Articles by Gary Gomes

Album Review

Soft Machine: Thirteen

by Gary Gomes
May 2, 2026

Soft Machine has seen many incarnations over the years. The initial iteration of the group, from roughly 1966-1980, and 13 albums, saw no two albums with the same personnel. The band was also arguably one of the first fusion bands. Soft Machine's overall approach was more experimental, incorporating elements of free jazz and minimalism in a unique blend, regardless of who was in the shifting pool. In 1984, Soft Machine finally disbanded and was reunified as Soft Machine Legacy with ...

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Album Review

simakDialog: Demi Masa

by Gary Gomes
June 3, 2009

simakDialog's Demi Masa, one of the best releases of 2009, rejuvenates fusion music and takes it to an entirely new level.The soloists are extraordinarily good on this combination of guitars, electric bass guitar, and keyboards with Indonesian kedang percussion, assisted by percussionist/vocalist Emy Tata, singer Mian Tiara and soundscapist Dave Lumenta--but more on this later.The remarkable thing about the group's percussion team is how tight and well-integrated it is within simakDialog's sound. It sets up an ...

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Album Review

Alex Maguire Sextet: Brewed In Belgium

Read "Brewed In Belgium" reviewed by Gary Gomes

by Gary Gomes
June 2, 2009

Alex Maguire has built an extremely strong reputation as a multi-faceted keyboard player over the past few years. He has, in addition to small band settings like this one, held the keyboard chair in the late drummer Pip Pyle's group Bash! and, after that, participated in a reunion tour of Canterbury legend Hatfield and the North. He also developed a technique of playing he calls “comprovisation"--a blend of spontaneity and structure that he demonstrates in spades on this live recording.

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Album Review

Soft Machine: Drop

by Gary Gomes
April 24, 2009

Despite significant ambivalence about Soft Machine around the time of this recording, it was the furthest out that the group ever ventured, and its closest approach to free jazz. It also possessed the freest drummer to ever grace a rock group. Australian Phil Howard was, in fact, free by most jazz standards, but by jettisoning the exceptional Robert Wyatt, the band deserted its last link with songs and humor. Howard was, however, one of the era's truly original and most ...

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Profile

A Tribute to Brian Davison

by Gary Gomes
December 20, 2008

Brian Davison, a drummer of no small stature, passed away April 15, 2008. Why should you care? Because Davison was one of the most criminally underestimated and unfairly unrecognized musicians to emerge from the UK in the late 1960's. Davison was best known as the drummer with the Nice, Keith Emerson's group before Emerson formed the super group Emerson, Lake and Palmer. As may be expected, the fact that Davison was replaced by another ...

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Mitch Mitchell: In Memoriam

by Gary Gomes
November 18, 2008

When the Jimi Hendrix Experience's Are You Experienced? initially appeared, all of the attention was focused on the guitarist--understandable, as this was his group, and the guitar sounds were unique extensions of blues, rock and electronics (the latter particularly) that had never made their way to the general record buying audience (greater displays of virtuosity could be heard from Danny Kalb and Larry Coryell a little earlier, and Clapton, Blackmore and Townshend had experimented successfully with feedback--albeit tentatively--a little earlier); ...

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Absolute Zero: Never Acquiescent

by Gary Gomes
September 8, 2005

It seems unlikely that certain types of music will ever be popular, although there are times when they come close. Rock music has always maintained a coterie of fringe musicians who have maintained their interest in creating a unique musical vision instead of acquiescing to the current style, idiom or fashion. Absolute Zero fit into that mold. Rock music has long been plagued by a disdain of intellectualism and instrumental technique that did not really become institutionalized ...