Jazz Articles about Soft Machine

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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, ...

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Soft Machine-y Round-Up: Soft Machine Legacy, Elton Dean & The Wrong Object & Delta Saxophone Quartet

by Martin Longley
February 3, 2008

Soft Machine Legacy Steam Moonjune 2007 Elton Dean & The Wrong Object The Unbelievable Truth Moonjune 2007 Delta Saxophone Quartet Dedicated to You...But You Weren't Listening -- The Music of Soft Machine Moonjune 2007

Soft Machine really does have an ongoing, extended legacy ...

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Soft Machine Legacy: Steam

by Nic Jones
August 19, 2007

The band name says it all. Three members of this quartet worked at different times in the original Soft Machine whilst the fourth has assumed the mantle once taken by the late and lamented musician, Elton Dean. They've come up with a program of music that pulls off the not inconsiderable feat of acknowledging the legacy at the same time as it forges ahead in new and distinct ways. The world would be a far more interesting place if more ...

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Soft Machine Legacy: Steam

by Glenn Astarita
August 12, 2007

This ensemble's birthright continues via numerous personnel changes over the years as its longstanding members--bassist Hugh Hopper and drummer John Marshall--carry the proverbial torch. With sax great Elton Dean's passing in 2006, Soft Machine Legacy has regrouped and surged onward. Regardless, this effort looms as a milestone of sorts.

Multi-woodwind ace Theo Travis' presence looms mightily here, especially when mixing it up with legendary guitar virtuoso John Etheridge. One of the underlying factors on this release pertains to ...

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Soft Machine: Grides

by Donald Elfman
August 2, 2007

These Cuneiform people have a sense of what music grabbed people at a crucial point in the development of jazz and rock. Their sixth rare Soft Machine set is a thing of primal, noisy wonder, forged at a time when the fusion was “nuclear --causing sonic explosions. This version of the group--with the late Elton Dean on saxophones and electric piano, Hugh Hopper on bass, Mike Ratledge on keyboards and Robert Wyatt on drums--was the quintessential British group of its ...