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Elton Dean
Elton Dean (28 October 1945 – 8 February 2006) was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello (a variant of the soprano saxophone) and occasionally keyboards. Part of the Canterbury scene, he featured in, among others, Soft Machine. Life and career Dean was born in Nottingham, England, moving to Tooting, London, soon after his birth. From 1966 to 1967, Dean was a member of the band Bluesology, led by Long John Baldry. The band's pianist, Reginald Dwight, afterward combined Dean's and Baldry's first names for his own stage name, Elton John. This fact is alluded to in the 2019 film ''Rocketman'', a biopic of the life and career of Elton John, where Dean is portrayed by Evan Walsh, however the film fictionally cites John Lennon as the inspiration for Elton John's taken surname. Dean established his reputation as a member of the Keith Tippett Sextet from 1968 to 1970, and in the band Soft Machine from 1969 to 1972. Shortly before leaving Soft Machine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin Hood and to the lace-making, bicycle and tobacco industries. The city is also the county town of Nottinghamshire and the settlement was granted its city charter in 1897, as part of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Nottingham is a tourist destination; in 2018, the city received the second-highest number of overnight visitors in the Midlands and the highest number in the East Midlands. In 2020, Nottingham had an estimated population of 330,000. The wider conurbation, which includes many of the city's suburbs, has a population of 768,638. It is the largest urban area in the East Midlands and the second-largest in the Midlands. Its Functional Urban Area, the largest in the East Midlands, has a population of 919,484. The popu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during this period believed that the bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz that had been played before them was too limiting. They became preoccupied with creating something new and exploring new directions. The term "free jazz" has often been combined with or substituted for the term " avant-garde jazz". Europeans tend to favor the term " free improvisation". Others have used "modern jazz", "creative music", and "art music". The ambiguity of free jazz presents problems of definition. Although it is usually played by small groups or individuals, free jazz big bands have existed. Although musicians and critics claim it is innovative and forward-looking, it draws on early styles of jazz and has been described as an attempt to return to primitive, of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fifth (Soft Machine Album)
''Fifth'' (the title is ''Fifth'' while the front cover shows the number ''5''), is the fifth studio album by the jazz rock band Soft Machine, released in 1972. In the US the album was identified on cover and label by number (''5''). Overview ''Fifth'' was the first Soft Machine album recorded after the departure of founding member Robert Wyatt and continued the band's progression away from their original blend of psychedelic and progressive rock towards jazz fusion. Wyatt's replacement was Phil Howard, who contributed to the 1971 sessions that comprise side one, after which he left and was replaced by John Marshall for the 1972 recordings that make up side two. Future member Roy Babbington played double bass on side two, as a session musician. Unlike the previous two albums, Elton Dean's saxophone is not augmented by a brass and reeds section composed of session musicians. Track listing Side one #"All White" ( Mike Ratledge) – 6:06 #"Drop" (Ratledge) – 7:42 #"M C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fourth (album)
''Fourth'' is the fourth studio album by the Rock music, rock band Soft Machine, released in 1971. The album is also titled ''Four'' or ''4'' in the USA. Overview The numeral "4" is the title as shown on the cover in all countries, but a written-out title appears on the spine and label. This was the group's first all-instrumental album, although their previous album ''Third'' had almost completed the band's move in this direction toward instrumental jazz, and a complete abandonment of their original self-presentation as a psychedelic pop group, or progressive rock group. It was also the last of their albums to include drummer and founding member Robert Wyatt who afterwards left. He had already recorded a solo album, ''The End of an Ear'' (in which he described himself on the cover as an "Out of work pop singer currently on drums with Soft Machine"), and now founded a new group, Matching Mole, whose name was a pun on "Soft Machine" as pronounced in French: "Machine Molle". Like t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third (Soft Machine Album)
''Third'' is the third studio album by the rock band Soft Machine, originally released in 1970 as a double LP, with each side of the original vinyl consisting of a single suite without individual track titles. ''Third'' marks the most major of Soft Machine's several shifts in musical genre over their career, completing their transition from psychedelic music to jazz, and is a significant milestone of the Canterbury scene. It was their first album with saxophonist Elton Dean. Lyn Dobson appears on saxophone and flute on "Facelift", recorded while he was a full member of the band (then a quintet), although he is credited as an additional performer. Jimmy Hastings (brother of Pye Hastings from Caravan) makes substantial contributions on flute and clarinet on "Slightly All the Time", free-jazz violinist Rab Spall (then a bandmate of Wyatt's in the part-time ensemble Amazing Band) is heard on the coda to "Moon in June", and Nick Evans (a member of the band during its short-lived ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elton Dean (album)
