Search - Jet Harris & The Diamonds :: Inside - Live at HM Prison, Gloucester, 1977

Jet's legendary concert with the Diamonds at Gloucester Prison, secretly recorded under the noses of the screws by Jet's manager Jim Budd. Released on vinyl in 1977 the original pressing is probably Jet's rarest album. Great notes and memorabilia from Rob Finnis and some previously unseen pictures. Jet has now returned to touring and is playing to capacity crowds. About the Artist Terence "Jet" Harris was born in Kingsbury, North London, on 6th July, 1939, the only son of Bill and Winifred Harris. The young Terence Harris was nicknamed "Jet" by his school friends because of his ability at being one of the fastest runners in the school. Jet left school at the age of fifteen and started work with his dad as an apprentice welder, making milk churns. The very first record that he took notice of was Winifred Atwell's "Left Hand Boogie" in 1952. He was fascinated by the 'bass' sound on Winifred's left hand. Jet was the first man in the UK to play electric bass guitar. News spread of Jet's outstanding ability with the bass guitar which soon led to him playing with various groups between 1956-1958, including Tony Crombie's Rockets, Terry Dene's Aces, The Vipers Skiffle Group, The Most Brothers and also Wee Willie Harris. In between gigs Jet used to frequent the now famous home of British Rock 'n Roll, the 2 I's Coffee Bar in Old Compton Street, Soho. Apart from playing, he also served Cola and rumbaba's to customers. With regard to Jet's musical talents he is self taught - his family couldn't afford formal music lessons. History was made during the year of 1958, Jet was introduced to a young Cliff Richard, and was duly invited to join Cliff's backing group The Drifters, but due to an injunction by the American group "The Drifters", they had to change their name. History was made at the Eight Bells Pub near Ruislip, when Hank, Bruce and Jet began discussing new names for the band. It was Jet that came up with the name "The Shadows". The first hit record that Jet played bass on was "High Class Baby", which reached number seven in the charts of 1958. "Apache", of course, was the start of an era. Jet played on many Shadows records - "Man of Mystery", "The Stranger", "Midnight", "36-24-36", "The Savage", "Guitar Tango", "Nivram", "Peace Pipe" and "FBI" to name but a few. He also helped write a few of the hits. The last recording Jet did with The Shadows was "Wonderful Land" in 1962. Jet left the band the same year and had two hit singles in his own right - "Besame Mucho" and the main title theme from the film "The Man With The Golden Arm". Jet teamed up with Tony Meehan in 1963 and had an immediate hit with "Diamonds", a number composed for him by Jerry Lordan who had written "Apache", "Wonderful Land" and other hits for The Shadows. "Diamonds" stayed at number one for six weeks. A notable first is the fact that Jet is the only instrumentalist in the world to have had a number one hit record, playing bass guitar as the lead instrument. The duo had a further two top twenty hits with "Scarlett O'Hara" and "Applejack". Jet was also (and still is to this day) a great photographer. He had a wonderful teacher by the name of Dezo Hoffman. Jet was able to take lots of photos of Cliff and The Shadows that no one else could. Lots of these photos ended up in various books including Dezo's. Late in 1963, a very serious car crash nearly put paid to a successful career. Jet was extremely lucky to survive, as he suffered severe head injuries. During the late 70's Jet played with various groups and released Inside Jet Harris, which was made in Gloucester Prison. A