arthur Brown gig in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Southbank. He’s a wonderful man, with a voice in a million. I have been lucky in my friends.

Photographer: Fiona Lindsay

2010: THE LUNA LOUNGE AGAIN

Another gig at this friendly little place in February 2010, this time with the mighty team of John Ellis and Michael Ward-Bergeman to help me out. These two playing together can generate a rocking groove with serious momentum.

Photographer Unknown

2010: TRIUGGIO, SWITZERLAND

A production of ‘The House That Cried’, in May 2010, just over the Italian boarder in Switzerland. This was a specially nice show for me because David Jackson and I opened the evening by playing a short set together, supported by a very creditable local rhythm section (the first image).

Photographer Unknown.

2010: RESONANCE FM AGAIN

Another chance to be on the wireless at Resonance FM in June 2010. This time John Ellis and I did some songs live on air (a bit scary.)

Photographer: Seán Kelly

2011 ‘TWINKLE’ ITALIAN STYLE

David Jackson (and my) magnum opus about the gods of ancient Greece had its third production in Lecco, Italy in May 2011. The show involved masses of children (‘How many?’ We asked the organisers. ‘We stopped counting at three hundred,’ they told us.) and was performed in the partially-roofed yard of a steel works (only in Italy)… The show, which involves Zeus hurling thunderbolts at all and sundry, was accompanied by a real storm which blew down one of the lighting towers. The children maintained perfect behaviour for hours, and sang beautifully, late into the night. Afterwards David and I were taken to ‘the only place in the City the serves food and drink this late,’ to find a few students and their girlfriends quietly sipping small glasses of beer and eating pizza. It was hard to explain how different all this would be in England.

Photographer: Judge Smith.

2011: VIVA L’ITALIA!

I like Italy and the Italians a lot. Here I am scoffing polenta in the Trattoria attached to CRAMS, the Italian arts organisation that has worked with David Jackson for years. All arts organisations should have such lovely places to eat, but then in Italy, good food is an integral and essential part of life.

Photographer: David Jackson.

2011: OLGINATE – MAY

The day after the Twinkle experience in Lecco, David Jackson played an experimental gig with virtuoso jazz percussionist Francesco D’Aria in the beautiful Convent of Santa Maria at Olginate. I was asked to do a couple of numbers with them; just vocals, sax and drums, a rather scary combination, for this vocalist at any rate.

Photographer Unknown.

2011: ‘THE HOUSE THAT CRIED’ IN COMO

In November 2011, there was yet another production of David Jackson’s show in the beautiful lakeside city of Como. This work involves a brass ensemble, a choir, a rock band, a team of disabled Soundbeam players and movement performers, Jackson’s saxophones, a conductor and me. For each production, these considerable forces have to be recruited, organised and rehearsed in different places before David and I are parachuted in at the last minute. It’s a recipe for disaster, but Italians have a genius for producing art out of chaos. The Como show was particularly strong visually, and produced these striking images.

Photographer: Mark Uwland.

