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Soft Works
Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–1967). As a central band of the Canterbury scene, the group became one of the first British psychedelic acts and later moved into progressive rock and jazz fusion. Their varying line-ups have included former members such as Andy Summers (guitar, 1968), Hugh Hopper (bass, 1968–1973), Elton Dean (saxophone 1969–1972), Karl Jenkins (keyboards, saxophone, 1972–1978, 1980–1981, 1984) and Allan Holdsworth (guitar, 1973–1975), and currently consists of John Marshall (drums, 1972–1978, 1980–1981, 1984 and since 2015), John Etheridge (guitar, 1975–1978, 1984 and since 2015), Theo Travis (saxophone, flutes, keyboards since 2015), and Fred Thelonious Baker (bass since 2020). Though they achieved little commercial success, the Soft Machine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Nucleus (band)
Nucleus were a British jazz-fusion band, which continued in different forms from 1969 to 1989. In 1970, the band won first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival, released the album ''Elastic Rock'', and performed both at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Village Gate jazz club. The band was established by Ian Carr, who had been in the Rendell–Carr Quintet during the middle and late 1960s. Their debut album, ''Elastic Rock'', and the next two collections, ''We'll Talk About It Later'' (1970) and ''Solar Plexus'' (1971), were all released on Vertigo Records, and music journalist Colin Larkin noted were "vital in any comprehensive rock or jazz collection". In August 2005, a reincarnation of Nucleus with old and new members performed at Cargo in London. This was followed on 30 March 2007 by a Nucleus Revisited concert at London's Pizza Express Jazz Club as part of a series of concerts to mark the tenth anniversary of ''Jazzwise'' magazine. Nucleus Revisited included Geoff Castle, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Babbington
Roy Babbington (born 8 July 1940 in Kempston, Bedfordshire, England) is a rock and jazz bassist. He became well known for being a member of the Canterbury scene progressive rock band Soft Machine. Biography Babbington started his musical career in 1958, playing double bass in local jazz bands. At the age of 17 he took up the post of double bass, doubling on electric guitar (on such numbers as Cliff Richard's "Move It" on Monday's Rock 'n' Roll evening) with The Leslie Thorp Orchestra at the Aberdeen Beach Ballroom, where he honed his sight reading skills. After moving to London in 1969, he joined the band Delivery, one of the side roots of the Canterbury scene with Phil Miller, Pip Pyle and Lol Coxhill. Also, he began to work as a session musician with jazz/fusion musicians like Michael Gibbs and The Keith Tippett Group (including Elton Dean), appearing on their album ''Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening'' (1970) as well as in Tippett's big band project Centipede (1971) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karl Jenkins
Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins (born 17 February 1944) is a Welsh multi-instrumentalist and composer. His best known works include the song " Adiemus" and the ''Adiemus'' album series; '' Palladio''; ''The Armed Man''; and his ''Requiem''. Jenkins was educated in music at Cardiff University and the Royal Academy of Music: of the latter, he is a fellow and an Associate. He joined the jazz-rock band Soft Machine in 1972 and became the group's lead songwriter in 1974. Jenkins continued to work with Soft Machine up to 1984, but has not been involved with any incarnation of the group since. Jenkins has composed music for advertisement campaigns and has won the industry prize twice. Early life and education Karl Jenkins was born and raised in Penclawdd, Gower, Wales. His mother was Swedish, and his father was Welsh. Jenkins received his initial musical instruction from his father, who was the local schoolteacher, chapel organist and choirmaster. He attended Gowerton Grammar S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Howard (musician)
Phil Howard is an Australian jazz drummer best known for his brief stint with the jazz-rock group Soft Machine. Howard arrived in London from his native Australia in 1969, joining the band Caparius led by saxophonist Clive Stevens, alongside guitarist Peter Martin and bassist Neville Whitehead. The band's final line-up, in 1971, replaced Martin with future Isotope guitarist/leader Gary Boyle and pianist Dave MacRae. Howard first came to the attention of Soft Machine when Robert Wyatt left in August 1971 and auditions for a potential replacement were held. In the end, Wyatt changed his mind, but Softs saxophonist Elton Dean borrowed Howard and fellow Caparian Whitehead as the rhythm section in his extracurricular Just Us group. Both were featured on Dean's eponymous 1971 solo album, and both were also members of the Keith Tippett Group during this period. A live radio session by Soft Machine in March 1971, in which the Dean group participated, saw Howard reinforcing the Softs on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Evans (trombonist)
Nick Evans (born 9 January 1947 in Newport, Monmouthshire, South Wales) is a Welsh former jazz and progressive rock trombonist. Career Evans worked in the Graham Collier Sextet (1968–69), Keith Tippett Group (1968–70), Soft Machine (1969), Brotherhood of Breath (1970–74), Centipede (1970–71), Just Us (1972–73), Ambush (1972), Ninesense (1975–80), Intercontinental Express (1976), Ark (1976, 1978), Nicra (1977), Dudu Pukwana's Diamond Express (1977), Spirits Rejoice (1978–79), and Dreamtime (1983). Early years He started playing the trombone at age 11 and by 1966 he had joined the New Welsh Jazz Orchestra. In that period he first joined the Graham Collier Sextet. In 1968 at the Barry school he worked with Keith Tippett and became a founding member of his sextet. He later worked with South African band Brotherhood of Breath and also Soft Machine. He was a peripheral figure in the Canterbury Scene. Evans also appeared on the album ''Lizard'' by the progressive r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Charig
