Mushy Machine
Jazz Cafe, London
2 December 2022
A night of time journey with jazz fusion veterans Mushy Machine.
The story of Mushy Machine is complicated, involving a number of incarnations. Shaped in 1966 by Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, Daevid Allen and Mike Ratledge, the band was a centripetal drive on the Canterbury scene. A long time handed by, occasions modified, and so did the band’s line-up. In contrast to King Crimson, whose related multitude of lives featured Robert Fripp transitioning from one stage to a different, Mushy Machine is a torch, handed from one marathon runner to the following. Every of those incarnations speaks to the current and has nearly nothing to do with the previous. Thus, the 60s model of Mushy Machine was aligned with the psychedelic tendencies of the last decade’s final years.
By 1971, all unique members however Michael Ratledge had gone. After Robert Wyatt’s departure, the band was led by composer and keyboard participant Karl Jenkins, who contributed to their jazz fusion transformation.
The present line-up options John Etheridge on guitar, John Marshall on drums, Theo Travis on saxophone and keyboards, and Fred Thelonious Baker on bass. The final two joined the band in 2006 and 2022 respectively. “We’ve been via many many many incarnations. I really suppose this one is the most effective, so there you go”, says John Etheridge, successfully telling the lengthy story in a number of sentences.
With John Etheridge on the helm, the present-day formation easily travels again in time, performing items from the 70s albums. They play The Man Who Waved At Trains from 1975’s Bundle, producing a watercolour of sounds with an alluring wash of keyboards and a definite line of bass. Each John Marshall and John Etheridge had been within the band when Mushy Machine headed the fusion route. Thus, there’s a sturdy sense of continuity.
Together with the veterans, two newer members contribute to the sound of the present Mushy Machine. Theo Travis’s saxophone solos add an an-ebb-and-flow really feel, whereas Fred Thelonious Baker’s bass endows the construction with a gentle fluidity. His capability for experiments appears to be limitless. Mild flageolets and a high-brow double-bass-like solo remodel into roaring distortion. The exhausting rock-ish riff opens 1973’s composition Gesolreut which initially lacked guitar. The current-day rendering ignites the spark and by the top of it, the viewers has gone bonkers.
For lots of the viewers members, the present was a chance to attach with the music of Mushy Machine, created all through fifty-five years of their productive existence. A few of the guests appear to be of their twenties. For them, seeing the newest incarnation of Mushy Machine, who carry out Pleasure of a Toy, the band’s first-ever single, is a sacred expertise. “Did it really feel totally different for the remainder of the viewers?” can be a rhetorical query.
Extra details about Mushy Machine is on their official web site.
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Phrases by Irina Shtreis, extra writing by Irina on her Louder Than Conflict profile.
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