Robert Calvert (saxophonist)

Last updated

Robert Calvert, also credited as Rob Calvert, is an English saxophonist, best known for his work with Catapilla, Spontaneous Music Ensemble and numerous offshoots of Gong, including Gilli Smyth and Daevid Allen. [1] Calvert rejects categorization of his music, into jazz or other genres, concentrating on the spirit and meaning. [2]

Contents

Musical career

A founding member of progressive rock band Catapilla which was formed in the late 1960s, Calvert was one of one two constant members during the band's brief history, the other being guitarist Graham Wilson. He appears on both their albums, 1971's eponymous Catapilla and 1972's Changes . [3]

In the 1970s Calvert studied improvised music with John Stevens, and Maggie Nicols [2] and in 1975, he began appearing on John Stevens' albums, initially on free jazz band Spontaneous Music Ensemble's album SME + = SMO. Calvert's next two albums were Somewhere in Between (1976) and Mazin Ennit (1977) both by Steven's jazz-rock band John Stevens' Away, followed Steven's album Ah! (1977). In 1994 he appeared on John Stevens Dance Orchestra's A Luta Continua, but this had been recorded in 1977. [4]

After a break, he returned in 1989 on two Mother Gong albums The Owl and the Tree [5] and Wild Child, before appearing on Invisible Opera Company of Tibet's 1991 eponymous album. Remaining in the Gong circle he appeared on Gilli Smyth's 1993 album Every Witches Way, Mother Gong's She Made the World (1993), Eye (1994) Mother Gong (1994) and Tree in Fish (1994) He toured extensively with Gong and Mothergong throughout the 1990s

Since 1994 Calvert has played and improvised with the Howley Calvert George Trio, together with John Howley (better known as a painter) on piano and vocals, and Robert George on drums. The trio have performed widely, including tours of Poland in 1998 and 1999. [2]

Calvert also began performing with Daevid Allen, including Allen and Harry Williamson's album Twenty Two Meanings (The Art Of Glissando Guitar Vol. 1) (1999).

Discography

With Catapilla
With John Stevens
With Mothergong
With Invisible Opera Company of Tibet
With Glo
Poetry
With Daevid Allen
Compilations

[4]

Related Research Articles

Gong are a psychedelic rock band that incorporates elements of jazz and space rock into their musical style. The group was formed in Paris in 1967 by Australian musician Daevid Allen and English vocalist Gilli Smyth. Band members have included Didier Malherbe, Pip Pyle, Steve Hillage, Mike Howlett, Tim Blake, Pierre Moerlen, Bill Laswell and Theo Travis. Others who have played on stage with Gong include Don Cherry, Chris Cutler, Bill Bruford, Brian Davison, Dave Stewart and Tatsuya Yoshida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Stevens (drummer)</span> English drummer(1940

John William Stevens was an English drummer, and a founding member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Hillage</span> British guitarist

Stephen Simpson Hillage is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. Besides his solo recordings he has been a member of Uriel, Khan, Gong and System 7.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Didier Malherbe</span> Musical artist

Didier Malherbe, is a French jazz, rock and world music musician, known as a member of the bands Gong and Hadouk, as well as a poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Falcone</span> American musician and producer

Don Falcone is an American producer and multi-instrumentalist, and the guiding light behind the Spirits Burning space-rock collective. In Spirits Burning and other offshoot bands and projects, his primary collaborations have been with Albert Bouchard, Bridget Wishart, Cyrille Verdeaux, Daevid Allen, and English writer and musician Michael Moorcock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Williamson (musician)</span> British musician, producer and inventor

Harry Williamson is a British musician, producer and inventor.

