Jay Telfer

Toronto singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jay Telfer is arguably best known for his work with 1960s rock group, A Passing Fancy, and for penning Steel River’s hit, “Ten Pound Note”. Starting out with folk group, The Voyageurs at the age of 14, Telfer befriended future Bruce Cockburn manager Bernie Finkelstein, who was responsible for bringing the promising singer/songwriter into the ranks of The Dimensions and renaming the band, A Passing Fancy in 1965.

Fast-forward four years to spring 1969. Telfer has moved on from A Passing Fancy and composed a slew of intriguing new songs. He approaches Finkelstein with the exciting new material and his old friend expresses an interest in producing an album, inviting into the sessions a diverse mix of musicians from the Toronto scene.

These include members of Kensington Market (managed by Finkelstein), a young Danny McBride years before he played lead guitar with Chris De Burgh and the Anglo-Canadian group Milkwood, including multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Tomlinson, who’d recently arrived in Toronto after working with a pre-Jethro Tull Martin Barre for two years.

As Telfer recalls, the musicians had a ton of fun doing the album, but when it came to selling it, Finkelstein asked the late Felix Pappalardi, who’d produced Kensington Market but was turned down. The album was never mentioned again and Telfer lost his copies of the tapes. Over the years, Finkelstein also lost his.

As luck would have it, former A Passing Fancy member Fergus Hambleton salvaged some old tapes from his brother Greg’s driveway as they were being put out with the rubbish. Among those tapes was Greg’s copy of “Perch”, Telfer’s unreleased album from 1969. In total, there are 10 superb tracks waiting to be heard. The titles and the personnel on each track are as follows:

Copyright © Nick Warburton, 2009. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any from or by any means, without prior permission from the author.

Tracks

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