Jet Black - 1938-2022

by Denzil Watson

published: 7 / 1 / 2023

Denzil Watson pays tribute to Stranglers' drummer Jet Black who died in December.

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It is with a heavy heart that I pen this obituary for Stranglers’ drummer Jet Black, who sadly passed away on 6th December, 2022, just over two-and-a-half years after the passing of the band’s legendary keyboard player, Dave Greenfield. Jet had been unwell for a number of years and passed away at his home in North Wales where he’d taken up residence in his later years, to convalesce after leaving the band. His final appearance with them came at Cambridge Corn Exchange on 20th March 2015. Prior to this, Jet’s health issues, attributed to atrial fibrillation, which results in abnormal heart rhythms, had led to him missing gigs back in March 2007. After also missing gigs in 2008, he returned to play on every date of the band’s 2010 and 2011 tours, while at the same time retiring from playing the band’s international gigs. The following year, in March 2012, he was taken ill before a gig in Oxford while playing on the band’s annual UK tour. He, however, returned in 2013 to play the second half of the band’s set on their UK tour that year, with the first half being covered by now full-time sticksman, Jim Macaulay. The 2014 Ruby Tour represented a significant milestone in the band’s history and, understandably, Jet was keen to be involved, playing on the encores where his health allowed. On the 2015 tour Jet would play four songs, mid-set, prior to the aforementioned Cambridge gig. It perhaps came as no surprise when bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel announced Jet would no longer be playing live with the band. With Jet aged 79, his departure from the band was officially confirmed in 2018. That ended a continuous run of 44 years as a Strangler. Jet Black, or Brian John Duffy as he was known as back in the early days, was born in Ilford, Essex on 26th August, 1938. The son of a headteacher who came over from Ireland with his mother who was a milliner, his parents showed little interest in music with Jet describing the household a “musical vacuum.” Like most kids, at the age of five he found himself having piano lessons, but this soon petered out. His early years at school, by his own account, were unhappy ones, suffering from chronic asthma, falling behind with his studies and considered to be the school dunce. Then, aged ten, he was sent to the Holy Cross Residential Convent School for Delicate Boys in Broadstairs, Kent. His parents felt that the sea air would help his condition and they were right. His asthma all but disappeared. Looking back, he considered this to be the happiest eighteen months of his life and doubly beneficial as he escaped the many arguments between his parent in what was a less-than-harmonious marriage. While there, he picked up the violin and, by all accounts, became pretty adept at it. On returning home, Jet continued with violin but after being sent to the garden shed to practice soon gave up on it. The end of his school days saw him playing clarinet before gravitating towards the drums. Aged fourteen, Jet played in school swing orchestra Omega Dance Orchestra, who went on to release a four-track EP. His father, who “hated children” threw Jet and his other two siblings out of the house in their teens to fend for themselves. Leaving school with no qualifications, Jet consideried himself to be effectively illiterate. It was towards the end of his teens that he got interested in music again and began to foster ambitions of becoming a professional drummer. Discovering the jazz clubs of Essex, he soon found himself in a band as the clarinet player, quickly replacing the drummer when they left. Initially, unable to afford a drum kit, once he’d secured employment as a joiner and cabinet maker in the capital, he bought his first kit. Soon, Jet was branching out as a semi-professional session drummer, alongside the day job. After his seven-year apprenticeship ended in August 1959, Jet- then tapped into his entrepreneurial side when he went into his well-documented pre-Stranglers occupation in the ice-cream industry, initially as a driver of vans and latterly as a depot manager. Alongside this, he diversified into brewing, acquiring premises in Guildford to brew his own beer, which he then sold at The Jackpot off-licence below his brewery premises. With the success of his brewing business leading to international export orders, alongside the ice-cream business and off-licence, understandably drumming started to take a back seat. His (first) marriage took the strain of his entrepreneurial endeavours, ending in divorce circa 1972. With his new-found single status Jet, now in his mid-30s, purchased a new drum kit and once again turned his attention in the direction of drumming. It was his “sliding doors” moment that would effectively map out the rest of his life. Shortly after, Jet spotted an advert in the now defunct ‘Melody Maker’, stating “drummer wanted.” The add was placed by Stranglers guitarist/singer Hugh Cornwell and after he called the number and met up with Hugh the rest, of course, is history. Jet sold up and the fledgling Stranglers moved to a house in Chiddingfold in late 1974, before Greenfield joined Jet, Hugh and JJ later in 1975, after the departure of Hans Warmling. Jet’s tenure in the band itself is very well documented. As The Stranglers ascended from the pub rock circuit of Greater London into the maelstrom of punk rock, Jet assumed his new moniker through his own volition. His birth-name annoyed him due to its similarity to ‘Duffer’ which provided a less-than-welcome throw-back to his school days. In Gaelic, ‘Duffy’ is derived from the word ‘black’ so he became Black and adding Jet seemed the obvious thing to do. As the band took off in 1977, aged 39, Jet was the elder stateman of punk-rock. Hence, he was often less than honest about his real age and preferred to stay in the background as Hugh and JJ took the limelight as the band’s co-frontmen. In the background, though, he was the band’s organiser, well-placed to take care of the business side of things given his extensive previous commercial experience and acumen. He had a hard-nosed and sometimes brisk approach to business but made tough decisions and kept the band on track. In terms of his drumming, it was always in the wrists rather than about slogging away at the kit – something he owed to his jazz background. Throughout the whole of their career, The Stranglers were very much about four individuals equally contributing to the band in their different ways, and Jet was far more than “just the drummer.” His rhythms were always innovative and varied, whether laying down a crisp beat on the likes of ‘Peaches’ and ‘Nice’n’Sleazy’ or providing more gentle brushes on gentler song like ‘Strange Little Girl’ and ‘Golden Brown’. Then, of course, there was his experimental side that gave birth to innovative drumming like on Raven-era track ‘Genetix’.But his innovation didn’t end there. He experimented with electronic drums and even patented the 'Jet Black Power Bass Drum Pedal' enabling the bass drum to be placed anywhere and remain playable. It's ironic that Jet should die in the festive season, given his well-known aversion for Christmas. In paying tribute to him, his former band mate, Hugh Cornwell, who Jet has reportedly never spoken to since he left the band in 1990, stated the band’s success “was founded on his [Jet’s] determination and drive”. One thing that remains certain is that this bear of a man will never be forgotten, least by his legions of fans in the Family in Black and by his wife, Ava Rave, who survived him and his children, Charlotte and Anthony. RIP Jet Black.