Mark Charig (born 22 February 1944 in London) is a British trumpeter and cornetist. He was particularly active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he played in settings as diverse as Long John Baldry's group, Bluesology, Soft Machine, and Keith Tippett's group and his Centipede big band. Charig also featured on several King Crimson albums, being particularly prominent in a long solo on the title track of ''Islands'', on the title track of Lizard and on the track "Fallen Angel" on the ''Red'' album, as well as in a work-in-progress version of " Starless". In the mid-1970s he also toured with the group Red Brass, which featured singer Annie Lennox. He also appeared with the Brotherhood of Breath and recorded with Mike Osborne, as well as releasing his own ''Pipedream'' LP on Ogun Records. He is also a member of the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra. He now lives in Germany and is a member of the Wuppertal-based Conduction Orchestra. More recently, he has recorded ''KJU:'' a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyn Dobson
Lyn Dobson (born 22 June 1939 in Bedford) is an English musician, noted as a jazz-rock flautist and saxophonist. He appeared with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames and Manfred Mann in the mid-1960s, and then with Soft Machine and Keef Hartley, as well as playing on albums by Nick Drake and John Martyn. Dobson played the flute solo on Manfred Mann's "Pretty Flamingo". Dobson also played on a number of sessions for The Small Faces, including their ''Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake'' LP, and the track "The Autumn Stone" (released after the group split in 1969), and he performed live with them during 1968. He also subsequently guested on Humble Pie's debut album '' As Safe As Yesterday Is'' (1969), on which he also played sitar. He released an album, ''Jam Sandwich'', on Fresh Air Records in 1974. After the 1970s, he worked in theatre, dance, drama, multimedia, music teaching and music therapy. In the 1990s, Dobson recorded two albums with the Third Ear Band. See also * Henry Lowther *Harold Mc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andy Summers
Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942), is an English guitarist who was a member of the rock band The Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated with other musicians, composed film scores, and exhibited his photography in galleries. Early life Andrew James Summers was born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England, on 31 December 1942. During his childhood, his family moved to Bournemouth, which was then in Hampshire. After several years of piano lessons, he took up the guitar. At an early age, he played jazz guitar. In his teens, he saw a concert by Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie in London that left a lasting impression. By 16, he was playing in local clubs, and by 19, he had moved to London with his friend Zoot Money to form Zoot Money's Big Roll Band. Musical career Pre-Police career Summers's professional career began in the mid-1960s in London as guitarist for the Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daevid Allen
Christopher David Allen (13 January 1938 – 13 March 2015), known professionally as Daevid Allen, sometimes credited as Divided Alien, was an Australian musician. He was co-founder of the psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966) and Gong (in France, 1967).McFarlane, 1999, Biography Early years In 1960, inspired by the Beat Generation writers he had discovered while working in a Melbourne bookshop, Allen travelled to Paris, where he stayed at the Beat Hotel, moving into a room recently vacated by Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky. While selling the '' International Herald Tribune'' around Le Chat Qui Pêche and the Latin Quarter, he met Terry Riley and also gained free access to the jazz clubs in the area. In 1961 Allen travelled to England and rented a room at Lydden, near Dover, where he soon began to look for work as a musician. He first replied to a newspaper advertisement for a guitar player to join Dover-based group the Rolling Stones (no connection w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kevin Ayers
Kevin Ayers (16 August 1944 – 18 February 2013) was an English singer-songwriter who was active in the English psychedelic music movement. Ayers was a founding member of the psychedelic band Soft Machine in the mid-1960s, and was closely associated with the Canterbury scene. He recorded a series of albums as a solo artist and over the years worked with Brian Eno, Syd Barrett, Bridget St John, John Cale, Elton John, Robert Wyatt, Andy Summers, Mike Oldfield, Nico and Ollie Halsall, among others. After living for many years in Deià, Mallorca, he returned to the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s before moving to the south of France. His last album, '' The Unfairground'', was released in 2007. The British rock journalist Nick Kent wrote: "Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett were the two most important people in British pop music. Everything that came after came from them." Biography Early life Ayers was born in Herne Bay, Kent, the son of BBC producer Rowan Ayers. Following his parents ... [...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] |
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