The Graham Bond Organisation
Graham Bond initially made an impact on the British jazz scene
in 1961 while playing alto sax with Don Rendell's Quintet. In
1963 he became part of Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated before
forming his own band, The Graham Bond Organisation, a
sensational outfit that in its heyday featured bassist Jack
Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker and Saxman Dick Heckstall-Smith,
with Bond himself on the Hammond organ that gave the band its
punning name.
Enormously funky, he rasped out vocals, and sometimes
joyously stomped the bass pedals or picked up his alto sax which
he played simultaneously with the Hammond. Open-minded about new
instruments, he was patiently demonstrating the mellotron to
Cathy McGowan on Ready Steady Go as early as 1964.
The Organisation took pot shots at the hit parade with
A-sides like Tammy, dripping with sentiment and piano
triplets but, although Jack was a handsome rustic, the teenagers
wouldn't have stood Graham's moustachioed pipe smoking, skeletal
Ginger, or receding Dick.
A hit would have been pleasant but a small hip audience based
in London supported their jazzy approach to R&B until Bond
broke up the band after the formidable Sound Of 65 LP
and left for the USA (though he returned briefly for a final
Organisation 45 in 1967 with Dick and drummer Jon Hiseman).
Containing the most able musical technicians of the era, The
Graham Bond Organisation could, at any given moment of their
existence, have wiped the floor with most other bands around.
When the band split in mid-1967, Bond became involved in
various ventures before linking with Baker once more, during
1970, in the megalith that was Air Force.
By this time, embracing a lifestyle that had seen him lose
his first wife, three children and his home, Graham had acquired
a considerable drug habit plus an increasing interest in black
magic, something he had been increasingly involved in since the
mid-60s.
Bond had been born in 1937 to an unnamed mother, and the
circumstances of his birth remained a mystery. Learning that one
of Aleister Crowley's girlfriends had given birth to an
illegitimate baby in 1937 led Bond to declare that he was
Crowley's son - a belief that saw him retreating even further
into the occult, at one point forming a band called Holy Magick.
 Bond's
second wife, singer Diane Stewart (pictured at right with Bond
on their wedding day in 1970) recalled that during a recording
session, "the musicians were a bit freaked out because
Graham did the whole ritual for The Bringing Down Of The Light
[an energy-invoking exercise]. We were all freaked out when, at
the end of the take, the whole studio wall caught fire!"
Things became even more freaky when Bond started signing his
name 'Aleister Crowley'. Bond saw himself as a power in occult
circles and told Pete Brown (with whom he recorded as Bond and
Brown) that he had been elected "Magus of Great
Britain".
During 1973 he announced that he had formed a band called
Magus with singer/violinist Carolanne Pegg, once of folk heroes
Mr Fox, but the band was short-lived as cash problems haunted
Bond.
He owed money to drug dealers, and only escaped a severe
beating - or worse - by seeking sanctuary in Notting Hill police
station, producing hash worth 35p and insisting they arrest him
for possession.
On 8 May 1974, as an Underground train headed north into
London's Finsbury Park station, a figure ran across the platform
and, with arms outstretched, dived into its path. The driver
applied the brakes, but it was too late. Graham Bond was dead
beneath the Tube train's wheels.
It wasn't until two days later that the police were able to
identify the body, which was crushed beyond all recognition. The
only way they were able to do so was through fingerprints.
Later, Diane Stewart and two friends confirmed the
identification.
Rumours proliferated. Some insisted that black magic played a
part in his demise. Some claimed that drug dealers chased Bond
into the Tube station and down to the platform at the end of his
life, while others claimed he had simply lost a battle against
an occult obsession stronger than him. But at an ensuing
inquest, the coroner declared an open verdict. Not even suicide
could be proved.
Only a few hours before his death, Bond had phoned a
newspaper claiming "I feel great. I'm off everything and
I'm looking forward to getting back to work again". His
manager, John Hunt - with whom he had been staying - confirmed
that Graham had "dropped" the drugs and the magic and
was back to R&B and writing songs.
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