	2012: ZOOT SUIT The design concept of this album was to have fab graphic artist Geo Parkin draw on top of photos of me, dressed in white and cavorting appropriately for each song. This is Seán Kelly’s image of me that was used for the front cover. This album has a very special place in my heart, but because it was produced remotely in the USA by the amazing David Minnick, there are few photos relating to the project.
	2013: THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF VOICES My book on Life After Death, finally appeared in 2017, but an earlier version was published by Gonzo Books, and this is me speaking about it at the CFZ Weird Weekend convention in Hartland, Devon. If you’re remotely interested in the subject, my book is honestly well-worth a look. Photographer unknown.
	2014: THE GARDEN OF FIFI CHAMOIX My ‘Film with Music / Music with a Film’ was released in 2017, but this photo was taken at an earlier stage of a long production process. I am getting into my costume as ‘Mr Sun’ the strange solar avatar who appears a couple of times in the movie. That’s Fifi Chamoix herself supervising me. The soundtrack has lots and lots of David Jackson and John Ellis on it, by the way, and I love it.
	2017: THE GARDEN OF FIFI CHAMOIX This image comes from the closing stages of the production, as I filmed a little ‘The Making Of…’ video to go on the DVD with the movie. Fifi Chamoix’s new garden here, near Glastonbury, features a kitsch Pink Room, among other wonders.
	2017: THE WANSTEAD TAP Dave, aka ‘Brakeman’, and I were in the early stages of putting a band together, when old mate John ‘Fury’ Ellis invited us to support him at a gig at this rather nice, railway-arch venue. It all went well and this is John and I as we did a number or two together at the end of the night. He’s a right old Renaissance Man is Fury, a stellar guitarist, composer, photographer, designer, novelist and music teacher. Photographer: Seán Kelly
	2017: THE STRANGE PLANET This four-piece band, comprising, Me, Brakeman (Gtr), Rik James (Bass) and Sam Hargreaves (Drms) played a few pretty memorable gigs around Somerset. This is our poster for one of these, drawn by Geo Parkin.
	2017: THE KING ARTHUR, GLASTONBURY This Strange Planet gig at Glastonbury’s principal music venue was a fund-raiser for the Anti-Fracking movement. Photographer: Fifi Chamoix.
	2018: THE CONSTITUTION CLUB, GLASTONBURY This self-promoted Strange Planet gig was to celebrate my 70th Birthday. (We hired a stage, and to our surprise it was delivered and erected by the leader of Buck’s Fizz. Nice guy, good stage.) Photograph: Seán Kelly
	2018: BIRTHDAY GIG The band always insisted I play this vintage synth during the instrumental wig-outs that punctuated our show. This is not something I am good at. Photographer: Steven Hargraves
	2019: TOWERS OPEN FIRE. CARDIFF Half of The Strange Planet moved out of the local area, so Brakeman and I decided to reconfigure ourselves as a performing and recording unit under the name ‘Towers Open Fire’. This is a poster for our first gig, at Chapter Arts in Cardiff. It went very well, under the circumstances.
	2019: TOWERS OPEN FIRE. CARDIFF A slimmed down format allowed the songs we were now writing together to breathe, and for the lyrics, which have always been of considerable importance to me, to be heard. It also allows me to perform sitting down, which I now feel suits me better. There were definitely elements of dad-dancing creeping in when I was obliged to caper about in front of the rock band. Photograph: Noel Dacey.

PART THREE. A FEW OTHER JUDGE IMAGES THAT MAY INTEREST OR AMUSE.

At the risk of getting all Facebook on you, I thought I would include a few additional images that are not connected with any particular musical activities.

	DRAWINGS OF JUDGE These are by the talented draftsman Pete Wallace (who also did the ‘on-disc’ image for ‘The Climber’ CD). These must date from sometime in the 1970’s.
	A BOY AND HIS DOG cc 1970’s Photographer Unknown.
	DANCES-WITH-WOMBATS Photographer Unknown.
	MORE BEEF-TEA THAN BEEFCAKE Photographer: Fiona Lindsay
	THE COUNTRY GENT Photographer: Fiona Lindsay
	An image BY SEÁN KELLY
	JUDGE IN HIS SUSSEX STUDIO Photographer: John Ellis
	JAZZ HANDS Photographer: Seán Kelly
	ANOTHER IMAGE BY SEÁN KELLY
	TWO VIEWS OF STUDIO JUDEX My little recording facility in Sussex, prior to the move to Glastonbury. Photographer: Judge Smith.
	2013: JUDGE AND FIONA IN SOUTHERN INDIA Photographer Unknown.

PART ONE. 1950 – 1981: THE BLACK AND WHITE YEARS​

PART TWO. 1991 – NOW

PART THREE. A FEW OTHER JUDGE IMAGES THAT MAY INTEREST OR AMUSE.

PART ONE. 1950 – 1981: THE BLACK AND WHITE YEARS