Elton Dean (28 October 1945 – 8 February 2006) was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello (a variant of the soprano saxophone) and occasionally keyboards. Part of the Canterbury scene, he featured in, among others, Soft Machine. Life and career Dean was born in Nottingham, England, moving to Tooting, London, soon after his birth. From 1966 to 1967, Dean was a member of the band Bluesology, led by Long John Baldry. The band's pianist, Reginald Dwight, afterward combined Dean's and Baldry's first names for his own stage name, Elton John. This fact is alluded to in the 2019 film ''Rocketman'', a biopic of the life and career of Elton John, where Dean is portrayed by Evan Walsh, however the film fictionally cites John Lennon as the inspiration for Elton John's taken surname. Dean established his reputation as a member of the Keith Tippett Sextet from 1968 to 1970, and in the band Soft Machine from 1969 to 1972. Shortly before leaving Soft Machine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theo Travis
Theo Travis (born 7 July 1964 in Birmingham, England) is a British saxophonist, flautist and composer. He is best known for being a member of Soft Machine which he joined in 2006 while the group was still using the "Legacy" suffix and for being a member of Gong from 1999 to 2010. Biography Travis received his degree in music from the University of Manchester specialising in the works of Shostakovich. He has made eleven solo albums, mostly as a band leader working in the field of jazz, composing and arranging most of the material. However, 2003's ''Slow Life'', on which he is the sole performer, is an ambient album employing loops which prefigures his later work with Travis & Fripp. He has made about the same number of albums again credited to himself and one (or occasionally more) other collaborator(s), including John Foxx and, as half of Travis & Fripp with Robert Fripp. On his albums as band leader, Travis has played with numerous other jazz musicians. These have included, on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Etheridge
John Michael Glyn Etheridge (born 12 January 1948) is an English jazz fusion guitarist, composer, bandleader and educator known for his eclecticism and broad range of associations in jazz, classical, and contemporary music. He is best known for his work with Soft Machine from 1975 to 1978, 1984 and 2004 to present. Biography Early life Etheridge began playing at 13, his early influences being Hank Marvin of The Shadows and Django Reinhardt. Although his father was a jazz pianist, he was primarily self-taught. In the mid 1960s he formed his first notable band, Rush Release, with Robert Lipson (the future drummer of Gracious!). The band was formed at the height of the British 'blues boom', with the emergence of guitarists such as Peter Green, Jeff Beck and, later, Jimi Hendrix. Etheridge played with Rush Release at London's Speakeasy Club in 1966, and on occasion would jam with other guitarists on the scene such as Eric Clapton. In 1967, Etheridge left London to study Histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer. Holdsworth was known for his esoteric and idiosyncratic usage of advanced music theory concepts, especially with respect to melody and harmony. His music incorporates a vast array of complex chord progressions, often using unusual chord shapes in an abstract way based on his understanding of "chord scales", and intricate improvised solos, frequently across shifting tonal centres. He used myriad scale forms often derived from those such as the Lydian, diminished, harmonic major, augmented, whole tone, chromatic and altered scales, among others, often resulting in an unpredictable and dissonant "outside" sound. His unique legato soloing technique stemmed from his original desire to play the saxophone. Unable to afford one, he strove to use the guitar to create similarly smooth lines of notes. He also became associated with playing an early form of g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Stanley Marshall
John Stanley Marshall (born 28 August 1941) is an English drummer and founding member of the jazz rock band Nucleus. From 1972 to 1978, he was the drummer for Soft Machine, replacing Phil Howard when he joined. Marshall was born in Isleworth, Middlesex, and has worked with various jazz and rock bands and musicians, among them J. J. Jackson, Allan Holdsworth, Barney Kessel, Alexis Korner, Graham Collier, Michael Gibbs, Arthur Brown, Keith Tippett, Centipede, Jack Bruce, John McLaughlin, Dick Morrissey, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Surman, Charlie Mariano, John Abercrombie, Arild Andersen, and Eberhard Weber's Colours. Since 1999, he has worked with former Soft Machine co-musicians in several Soft Machine-related projects like SoftWare, SoftWorks and Soft Machine Legacy. He is currently touring as a member of the band (November 2018), which operates under the name ''Soft Machine'' again since 2015. Discography with Nucleus * '' Elastic Rock'' (1970, Vertigo) * ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Hopper
Hugh Colin Hopper (29 April 1945 – 7 June 2009) was a British progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and other bands. Biography Early career Starting in 1963 as bassist with The Daevid Allen Trio, alongside drummer Robert Wyatt, he alternated between free jazz and rhythm and blues. In 1964 with Brian Hopper (his brother), Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers and Richard Sinclair he formed The Wilde Flowers, a pop music group. Although they never released any records during their existence (a compilation was released 30 years later), The Wilde Flowers are acknowledged as the founders of the Canterbury scene and spawned its two most important groups, Soft Machine and Caravan. With Soft Machine (1968–1973) Hopper's role with Soft Machine was initially as the group's road manager, but he already composed for their first album '' The Soft Machine'' and played bass on one of its tracks. In 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pip Pyle
Phillip "Pip" Pyle (4 April 1950 – 28 August 2006) was an English-born drummer from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who later resided in France. He is best known for his work in the progressive rock Canterbury scene bands Gong, Hatfield and the North and National Health. Allmusic biography/ref> Biography Pyle joined Phil Miller, a friend from kindergarten, and Phil's brother Steve, in forming Bruno's Blues Band, which rapidly evolved into Delivery. However, Pyle left the band in 1970 after arguing with singer Carol Grimes. He briefly played in blues band Chicken Shack and Steve Hillage's band Khan.Biography a Calyx the |
