Tin Tin Biography

 

Tin Tin is John (Johnny Sax) Wolfenden on saxophones, Ewi and vocals, Jez Smith on keyboards and vocals,

Pete Bradbury on drums, John Cellario on bass and Dave Howells on guitar and vocals.

We have all been pro musicians at some time in our lives – some of us still are.

Tin Tin originated back in 1993 when Johnny Sax was seeking an outlet away from his main gig with Morgan’s

Every Which Way in which he could get some real enjoyment from the musical challenge of playing music by

some of his saxophone heroes – David Sanborn being foremost among them - the band’s name derives from a

track by Sanborn.

The first gathering of interested musicians were Johnny Sax, Pete Bradbury on drums, Gareth Moulton and

Colin Hines on guitars, Jason Brooks on bass and Jez Smith on keyboards.

A few rehearsals took place but the challenge of gathering together in the same space at the same time lots of

players, who all had different gigs, was a little akin to herding cats.

 

Pete’s main gig at the time was as the powerhouse behind the highly successful Stax of Soul and it soon

became apparent to Pete that high activity levels with Stax would prevent him from moving forward on

Johnny’s project. Without a drummer, matters drifted a couple of months as would-be band members

unavailability got in the way. Eventually, John and Jez hit upon the idea to start again from scratch.

Jez recommended to Johnny that Dave Howells be brought in on guitar, Dave was a frequent bandmate with

Jez over many years and had a liking for and ability to play the kind of music they were looking to perform.

These three had a play around with a few songs and ideas began to formulate to take the project forward, but

still needed a drummer and a bass player. At this point, Johnny recruited Morgan’s Every Which Way

bandmates Alan Cunningham and Craig Fletcher on kit and bass respectively and so Tin Tin was finally

launched.

 

As a stroke of complete luck, Alan’s girlfriend was an exceptional singer who was making a living on the circuit

as a solo artist with backing tracks, and so Donna Dukes was lured into the fold and work began on rehearsing

a solid set of tunes and songs with a view to gigging.

The final piece of the jigsaw fell into place a few months later when percussionist Ian Travis joined the

ensemble.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The band gigged extensively for the next few years and attracted a regular following of fans who came to

enjoy the musicianship and arrangements of the music we played and also, most certainly, to witness the total

pleasure we derived from playing it. A few tracks were recorded both in the studio and live as a basic stereo

feed from the desk.

After this time, Alan and Donna announced that they would be moving to Dubai to live and it was felt, among

the rest of the band, that replacements for these two talented musicians would be hard to find – and so the

band, with heavy hearts, decided to call it a day.

By popular demand, from time to time Johnny was asked to get TinTin back together and some ad hoc gigs

took place in the ensuing years with Kev Whitehead (of John Lees Barclay James Harvest and Dare) in the

drum seat, but nothing since a one-off appearance in 2010.

 

Fast forward 9 years and a phone call from Johnny to Pete asking him what he was doing and if he thought it

might be possible to get together and try and put TinTin back on the road. Although Pete had a gig with

another band, he was immediately attracted to the idea. The band Pete was in had Dave on guitar. Even after

all those years, he too was keen to have a look at how we might make this work. The band’s bass player was

John Cellario, a fine musician who really stepped up to the challenge. Original member Jez Smith was the

target keyboard player, but he was (and is) busy with John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest, so there was relief

and joy when he stepped in. Jez’s great musicality, coupled with his extraordinary sound canvas was going to

be vital to the band’s development.

Since this reincarnation we have been busy rehearsing songs and arrangements, putting together a tight set of

music that we all love to play. The music comes from a variety of genres, but includes, of course, our signature

sound of Johnny’s saxophone and some of the tunes from Tin Tin Mk1 that just could not be excluded.

The gigs to date we have had all have been brilliantly received, and the band are continually developing new

songs and arrangements to expand our repertoire and push our musicality as far as we can.

The prime motivation is the joy we all experience in playing music with each other. We think this really shows 

in our live gigs - Please come and check it out for yourselves!