LATEST NEWS
New OPUS page: Above and Below
This week we are adding another of Phil’s compositions to our OPUS pages:
All the scores, audios and videos for Above and Below can be found here.
HERM
24.09.22
The Miller Brothers and Me part two by Hag
We are starting part two with Steve Miller’s Piano Solos, Crescent Discs CD7CD
Recorded at St Johns Arc, Old Harlow, Essex between 26th August 1996 and 18th May 1997
Part two Making Music
Over the years Steve Miller began introducing me to other musicians and I once brought my old friend who started me on this path, Patrick Dean. It was a satisfying evening. Another early recorded meeting was on 21st March 1993 with Steve, myself and Jack Monck.
Another meeting was with the drummer Mark Sanders who recorded with both Steve and Phil. Here is a recording of a session in November 1995 with Steve and Mark playing.
I became aware of the rich history of Steve, Phil and Jack Monck. In 1966 Phil and Steve had founded the Bruno’s Blues Band with Phil’s school friend drummer Pip Pyle with Jack Monck on bass. The band gigged around London for a few years. In 1968, saxophonist Lol Coxhill joined them, and the band’s name was changed to Steve Miller’s Delivery. In 1969, the band teamed up with blues singer Carol Grimes and the bassist Roy Babbington replaced Jack. They then recorded ‘Fools Meeting’. Later Pip Pyle left to join Gong and was replaced by Laurie Allan who later left to also join Gong. When Delivery disbanded Steve joined Caravan and Phil went on to found Matching Mole with Robert Wyatt and Dave Sinclair. In 1972 a new Delivery line-up was assembled with the Miller brothers, Pip Pyle and Richard Sinclair on bass & vocals, then Steve Miller’s bandmate in Caravan. They played a few live shows, then later that year Dave Sinclair replaced Steve Miller playing organ. They then changed the name to Hatfield and the North.
I knew that Phil had been in Hatfield and the North but had no idea of the other history.
On 17th November 1972 of the first time they performed as Hatfield and the North at a benefit concert for Radical Alternatives to Prison at London’s Imperial College.
One time at All Saints when Jack Monck came and played, he turned to me after one piece and said. ‘You thought that was in Am, didn’t you?’ ‘Yes’ I confessed, he was correct. ‘It was actually in F’ said Jack. Not in a dismissive way. Just gently communicating by way of information. I can’t remember the actual keys but I know I was wrong. I felt somewhat silly but was greatly impressed with Jack’s listening skills, pitch and of course his fine qualities as a bass player. No singing was involved.
Looking back now it may have been something they both had played in their shared rich history.
This is probably exaggerated in my memory. I can remember feeling uncomfortable with my playing and not being sure about the key. It all goes back to my mother who loved singing. ‘Just move your lips but don’t sing, you’re tone deaf’. She told me in church as a child. All the years I played with Steve I can’t ever recall discussing a key! The rule in free playing seemed to be the obvious, ‘If you want to know the key you shouldn’t be there’.
By 1994 Eddie Prevost would occasionally play with us and a local bass player Steve Ash, though not often at the same time. Eddie Prevost was the drummer/percussionist who co founded AMM, the experimental improvisation group with Lou Gare and Keith Rowe in 1965 and was then still active. Steve had released his double vinyl album ‘Miller’s Tale, Steve Miller Trio meets Lol Coxhill’ with Tony Moore on bass and Eddie Prevost drums from a live concert on 11th November 1985 also at the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town. Still available as an LP for sale on Discogs and is also on YouTube.
On 16th March 1994 we appeared in a short slot for a cable network called Wire TV, videoed at All Saints. It consisted of a short intro piece, interviews with Steve and Eddie and an outro. The mix is rather poor, the piano being mostly drowned out by the other instruments. This could be considered the first incarnation of K.Ostra. Watch the video here.
By 1996 we had another bass player on our regular Thursday night meets at All Saints Church, Nick Biggins, whose daughter attended the same school as Steve’s daughter in Sawbridgeworth.
Steve Miller must have been happy with my performance as he invited me to do a gig with him at St Johns Ark in Old Harlow, an arts & music venue where Steve regularly performed, often with his brother Phil and Lol Coxhill. He loved the sound of that baby grand piano in an excellent converted church acoustic setting. We titled the gig ‘May the Fourth be with You’.
You guessed it, on 4th May 1996. The band was augmented with a group of seasoned players well above my pay grade. This was billed as Steve Miller, piano, Eddie Prevost, drums, with guests B.J. Cole – pedal steel guitar, Nick Biggins – bass, and Hag – guitar. No rehearsals or anything of course. We played in various formations from the complete quintet to duos. Steve Miller was in charge. Eventually he asked me to do a duo with Eddie, a great opportunity. I walked over and picked up my guitar next to Eddie. He had started playing when I noted that my guitar was not plugged in and as Steve Lane was recording I was so scared not to make any unwanted noise I just sat there with my guitar on my lap, just me and Eddie, waiting for a suitable gap but none arrived and thus I did not play a note. Seems silly now, just nerves. I can still recall the fear, and now at last I have confessed all. Listening now, Eddie Prevost’s drum solo is impressive.
