Soft Machine Legacy: Burden Of Proof

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

John Etheridge (g)
Theo Travis (ts, ss, f, ky)
John Marshall (tp)
Roy Babbington (b)

Label:

Esoteric Antenna

June/2013

Catalogue Number:

EANTCD1015

RecordDate:

August 2012

All hail to these vets of jazz and prog rock, we can only salute you. The most obvious expression of all things Softs here is the elegiac re-visioning of Hugh Hopper's ‘Kings & Queens’, replete with a yearning Etheridge solo and Travis' signature echo-rich flute. But this illustrious foursome can draw on legacies beyond the Canterbury scene: ominous Mahavishnu chords lurk beneath ‘Black and Crimson’, the Crims pop up on a familiar riff on ‘Fallout’, and there's a dash of Etheridge's Zappatistas on the lumbering but ecstatic ‘Pump Room’. Marshall and Travis' clattering ‘The Brief’ looks back to Bodywork, their collection of free improvisations and Etheridge even has an overpowering attack of Jimmy Page-itis on the ‘Dazed and Confused’-edged ‘Green Cubes’. But let's not look back: whether it's on a dirty blues like ‘Pie Chart’ or the ambient ambling of ‘They Landed On A Hill’, Legacy remain a band who dish it up hot and fresh today, and hopefully tomorrow.

Follow us

Jazzwise Print

  • Latest print issues

From £5.83 / month

Subscribe

Jazzwise Digital Club

  • Latest digital issues
  • Digital archive since 1997
  • Download tracks from bonus compilation albums during the year
  • Reviews Database access

From £7.42 / month

Subscribe

Subscribe from only £5.83

Never miss an issue of the UK's biggest selling jazz magazine.

Subscribe

View the Current
Issue

Take a peek inside the latest issue of Jazzwise magazine.

Find out more