Lot 52, Alexis Korner acoustic guitar

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Sale 2137 Lot 52

Alexis Korner owned and used acoustic guitar, 1950s

This acoustic, hand built guitar owned and much used by the Father of the British Blues movement Alexis Korner, the lot includes a copy photograph of Korner playing the guitar with a young Mick Jagger as the front man with Dick Heckstall Smith on saxophone, Jack Bruce on double bass and the legendary Cyril Davis on harmonica - the perfect Blues combination of the period (circa 1959). In hard case. Inside the guitar there is hand written paper label reading 'Specially Built For Alexis Korner W E C Cox April 1959.'

Estimate £6,000-8,000 / $10,800-14,400

The governor of British Blues, Alexis Korner was a pioneer and major influence in the sounds of the 1960's British pop groups. At twenty, he joined Chris Barber's band, becoming associated with the London skiffle scene, headed by Barber and Ken Colyer. At its height during the 1950's, skiffle merged the American white folk and black blues genres into a new mold.

Leaning more towards Blues, he and Cyril Davies started their own Blues Club in London's Soho in 1954, where they played on the same stage as their visiting American heroes. In 1961, they formed Blues Incorporated, which, after Davies untimely death, Alexis led into the late sixties, when he formed some short-lived outfits: Free At Last in 1967, followed by duos with Victor Brox, Robert Plant, and Peter Thorup. After a Scandinavian tour with Thorup in 1968, they started New Church, which lasted into 1970.

Alexis' only commercial success in England was in the early seventies with producer Mickie Most, director/composer John Cameron, and Peter Thorup in a big band, CCS. Their rendition of Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' even became the theme of Top of the Pops. By 1972, Korner worked with Snape, with Thorup and ex-King Crimson members. In the late seventies, Korner worked as a broadcaster, hosting and playing in the house band for Five O'Clock Club, a children's TV show, and returned the more intimate solo and duo appearances, mostly with Colin Hodgkinson. His last group effort was with Rocket 88 in 1981, and featured swing blues with Charlie Watts, Jack Bruce, and Ian Stewart.

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