Alan Gowen (19 August 1947 – 17 May 1981) was an English

fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

keyboardist, best known for his work in

Gilgamesh sux, , label=none , image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg , alt = , caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assy ...

and

National Health National Health were an English progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. Founded in 1975, the band featured members of keyboardist Dave Stewart (keyboardist), Dave Stewart's band Hatfield and the North and Alan Gowen's band ...

History

Gowen was born in North Hampstead, northwest

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He joined

Assagai Assagai was an Afro-rock band, active in the early 1970s in London, whose relatively short career produced two albums recorded in 1971. It has been described as "the second best-known African group of the late 60s/early 70s in Britain" after Osi ...

in 1971 before going on to found Sunship in 1972 with Jamie Muir (drums, also from Assagai) and Laurie Baker (bass). The band also included Allan Holdsworth on guitar. He formed Gilgamesh in 1973 and started a collaboration with

Hatfield and the North Hatfield and the North were an experimental Canterbury scene rock band that lasted from October 1972 to June 1975, with some reunions thereafter. Career In mid 1972 the band grew out of a line-up of ex-members of blues/jazz/rock band Del ...

, eventually founding National Health with Hatfield and the North's keyboardist Dave Stewart in 1975. Gowen left National Health in 1977, though returned briefly for the recording sessions of their first album. In 1978, Gowen formed

Soft Heap In computer science, a soft heap is a variant on the simple heap data structure that has constant amortized time complexity for 5 types of operations. This is achieved by carefully "corrupting" (increasing) the keys of at most a constant number ...

with

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 ot ...

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 ...

, and

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 a ...

. With Dave Sheen replacing Pyle, the band toured as Soft Head in the summer of 1978. He also recorded a second Gilgamesh album that year. Gowen re-joined National Health in 1979-1980 and also continued with Soft Heap in this period. ''Before a Word is Said'' (1981), recorded with

Richard Sinclair Richard Stephen Sinclair (born 6 June 1948) is an English progressive rock bassist, guitarist, and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the Canterbury scene. Biography Born in Canterbury, England, both his father (Dick Sinclair) ...

(bass, briefly in Gilgamesh),

Phil Miller Philip Paul Miller (22 January 1949 – 18 October 2017) was an English progressive rock/jazz guitarist and a central part of the Canterbury scene. He was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. Self-taught on guitar, Miller formed his first band, De ...

(guitar, from National Health) and

Trevor Tomkins Trevor Ramsey Tomkins (12 May 1941 – 9 September 2022) was a British jazz drummer best known for his work in a number of British bands in the 1970s, including Gilgamesh. Biography Tomkins was born in London and studied music at the Guildhall ...

(drums, from Gilgamesh), was the last album Gowen recorded before his death from

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

in 1981.

Discography

*1975 Gilgamesh - ''Gilgamesh'' *1978 National Health - ''

'' *1978 Soft Head - ''Rogue Element'' *1978 Gilgamesh - ''Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into'' *1979 Soft Heap - ''Soft Heap'' *1980 Hugh Hopper & Alan Gowen - ''Two Rainbows Daily'' (CD reissue includes one half of 1980 live recording with Nigel Morris) *1981 Alan Gowen, Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair, Trevor Tomkins - ''Before A Word Is Said'' *1982 National Health - ''D.S. al Coda'' (tribute album featuring Gowen compositions) *1995 National Health - ''Missing Pieces'' (1975-6 recordings) *1996 Alan Gowen & Hugh Hopper - '' Bracknell-

Bresse Bresse () is a former French province. It is located in the regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté of eastern France. The geographical term ''Bresse'' has two meanings: ''Bresse bourguignonne'' (or ''louhannaise''), whi ...

Improvisations'' (duo recordings from 1978; also contains remainder of above-mentioned 1980 live recording) *2000 Gilgamesh - ''Arriving Twice'' (1973-5 recordings) *2001 National Health - ''Playtime'' (1979 recordings) *2008 Soft Heap - ''Al Dente'' (1978 live recording)

Sources

Calyx on Alan Gowen
1947 births 1981 deaths English keyboardists Canterbury scene 20th-century English musicians Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from leukemia Soft Heap members Gilgamesh (band) members National Health members Assagai members {{UK-keyboardist-stub