Editing Alexis Korner (section)

==The 1960s==
{{Main|Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated}}
In 1961, Korner and Davies formed [[Blues Incorporated]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rocksbackpagesblogs.com/2009/09/blues-incorporated-how-british-rb-trashed-trad|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728141506/http://www.rocksbackpagesblogs.com/2009/09/blues-incorporated-how-british-rb-trashed-trad|archivedate=28 July 2011|first=John|last=Pidgeon|date=24 Sep 2009|url-status=usurped|title= Blues Incorporated: How British R&B Trashed Trad}}</ref> initially a loose-knit group of musicians with a shared love of [[electric blues]] and [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] music.<ref name="Larkin"/> The group included, at various times, [[Charlie Watts]], [[Jack Bruce]], [[Ginger Baker]], [[Long John Baldry]], [[Graham Bond]], [[Danny Thompson]] and [[Dick Heckstall-Smith]].<ref name="Larkin"/> It also attracted a wider crowd of mostly younger fans, some of whom occasionally performed with the group, including [[Mick Jagger]], [[Keith Richards]], [[Brian Jones]], [[Geoff Bradford (musician)|Geoff Bradford]], [[Rod Stewart]], [[John Mayall]], and [[Jimmy Page]].<ref name=Shapiro1997>{{cite book|last = Shapiro |first = Harry  |title = Alexis Korner: The Biography |year =1997|publisher = Bloomsbury |isbn = 0-7475-3163-3}}</ref>

Although Cyril Davies left the group in late 1962, Blues Incorporated continued to record, with Korner at the helm, until 1966. However, by that time its originally stellar line-up (and crowd of followers) had mostly left to start their own bands. While his one-time acolytes, the Rolling Stones and [[Cream (band)|Cream]], made the front pages of music magazines all over the world, Korner was relegated to the role of 'elder statesman'.<ref name="Larkin"/>

In 1966, Korner formed the trio Free At Last with [[Hughie Flint]] and [[Binky McKenzie]].<ref name="Larkin"/> Flint later recalled "I played with Alexis, right after leaving [[John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers|The Bluesbreakers]], in a trio, which Alexis named ''Free At Last'', a sort of mini and slightly restricted version of Blues Incorporated. Playing with Alexis was very loose. We would play anything from [[Percy Mayfield]]'s ‘River's Invitation' to [[Charles Mingus]]' ‘Better Get It In Your Soul' – with lots of freaky guitar and bass solos. Alexis, like [[John Mayall]] had the most eclectic taste in music, very knowledgeable, and generous, and I am indebted to both of them for my wide approach to music".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blues.gr/m/blogpost?id=1982923%3ABlogPost%3A227958 |title=Veteran British drummer Hughie Flint talks about the Blues, Jazz, Beano album, and Buddha's teaching |publisher=Michael Limnios Blues Network |date= 9 September 2015 |access-date=10 April 2019}}</ref>

Although ''Free At Last'' was short-lived, Korner ensured its name lived on in part by christening another young group of aspiring musicians, [[Free (band)|Free]]. Korner was instrumental in the formation of the band in April 1968, and continued to mentor them until they secured a deal with [[Island Records]].{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blake |first=Mark |date=19 March 2024 |title=Paul Kossoff: The Spectacular Rise and the Tragic Fall of a True Guitar Legend |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/paul-kossoff-story |access-date=13 April 2024 |website=Louder Sound}}</ref>

Although he himself was a blues purist, Korner criticised better-known British blues musicians during the blues boom of the late 1960s for their blind adherence to [[Chicago blues]], as if the music came in no other form. He liked to surround himself with [[jazz]] musicians and often performed with a [[horn section]] drawn from a pool that included, among others, saxophone players [[Art Themen]], [[Mel Collins]], [[Dick Heckstall-Smith]], and [[Lol Coxhill]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://reocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/9932/chodg_s.htm |title=Colin Hodgkinson sessions (The Musicians' Olympus) |publisher=Reocities.com |access-date=27 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029203249/http://reocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/9932/chodg_s.htm |archive-date=29 October 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

While touring [[Scandinavia]] he formed the band New Church with guitarist and singer [[Peter Thorup]].<ref name="Larkin"/> They subsequently were one of the support bands at the [[Stones in the Park|Rolling Stones Free Concert]] in [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]], London, on 5 July 1969. [[Jimmy Page]] reportedly found out about a new singer, [[Robert Plant]], who had been jamming with Korner, who wondered why Plant had not yet been discovered. Plant and Korner were recording an album with Plant on vocals until Page had asked him to join "the New [[Yardbirds]]", a.k.a. [[Led Zeppelin]]. Only two songs are in circulation from these recordings: "Steal Away" and "Operator".<ref name="Shapiro1997"/> Korner gave one of his last radio interviews to BBC Midlands on the ''Record Collectors Show'' with Mike Adams and Chris Savory.