LIJF 2027: Soft Machine

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John Etheridge - guitar / Theo Travis - saxes, flute and keys / Fred T Baker - bass / Asaf Sirkis - drums
 
Soft Machine, from their earliest performances as a psychedelic band were contemporaries of, and shared stages with, Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, all the way to being one of Europe's best known 'fusion' groups. They have influenced several generations of bands and continue to be name-checked by today's hip experimentalists.
 
Whilst the line-up of Soft Machine may have changed many times since the heady days of the late 1960’s, the band’s spirit of musical adventure, and the ease with which it freely avoids being pigeon-holed and can move from powerful progressive jazz fusion to atmospheric psychedelia to free improvised jazz-rock, continues to make it both unique and totally contemporary.

The current band features 1970s band member John Etheridge on guitar, Theo Travis on saxes, flutes and keys, Fred T Baker on bass and Asaf Sirkis on drums. 

"This isn’t a nostalgia or revival band but a very vital unit, contemporary and alert, consistently humane, still capable of surprise and delight" – The Wire

"The band, of course, has a broad palette — from Metheny-like jazz-rock to anything-goes improvisation; from pastoral passages with Etheridge on acoustic to an ambient flutescape from Travis. Compact and to the point, nothing overstays its welcome." - The Times

"No band of this vintage have any right to still sound so fearless and ferocious. Don’t miss them!" - PROG Magazine