English Rock Flautists - Geoff Leigh, Chris Wood, Ray Thomas, Mel Collins (Paperback)

Chapters: Geoff Leigh, Chris Wood, Ray Thomas, Mel Collins. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 31. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Geoff Leigh (born 5 October 1945) is an English jazz and progressive rock musician, playing primarily soprano sax and flute. He was a member of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow and founded several bands himself, including Red Balune, Random Bob, Black Sheep, Mirage, and Ex-Wise Heads. Geoff Leigh's first gigs were with soul music bands in Manchester in 1965, (the beginnings of the now infamous Northern Soul Scene), in clubs like the Twisted Wheel. His professional career began in 1968, touring the United Kingdom and Europe with various jazz/rock/progressive rock groups, mainly Crazy Mabel. In 1969 he joined Gerry Fitzgerald's band Mouseproof, which introduced Leigh to the budding Canterbury scene and musicians like Daevid Allen, Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt. In the early 1970s Leigh performed with Henry Cow on several occasions, having known the band's drummer, Chris Cutler from school. Leigh accepted Henry Cow's invitation to join the band in 1972, and he played on their first album Legend (1973). After a tour of Holland at the end of 1973, and his preference for playing composed as opposed to improvised music, Leigh left Henry Cow. (Leigh himself insists it was the other way round - he found the composed music becoming more complex for the sake of it, and the improvisations too contemporary classical for his essentially free jazz approach). As Henry Cow were, at the time, signed to Virgin Records, Leigh took advantage of Virgin's network of artists and performed and recorded with a number of their musicians and groups, including Slapp Happy, and Hatfield and the North. In November 1973, Leigh (and other members of Henry Cow) participated in a li...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=8981793