There is nothing I could or want to add. My just being there makes this my first but not last Cage-ian performance. This was my first ever paying gig, with an audience, at the age of 47! Later Steve told me Eddie had said. ‘If Hag doesn’t want to play what’s he doing there?’. I communicated all this to Eddie on the 24th anniversary of the event and confessed all. He was pleased to hear from me but did not recall the gig, fortunately for me. I however had caught the bug, my diary entry simply reading ‘Great gig (in the end) My first after all these years! – I want more.’ The next gig Steve asked me to play at, he was performing with his brother Phil who would arrive by train with his guitar over his shoulder and his Amp on a 2 wheeled trolley, with his calm persona and a happy beaming smile. I cannot recall if Phil knew Steve had asked me to play. I guess not as Steve had a bit of a Miles Davis approach to band members, in that he liked to surprise them to illicit more interesting performances. I knew Phil well by now and we were comfortable with each other. I think it was the first time we had played but I was aware then that I was playing with two guys who had been doing this since they were teenagers, over 30 years ago. Despite my initial nerves I settled in with Phil quite happily. I recall it being a dramatic, exciting night with some thrilling trades with Phil. Unfortunately it was not recorded. Unusual for us. Many years later talking to Phil on the phone towards the end of his time discussing music and musicians he payed me the greatest of compliments for a musician of his quality standing and respect. ‘You know, Hag, whilst playing with you and Steve I often used to think what am I doing here? Hag is doing everything that is required’. It was in late 1996 K.Ostra began to coalesce. By then we asked both bass players, Steve Ash and Nick Biggins, to join us for our Thursday evening meetings. This worked well as they were both very experienced players but with different sounds and styles. It melded well expanding the sounds. Steve Lane, who had met Nick Griffiths when they both worked for Pink Floyd had become interested in recording Steve and us and became a regular member. I had always encouraged Steve Miller to consider making a set of solo piano pieces. He didn’t need any accompaniment. Much as I enjoyed making music with him he always flew without a parachute and would soar solo. From 26/08/96 to 18/08/97 both Steves, Miller and Lane, recorded the tracks for his solo piano collection ‘See Hear’ at St Johns Ark, Old Harlow (which is the CD playing at the top of this page).I had the honour of attending all the recordings and powerful they were as Steve set off from silence and moved through his own spaces he formed moulded and conjured in that air. Towards the end of 1997 it was Steve Lane – yes we had three Steves ! – who suggested a drummer he knew who may be interested. So at the next meeting Paul Dufour arrived tentatively with some percussion and a minimum kit of a snare, hi-hat and cymbal. He slipped in well, clearly for him too, as at the following event he arrived with his full kit and a percussionist Phillipe Janoyer creating the final sextet line-up. It was a great feeling and from that point Thursday’s became band night. We were all interested in the same thing. Making coherent freely improvised music. Sadly it was around this time that Steve Miller recognised he was not well. That dance began for him through differing moves finalising with a pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 1998. On the evening of 14th May 1998 we had a K.Ostra rehearsal as we tried to do every Thursday. I wrote…..‘A sombre night at K.ostra.But some good music played’. I am sure the sombre comment referred to Steve at this time as we were all well aware of his medical situation. Steve Lane recorded all these rehearsals on DAT. There is a recording by Steve Lane at St Johns Ark in Old Harlow earlier that day with Phil Miller as Steve Miller loved that baby grand so much. You can listen to the recording here.