<i>Gong est Mort, Vive Gong</i> 1977 live album by Gong

Gong est Mort, Vive Gong is a double live album by the progressive rock group Gong, recorded on 28 May 1977 at the Hippodrome, Paris, France, and originally released in 1977 as a double LP by Tapioca Records, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilli Smyth</span> English musician

Gillian Mary Smyth was an English musician best known for co-founding the psychedelic rock group Gong with her partner Daevid Allen in 1967. She also released music with spinoff groups Mother Gong and Planet Gong as well as releasing several solo albums and albums in collaboration with other members of Gong. In Gong, she often performed under the name Shakti Yoni, contributing poems and vocals dubbed "space whispers".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Hewins</span> British jazz guitarist

Mark Hewins is an English guitarist known for his connections to the Canterbury scene, a group of English progressive rock musicians during the 1960s.

<i>Centigrade 232</i> 2007 studio album by Robert Calvert

Centigrade 232 is an album and a book of poems by English writer and musician Robert Calvert, recorded in 1986 and released in 2007. The poem Centigrade 232 was set to music by Spirits Burning in 2001. Some titles were set to music by Hawkwind and issued as The Brock/Calvert Project in 2007.

<i>Live Floating Anarchy 1977</i> 1978 live album by Planet Gong

Live Floating Anarchy 1977 is a 1978 live album by Planet Gong, a combination of Gong's Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth and the band Here & Now. It was recorded in Toulouse on 6 November 1977, apart from the track "Opium for the People" which was a studio recording. It was originally released on the French LTM record label, run by Jean Karakos, who had previously run Tapioca and BYG.

<i>Acid Mothers Gong Live Tokyo</i> 2006 live album by Gong (as "Acid Mothers Gong")

Acid Mothers Gong Live Tokyo is a live album by Acid Mothers Gong, a band featuring members of Gong and Acid Mothers Temple, recorded during April 2004 at the Doors Club in Tokyo, but not released until 2006 by Voiceprint, catalogue number VP382CD. No producer was credited, but mixing was carried out by guitarist Kawabata Makoto and drummer Yoshida Tatsuya and editing was by Daevid Allen.

<i>Banana Moon</i> 1971 studio album by Daevid Allen

Banana Moon is the debut solo album by Australian singer/songwriter/guitarist and Gong leader Daevid Allen, released in July 1971 on the French BYG Actuel label. The album is sometimes referred to as Bananamoon and it was also reissued as a Gong album.

<i>The Owl and the Tree</i> 1989 studio album by Mother Gong & Daevid Allen

The Owl and the Tree is the 7th studio album of Mother Gong and was released in 1989.

<i>Shapeshifter</i> (Gong album) 1992 studio album by Daevid Allens Gong

Shapeshifter is the ninth studio album released under the name Gong and the sixth album by the Daevid Allen version of the group. It was released in 1992. It is the first proper album from Daevid Allen's Gong since You from 1974. It is the first album from the original group without founding member Gilli Smyth. Didier Malherbe and Allen are the only two returning performers from the previous album. Pip Pyle, who performed on Continental Circus and Camembert Electrique also returns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daevid Allen</span> Australian musician (1938–2015)

Christopher David "Daevid" Allen was an Australian musician. He was co-founder of the psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine and Gong.

Spirits Burning is a musical collective that features musicians associated with space rock and progressive rock, including input from members of Blue Öyster Cult, Clearlight, Gong, and Hawkwind. Spirits Burning is overseen by American composer/producer Don Falcone.

<i>Acid Motherhood</i> 2004 studio album by Gong

Acid Motherhood is the eleventh studio album by Gong and the eighth album by the Daevid Allen version of the group, released in 2004. The line-up on this album consists of a merger of latter-day Gong, with members of University of Errors, and Acid Mothers Temple. It is the only Gong studio album not to include saxophone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catapilla</span> English progressive rock band

Catapilla was an English progressive rock band active in the early 1970s. They released two albums on the major record label Vertigo Records.

References

  1. ↑ "Discography of Robert Calvert". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 "Howley Calvert George Trio". Howley Arts. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  3. ↑ Harris, Craig. "Biography of Catapilla". Allmusic. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Discography of Robert Calvert (2)". Discogs. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
  5. ↑ "The Owl and the Tree". gillismyth. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.