The Boy Jakko Soon After Jakko was born Michael Lee Curran at The  Whittington Hospital, Highgate Hill, London on June 8th  1958. His mother was a well known Irish singer called Peggy Curran and his father an unknown U.S Airman. At  the age of 18 months he was officially adopted by a Polish  émigré called Norbert Jakszyk and his  French wife Camille. For more of their dramatic and  at times tragic personal story see 'The Road to  Ballina.' Obsessed with Football, Music & Acting (See "Stage  Screen & Radio") he concentrated on the latter  two when he failed his trail for Watford Boys at the  tender age of 15. Within a year he had formed his first band  'Soon After.' Originally a six piece with two  guitars, bass & sax they had entered themselves into the  Melody Maker National Rock/Folk competition. By the time the  first heat came four of the six had left unable to tolerate  the arrogant dictates of the much younger Jakko. So he was  left with his pal fellow guitarist Keith Deal. The  minimum entrancy requirement for the competition being three  members they began panicking. Whilst working in a Watford  record shop he met Ted Emmet, a young trumpet player  who had been in the National Youth Jazz orchestra. He  was immediately asked to join and rehearsed frantically for  ten day's with the now unusual, not to mention unlikely,  line up of 2 screaming lead guitars and a trumpet. Young, naive and nervous they turned up Middlesex College  and watched various well rehearsed band playing Doobie  Brothers covers. Their own brief set of Jazz/Rock inspired  oddness brought looks of disbelief and derision from the  other musicians. Soon After won. Another heat and a semi final later and soon after they were  heading for the 1975 final at London's Roundhouse theatre in  Chalk Farm. Incidentally the other bands to reach the final  included a Heavy Metal group featuring Mick Jones (later of The Clash) and a big band called Barnacle  featuring Gary Barnacle (Level 42 & many  other's) with his brothers and father. Soon After came third. 16 going on 17 Jakko started touring with his strange little  band supporting the likes of Camel, Stackridge, Judas Priest & others. Within  a year Jakko left to join Synthesis a group based in  that thriving musical metropolis Tring. Very much in the  style of some of Jakko's favourite music from the whole  English Progressive and Canterbury scene's. During that  groups appearance in the following years competition he saw,  on a list of group names posted outside the hall, the words 64 Spoons. Amused by their ridiculous name Jakko made  a point of watching their appearance. Within a matter of  months he had become their guitar player and lead vocalist. The Spoons featured Lyndon Connah on drums &  keyboards, Tam Neal on Keyboards & drums and Andy Crawford on bass. All three were studying  classical music of some kind at the Royal School, Royal  College and Royal Academy respectively. Jakko was out of his  musical depth but used his insecurities and arrogance to  spur them on. They recorded a whole new set of materiel and  played one show. Then Jakko was offered a gig with Warren  Harry - a punk/pop hybrid signed to Bronze  Records who toured regularly. Jakko hated it but he was  being paid and recording the bands first album at Roundhouse  studio's. He had suggested to the others trumpet player Ted Emmett as his instrumental replacemnent. When  Jakko eventualy left the Harrys he returned to a new 5 piece  line up of the spoons to begin 3 years of constant slog  around the colleges, pubs, clubs & toilets of this fair  island of ours. Jakszyk's favourite bands were Henry Cow and Hatfield and the North. A big fan of Dave  Stewart in particular, he sent him tapes of his band 64 Spoons, which resulted in Stewart coming down to a  few gigs, sometimes in the company of Bill Bruford,  whom he he was working with at the time. 64 Spoons folded at the turn of the decade, leaving an unreleased  album, which finally saw the light of day in 1992 as Landing On A Rat Column on the Freshly Cut label, thanks to the effort of enthusiast Richard  Armstrong, who sadly died shortly before the project  came to fruition. Jakszyk's friendship with Stewart resulted in him singing on  the original demo for "What Becomes Of The  Brokenhearted?". He eventually sang backup on the final  version with Colin Blunstone on lead vocals.  Meanwhile, he was a founding member, as guitarist and lead  vocalist, of Rapid Eye Movement, a band formed by  Stewart after the Bruford group had split up, also including Pip Pyle and Rick Biddulph. This obscure  outfit (which left no recorded legacy) toured Europe  irregularly for about a year (1980-81). "It was a lot  rougher than National Health", Jakszyk remembers,  "very structured but performed in a very anarchic way". When  "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted?" became a hit in  England, it was included in the setlist. "Rapid Eye Movement  did record some stuff in the studio. There are also a number  of reasonably good live tapes and I have recently talked to  Dave about releasing something". Eventually, Stewart decided to concentrate on studio work,  starting a successful duo with his singer partner Barbara  Gaskin. Jakszyk contributed to most of their records  during the eighties, and Stewart in turn guested on many of  his own projects. This included Peter Blegvad 's  "How Beautiful You Are" on The Naked  Shakespeare (1983), a song produced by Stewart which  also featured John Greaves and planted the seed for the  later Lodge album and band project. In the same  period, Jakszyk also appeared on ex-VdGG David  Jackson's solo project The Long Hello Vol. 3 (1982). Jakko with 64 Spoons Landing On A Rat Column Jakko circa 1983 Are My Ears On Wrong ? Meanwhile, a series of particularly unlucky attempts at  putting out a solo album started. A deal with Chiswick  Records led to the recording of Silesia, but the  label went bankrupt when it was at printing stage. To this  day it remains entirely unreleased, but should finally see  the light of day in 1999. "As well as the original tracks  the CD also features singles and B-sides from that same  period. Dave Stewart produces three of the tracks and  plays on a few others. His solo on " Ingmar Bergman On The  Window Sill" is a real corker." Other guests include Amanda Parsons on multitracked backing vocals (very  Hatfields) and Dave Jackson ( Van Der Graff)  plays sax on virtualy every track. Subsequently, he signed with Stiff Records and put  out a few singles, but another album, recorded in 1983-85,  was also shelved at the last minute. A third attempt was  similarly unsuccessful - this time for MDM Records , a  label distributed by Virgin, in 1986-87. Material from both  these albums was compiled for a CD release on Resurgence, "Are My Ears On Wrong?"  (1996). In 1987, Jakszyk joined Peter Blegvad and John  Greaves for the recording of the Lodge album in  New York. This also featured Kristoffer Blegvad on  lead vocals and Anton Fier on drums. Jakszyk was an  important contributor, playing most of the guitar parts as  well as singing lead on the title track. The project was  extended to live activity with a slightly altered line-up,  but it folded after a couple of gigs. At that point, Jakszyk had started a collaboration with  ex-Renaissance drummer Gavin Harrison, first  for a Zappa pastiche album - Big Fish Popcorn by The Kings Of Oblivion - then a band, Dizrhythmia, with former Pentangle bassist Danny Thompson and percussionist Pandit Dinesh (Harrison also became The Lodge's live drummer). The  quartet released a self-titled album in 1988 for the Antilles label, which featured Dave Stewart guesting on the 7-minute "Katy Goes To School".  Other work during this period included a Sam Brown album, "Stop ", and recordings and tours with Italian  singer Alice. The first release bearing Jakszyk's name turned out to be  a collaboration with Tom Robinson, "We Never Had  It So Good", started in 1988 and released on French  label Musidisc in 1990. This featured all members of Dizrhythmia as well as Sam Brown and Dave  Stewart. It was eventually reissued by Resurgence in 1997 as "Blood Brother", with four new tracks. A major career opportunity came in 1991 in the shape of an  offer to become Level 42 's lead guitarist. This job  had been handled by none other than Allan Holdsworth for the previous album and tour, but this was a temporary  arrangement following previous member Alan Murphy's  sudden death. Jakszyk's involvement in Level 42 lasted until the band's split in 1994, by which time  he'd brought in his Dizrhythmia colleague Gavin  Harrison on drums for the Forever Now tour.  "There was a period at the very begining of '92 when Level 42 started writing for the next album and we  all had a hand in it. This didn't last though as this was  just prior to Mark's ill-fated reconcilliation with Phil  Gould. There was a live album recorded at both the  Brighton Dome and the Albert Hall at the end of '94. I heard  some monitor tapes and the band sounded fantastic, I fear  however that these will never see the light of day. ". Also in 1994, Jakszyk's first solo release finally came out  on Resurgence - a 4-song, 20-minute EP; entitled  "Kingdom Of Dust ". It featured three  ex-members of Japan, Richard Barbieri, Mick  Karn and Steve Jansen. This was followed in 1995  by a full-length effort, " Mustard Gas And Roses",  featuring Danny Thompson, Gavin Harrison, Sam Brown, B.J. Cole, Mick Karn and Steve Jansen. Jakszyk then started work on a project  based on his own family life's story , "The Road To  Ballina", an almost classical work first aired on BBC  Radio 3 in December 1996 and released a few months  later. It featured his ex-Level 42 colleagues Mark  King, Gary Barnacle and Gavin Harrison. Jakko with Level 42 Kindom Of Dust Jakko with The Lodge Jakko M. Jakszyk Jakszyk also has done extensive work as producer or  contributor. "I have, as I'm sure you might gather, played  on a shitload of records. As to whether they have any  historical interest, that's somewhat debateable. I lived in  LA for a while and ended up on an album by a band called What If, a rather bland MOR rock record it did  however feuture Larry Klein (the ex-Mr Joni  Mitchell). I also co-wote and played on a solo record by  a Bill Myers and got to play with Jeff and Mike  Porcaro. Whilst there I wrote and produced and album for Harry Belefonte's daughter Shari - a nice girl  of arguable talent! Most of it is crap but a couple of the  songs are pretty good and feature Larry Williams on  piano, Gavin Harrison on drums, Alex Acuna (ex-Weather Report) on percussion and John  Pattitucci on bass. I have also recorded with Mica  Paris, Swing Out Sister and many others too unhip  to mention. I engineered and played a wide selection of  instruments on Mick Karn's last solo effort The  Tooth Mother. I co wrote and played on Gavin  Harrison's "Sanity and Gravity " CD. I played  guitar and low-whistle on the recent album by Indigo  Falls (Richard Barbieri and his wife Suzzane). Having kept in touch with John Greaves since the Lodge days, Jakszyk appeared on his joint album  with David Cunningham, Greaves-Cunningham, and  at the sole concert promoting Greaves' "Songs" album,  at Paris' New Morning in April 1996. He played a solo  set accompanied by a backing tape, playing a few of his own  songs, and then joined Greaves' band for the main  set, sharing lead vocals with Greaves, Kristoffer  Blegvad and Caroline Loeb. Another reunion with an old friend is Pip Pyle's solo  album "7 Year Itch", which finally came out on Voiceprint in October 1998. Jakszyk sings lead vocals  on three songs - "Chinese Whispers", "Long On"  and "Shipwrecked " -, plays guitar and flute on the  instrumental "Once Around The Shelves", and helped a  lot with the production. And he will be involved in live  performances related to the project if they materialize  (plans for a Japanese tour have been shelved due to the  current recession in Asia).

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