This I am assuming was a rehearsal for their forthcoming gig at the Vortex on 28th June 1998 with Carol Grimes, Lol Coxhill, Fred Baker and Pip Pyle – almost the original Delivery. We are hoping to get a recording of this concert for later inclusion into this article. Meanwhile, here are some photos from the gig, courtesy of Aymeric Leroy:
That gig was Steve Miller’s last public performance. Steve Lane had been recording him at various performances and our sessions at All Saints with his Soundfield microphone which records the whole space in multiple directions. We decided to record the band using this mike whilst also close miking all the instruments so it could be mixed down from 8 tracks. This was set up for Friday 31st July 1998 in the evening at St Johns Ark so Steve Miller could use the baby grand and his Synthesiser keyboard. We all arrived except Phillipe Janoyer who couldn’t make it. Steve Miller arrived late. Things were beginning to get difficult for him. He had also invited another guitarist, Mark Hewins, a seasoned professional of many talents, the guitarist I first saw Steve with all those years earlier. He hadn’t let me know. As I mentioned above, that old surprise trick! I admit I was put out with these changes as we were supposed to be recording our sound and I had gone to great lengths to arrange this. It was a difficult set-up, with people being late and equipment failures but we did eventually get going. After all that and my disgruntled state it was a very satisfying set. To play with Mark was a delight and always has been as we have become good friends playing together on numerous occasions. Gathering at Steve Lane’s to listen to the recording was always a nervous event but this, recorded more carefully than at our usual band nights was exciting with two guitars. I recall the band blending well. I remember the excitement. I only heard it the one time as we resolved to try again with Phillipe present which became the K.Ostra ‘….It’s out there’ recording. This session was never mixed down from the eight track and that master was lost somewhere sometime well into the 2000’s. I still live in the hope of it turning up. The next session at St Johns Ark was 11th October on a sunny Sunday afternoon with the light streaming through the churches stained glass windows. It was a much more relaxed session. Everybody arrived on time and the sound check and balancing went well. So well that the opening track on Steve Millers K.Ostra ‘….It’s out there’ is actually the piano sound set up as Steve plays some good old boogie piano as the band gently joins in. This was a rare thing for him to then play but still wonderful. The session is exactly what is recorded on the CD in that order. A very satisfying result. Tragically in 8 weeks and 3 days Steve Miller, at such a young age, would be gone. There was no reflection of Steve’s position in his performance that day. There was a certain energy present. My memory fails me on how this happened but a small part of these recordings was sent out into deep space forming examples of terrestrial music with other examples on a unmanned space mission. I think it was something Steve Ash arranged. From this recording we were all excited and were planning ahead with creating a set of music for performances. This entailed having a new premise. We began rehearsing beginnings and endings so we all knew where to start and where we were going. What happened inbetween was just that: what happened. We took this seriously to the extent of hiring a rehearsal studio warm enough for Steve Miller, for us to work out the parts, formulate keys, scales, rhythms and time. Now we would all know where we were when the show began. Sadly time overtook us. Veryan Weston is a pianist that Steve had spoken about with great respect. They occupied the same musical orbits. Clearly the feeling was mutual as understanding Steve’s situation, Veryan had been in touch and arranged with Steve to record another set of solo piano pieces in his studio on his piano. These were the final pieces Steve Miller recorded. I have never heard these recordings. His health then deteriorated rapidly as Steve Miller departed his mortal coil on December 9th 1998.
HERM
19.09.22
The Drummer Paul Dufour died on 7th September
We were very sorry to hear that Paul died this week. We relied heavily on Paul’s help in 2019 when we were preparing for Phil’s tribute concert ‘A Life In Music’. Paul rescued this event at short notice when Trevor Tomkins had to pull out due to ill health. He did a fantastic job. 11.09.22
Hatfield & The North at the Baha Prog Festival Mexico – 2006
The third and last time I saw the reformed Hatfield was at Baja Prog, and no doubt the farthest I travelled to hear them. It was a great prog rock festival that was organized by the keyboard player and leader of the Mexican prog band Cast, Alfonso Vidales, in his home city of Mexicali in Baja California, just South of the US/Mexican border. I’d already been to the 2004, on account of SoftWorks performing what would turn out to be their last-ever gig there, and for both visits I have to thank Leonardo Pavkovic, who managed both bands and was also responsible for bringing a lot of reformed heritage prog bands, many from Italy, to the festival. Hatfield and the North wasn’t the only veteran band on the bill that year, I also got to see the likes of Nektar, England, Trettioariga Kriget, SBB and Mirthrandir, as well as contemporary bands like Marillion, the Flower Kings, Lazuli and Mostly Autumn…
03.09.22
New OPUS page Conspiracy Theories published
This week we are publishing a new OPUS page: Conspiracy Theories.This composition of Phil’s is the first track on the CD of the same name featuring a new lineup of In Cahoots.
HERM
27.08.22
“The Miller Brothers and me” by Hag
This week we are publishing an historical 3 part piece by Hag recounting his experiences with Phil and Steve containing loads of recordings, some of which many of you will not have heard before. Part 1 kicks off with The Steve Miller Tribute gig 12th May 2001
Paul Dufour Interview
The drummer Paul Dufour turned pro at the age of 18. We were very lucky when he came to our rescue prior to the Phil Miller Tribute Concerts at the Vortex in 2019 when Trevor Tomkins had to pull out for health reasons. Here is episode one of Aymeric’s Interview
HERM
13.07.22
National Health Toronto November 1979
National Health – The Edge, Toronto, Ontario, Canada – 11 November 1979
This bootleg recording from National Health’s 1979 North American tour has special significance for me. Not only is it one of the best sounding of the available ones, and a great performance to boot, but it’s also the first NH bootleg I ever laid my hands on, in the very early 1990s…
06.08.22
New OPUS page Bass Motives published
This week we are publishing a new OPUS page: Bass Motives. This is the first of several compositions Phil wrote for Fred Baker featuring the bass as a melodic instrument.
