Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers and Daevid Allen. 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, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington and Allan Holdsworth, and currently consists of John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Fred Thelonious Baker, and Asaf Sirkis.
Hugh Colin Hopper 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.
Third is a live and studio album by the English rock band Soft Machine, released as their third overall in June 1970 by CBS Records. It is a double album with a single composition on each of the four sides, and was their first album recorded with a four-piece line-up of keyboardist Mike Ratledge, and drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt, saxophonist Elton Dean, and bass guitarist Hugh Hopper. Third marks a shift in the group's sound from their psychedelic origins towards jazz rock and electronic music.
Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboards. Part of the Canterbury scene, he featured in Soft Machine, among others.
Julie Driscoll Tippetts is an English singer and actress.
Keith Graham Tippetts, known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "..spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporary music, as well as modern jazz for more than half-a-century". He held " an unparallelled place in British contemporary music," and was known for "his unique approach to improvisation". Tippett appeared and recorded in many settings, including a duet with Stan Tracey, duets with his wife Julie Tippetts, solo performances, and as a bandleader.
Septober Energy is the only album of the jazz/progressive rock big band Centipede. Produced by Robert Fripp under the musical direction of Keith Tippett, it was originally released 1971 in the UK as a double LP, and 1974 in the US with a different cover. The album was recorded at Wessex Studios, London during three days in June 1971. The album is a four-part suite consisting of four tracks of about 20 minutes each.
Centipede were an English jazz/progressive rock/big band with more than 50 members, organized and led by the British free jazz pianist Keith Tippett. Formed in 1970, it brought together much of a generation of young British jazz and rock musicians from a number of bands, including Soft Machine, King Crimson, Nucleus and Blossom Toes.
John Stanley Marshall is an English retired drummer and founding member of the jazz rock band Nucleus. From 1972 to 1978, he was the drummer for Soft Machine, replacing Phil Howard when he joined.
Harold Simon Miller was a South African jazz double bassist, who lived for most of his adulthood in England.
Harold Winston Beckett was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player of Barbadian origin.
Roy Babbington is an English rock and jazz bassist. He became well known for being a member of the Canterbury scene progressive rock band Soft Machine.
Mark Charig is a British trumpeter and cornetist.
Nick Evans is a Welsh former jazz and progressive rock trombonist.
Paul Dunmall is a British jazz musician who plays tenor and soprano saxophone, as well as the baritone and the more exotic saxello and the Northumbrian smallpipes. He has played with Keith Tippett and Barry Guy.
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.
Joe Gallivan is an American jazz and avant-garde musician. He plays drums, percussion and synthesizer.
John Howard Riley is an English pianist and composer, who worked in jazz and experimental music idioms.
Thomas Henry Lowther is an English jazz trumpeter who also plays violin.
Larry Stabbins is a British jazz saxophonist, flutist and composer.
