Soft Machine are back in America for the third time in a year for the final US leg of our ‘Other Doors’ tour. Some of the concerts this time are rescheduled shows from a year ago because our US work Visas had not arrived in time so we had had to cancel gigs. I had flown with Fred our bass player extraordinaire into Washington DC. John Etheridge had flown to the US a couple of days earlier and Asaf Sirkis was flying from Germany. Our flight was comfortable and not too busy and I watched the film ‘Amy’ about Amy Winehouse which was both interesting and sad. She was certainly blessed with a very special voice and her death at just 27 years of age was tragic. I found out that her flat in East Finchley had in fact been about a hundred yards from where I now live.
On landing, Fred and I took a cab from the airport to the hotel to meet the others. The cab passed both the Pentagon and the Arlington Cemetery which has been in the news recently, so that was cool. We were later on to drive past the White House also. The first three gigs on the tour were at Jammin’ Java in Vienna in Virginia, Orion Studios in Baltimore and the Sellersville theatre, Pennsylvania. The first two were nice clubs and we found the audiences really appreciative as well as very knowledgable about the band and its history and music. I met three punters who had last seen Soft Machine live in 1968 when the band supported Jimi Hendrix on tour! We have played Orion before and it is a fabulous set up with fantastic staff, sound and great vibe. They even had a beautiful Fender Rhodes piano for me to play which always makes me very happy!
For the Sellersville Theatre gig we had a special guest as a support artist, the guitarist Tim Motzer. I have known Tim since we both guested on the David Sylvian/ Nine Horses album ‘Snow Bourne Sorrow’ twenty years ago and we have in fact made a couple of albums together. He is a really interesting artist with a very individual and experimental approach. He skilfully incorporates live looping and sound processing technology and very ‘in the moment’ improvising but creates beautiful sound canvases and layered textures of guitar. He played a great solo set. Our gig went very well and I met several fans before and after the gig in the lobby whilst signing merchandise, fans who I knew from Facebook but had not met in person. Some had travelled long distances to come and hear the band and others had come to see us the night before too.
Then last night Soft Machine played in the heart of New York City. As a British Jazz musician there is something very special about driving into Manhattan with your band to play a show in the world’s undisputed capital for modern jazz. You can imagine all the greats playing there - Miles, Dizzy, Monk, Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Shorter, Sanborn, and everyone else! I will always remember the first time I did it, cruising into Manhattan on a converted Greyhound bus back in the year 2000 with the band Gong. I was listening on my headphones to McCoy Tyner trio with Michael Brecker burning through the track ‘Impressions’ filled with excitement and thinking ‘I am going to be playing in New York City!’ On that occasion, we were performing at a very cool (if a bit shabby) venue called the Knitting Factory (now no more) and it was to be an exciting night with a packed house of very enthusiastic fans. Soft Machine have now played at the Iridium club, just off Times Square, several times including last October, and that club used to be run by the guitar legend Les Paul, who carried on playing there until he was about 92! John Etheridge and I write a lot of the material for the band and it is an added buzz playing your own music to audiences around the world, especially when they really like it and say they enjoy it as much as some of the classic Soft Machine material. So last night we drove to City Winery by the Hudson River and Pier 57. This time we listened in the van on the way in to the classic track ‘East River’ by the Brecker Brothers - a big sounding track about the city and by a very New York band. Michael Brecker is one of my top three favourite saxophonists and he lived in the city for years, even opening his own jazz club with his brother Randy there, on and called ‘Seventh Avenue South’.
We arrived at the venue and to my relief had a parking place saved for us by the club. We carried our gear up to the room we were playing in (Loudon Wainwright lll was playing in the neighbouring room that night) and to my surprise I heard on the PA the very English sounding voice of my friend Richard Sinclair. It is a whimsical Caravan track I have played many times with Richard called ‘Golf Girl’ and it seemed rather out of place in the surroundings, being so English! But a classic track nonetheless. The very switched on sound engineer (Freddie Katz) who is also a respected producer and guitarist had been listening to various Canterbury Music bands like Caravan in preparation for our gig. He wanted to hear the sound and flavour of bands in our area of music so he could make some informed musical decisions for the live sound mixing. This was both impressive and unusual. House sound engineers never do that! Freddie was very good at his job and fast at it too which we loved. I had some friends come to the gig and it was lovely to see them, though there was little time to chat as there was so much to do to in preparation for the concert. We played one long set and, I have to say, it took the roof off! The crowd went nuts and was really pumped in a New York way. I think the whole band was inspired by playing such a great club in New York City and I think we raised our game as a result. ‘If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere’ as the song goes….Next stop is in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Thank you to Avraham Bank, Joanna Refrain and Juan Ant for the photos.
