Jazz Articles about Soft Machine

Soft Machine: NDR Jazz Workshop - Hamburg, Germany May 17, 1973

by John Kelman
June 18, 2010

Every year it seems that more archive material is unearthed from Soft Machine, the legendary British group that began life in Dadaist psychedelia, but wound down as a powerhouse, chops-centric, fusion outfit at the end of the 1970s, with stops in more complex writing and free jazz territory along the way. As influenced by minimalist composers such as Terry Riley as it was by trumpeter Miles Davis' electric jazz proclivities, the majority of live material issued during the noughties has ...

Soft Machine: Live At Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971

by Nic Jones
January 13, 2010

Soft Machine Live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971 Reel Recordings 2009Here's some heady stuff from what in 2010 feels like a golden era, dubious though that notion might be in reality. There's already ample evidence that the Mike Ratledge / Elton Dean / Hugh Hopper / Robert Wyatt lineup of Soft Machine never played the same set the same way twice, and it's a tribute to the group's levels of interaction ...

Soft Machine: Live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971

by John Kelman
November 11, 2009

Soft Machine Live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971Reel Recordings2009 It's a curious thing, but live performances can be issued all the time in the jazz world without the suggestion that there are too many of them, while in the rock world the release of too many similar programs will be criticized as excessive. Pianist Keith Jarrett's last three releases with his longstanding Standards Trio--from The Out-of-Towners (ECM, 2004) through to Yesterdays (ECM, 2009)--have ...

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 ...

Soft Machine: Drop

by Nic Jones
January 18, 2009

The departure of Robert Wyatt from the drum stool in Soft Machine and the arrival of Phil Howard could have been a potentially fraught moment in the band's evolution back in the early '70s. Until now the only documentation of Howard's time with the band was on one side of Fifth (Sony/BMG, 1972), which was no more than a tantalizing glimpse of the direction towards which the band was evolving. This live material from the band's German tour in late ...

Soft Machine: Drop

by John Kelman
December 18, 2008

For Soft Machine fans, Drop may well be the Holy Grail of live recordings from a legendary British group that began in psychedelia, ended in riff-based fusion, and traversed considerable stylistic territory in between. A four-month tenure might be nothing more than a footnote to some, but Phil Howard contributes to one of the group's greatest triumphs--electric, ear-shattering free improvisation of more reckless abandon than anything before, or after, the Australian drummer's brief stay.

Soft Machine's ...

Soft Machine: Alive In Paris 1970

by Nic Jones
May 23, 2008

Soft MachineAlive In Paris 1970Voice Print2008 This could just as well be titled Very Much Alive In Paris since the DVD captures for posterity a couple of Soft Machine performances first broadcast on French television's POP 2 program on March 2, 1970. It features the short-lived five-piece incarnation of the group that comprised Lyn Dobson on soprano sax, flute, vocal and harmonica in addition to the potent quartet of Elton Dean, ...