Included in the package were three West Indian singers George Browne (a Trinidadian, known initially as "Young Tiger"), the Jamaican Tony Johnson, and "the tenor who makes no error" Bill Rogers (Augustus Hinds), who was from Guyana.
[3]McKenzie's line ups similarly featured a fusion of instrumentalists: Joe Harriott, Shake Keane,[4] Bertie King, Humphrey Lyttleton, Denny Wright and Jack Fallon, and vocalists George Browne, Marie Bryant and Lili Verona.
[7] McKenzie freelanced or featured as a sideman with groups such as those of Lord Kitchener, Joe Appleton (1950), Humphrey Lyttleton (with whom he toured and recorded in 1952), Fela Sowande's BBC Ebony Club Band (1953) and Lonnie Donnegan, with whom he guested.
He composed songs with his wife, the lyricist and actress Elizabeth McKenzie, and Denis Preston; he was an arranger for Humphrey Lyttleton and Wally Fawkes.
This was to be Mike's record, to be sold on the door at the nightclub as the punters left [...] In a further twist, Denis prescribed that the musical style was to be Latin Fusion in the manner of Carlos Santana.
Vibert C. Cambridge, in his book Musical Life in Guyana, describes the contributions West Indian musicians made to the evolution of British popular music during the 20th century, singling out calypso recordings in particular: By the 1950s musicians from British Guiana such as Robert Adams, Freddy Grant, Rannie Hart, Cy Grant, Frank Holder, Mike McKenzie and Iggy Quail were among the key contributors to this evolution.
Grant, Hart, McKenzie, Holder and Quail influenced the direction of jazz in the UK through their interactions with British-born performers such as Humphrey Lyttleton and Johnny Dankworth.
Bill Rogers' 1952 recordings features Freddy Grant on clarinet, flute, and maracas; Rannie Hart on trumpet and cigar box; Mike McKenzie on piano; Lawrence Weeks from India on bongos; and Joe Sampson on string bass.
These included remakes of British Guiana Bargee, Weed Woman, and Daddy Gone to Cove and John [and] Nice Woman, Ugly Man, Bald-Plated Emily, Necromancy, Sightseeing in the UK, and The Hungry Man from Clapham [...] a "shantoized" version of a popular British music hall song..."[10]The lyrics of "Tomato" (1952) and "Little Boy" (1953) are quoted in Frank Norman's 1959 novel, Stand on Me.