HERM
20.07.22
Phil Miller’s HARD SHOULDER – it’s hard to play – hence the title
This week I want to give some insight into how Phil approached recording his compositions. I recently came across an article that Dave Stewart wrote about Hard Shoulder – a piece of Phil’s you can find on the Cutting Both Ways CD Phil’s first CD featuring his band In Cahoots.23.07.22
Simon Picard Interview Final Part
This week we are showing the third and final episode of Aymeric’s interview with Simon Picard.
HERM
17.07.22
In Cahoots Argenteuil October 1998
October 1998 was the only time it was logistically possible for me to follow In Cahoots on several dates of a European tour. I had arranged a trip to Belgium to take advantage of not just the InCa gigs in Liège and Brussels, but also gigs by other favourite bands, Magma and Présent. But as the Belgian gigs would be played as a quartet, I also made sure I caught the sextet line-up on one of their two stops near Paris, a medieval cellar in Argenteuil where I would later return to hear John Greaves’ Roxongs Trio…
10.07.22
New OPUS page: Delta Borderline published
This week we are posting another new page from OPUS – the complete works of Phil Miller. Delta Borderline is a piece Phil wrote in 1999 specially for guitarist Doug Boyle when compiling the music for his forthcoming blues album Out Of The Blue released on the Crescent Discs label in 2000. Phil dedicated this CD to his brother Steve who died before it was released. On the OPUS page you can watch the video of Doug playing Delta Borderline at the Phil Miller Tribute Concert at the Vortex in 2019. We have started to add the scores to the OPUS pages and on the Delta Borderline page you will find Sibelius files and also some PDFs
HERM
02.07.22
Adding Contributors’ Transcriptions to THE DOTS
This week we are introducing a new category into THE DOTS. Recently we were very pleased when two people – Daniel Rheault and music teacher / band member Neil Browning sent us their transcriptions of Phil’s music taken from CDs. Both of them sent transcriptions of Phil playing Aigrette taken from the Hatfield & The North CD. These transcripts represent what Phil actually played on the CD. We do not have a copy of Phil’s original version of Aigrette as all his hand written manuscripts are held in the Archives of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. I am going to visit the archive after the summer break to do some digitising of these manuscripts where I hope to find an early version which I shall add to the Aigrette OPUS page along with later versions.
Daniel also sent us his transcriptions of Underdub and Lounging There Trying from Hatfield & The North’s The Rotter’s Club 1975 and Final Call from Phil’s 1988 Split Second CD. Daniel wants his email address shown as he would like to correspond with other musicians who share his interests.
We would be very pleased to receive more transcriptions from anyone who has made them and would like to see them added to this new section.
HERM
25.06.22
Simon Picard Interview Part Two
This week we are showing the second episode of Aymeric’s interview with Simon Picard.
HERM
18.06.22
In Cahoots London Astoria Progeny Festival 2003
In Cahoots London Astoria Progeny Festival November 15 2003
This is a short but unique performance by In Cahoots as it features Liam Genockey in his only gig with the band (among various connections with the other members, he had just recorded the excellent Psychic Warrior album with Elton, Fred and Alex Maguire, the same line-up already heard on most of Elton’s equally excellent Moor Song from 2001). My recollection is that initially, Mark Fletcher was unavailable, so Liam was brought in, then at the last minute Fletch was available again, but so as not to let his hard work go to waste, Liam drummed anyway with Fletch providing extra percussion.
New OPUS page published Eastern Region
Since we published the last OPUS page we have added two new videos. These have come from the Phil Miller Prize competition winners. On the Phrygian Blues page you will find the version performed by Leo Marland and on the Eastern Region page which we are publishing today you will find the version performed by Oliver Canham and Adam Roberts.
HERM
04.06.22
Phil Miller Guitar Prize 2022
The prize of £1000 is offered to students of the RBC for a solo or duo performance of a composition by Phil Miller to demonstrate their understanding of his oeuvre.
On Thursday 19th May the Phil Miller Guitar Prize took place in the Eastside Jazz Club at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. This event has been postponed for the last two years because of the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic. It was in danger of being postponed for a third year when at the last minute we were offered this date. We were unprepared for it as we had been hoping to stage the event later in June but decided to accept this date and put on a pared-down version rather than missing out until 2023.
In spite of the short notice we had a good response resulting in six performances: three duos and three solos.
Fred Baker provided additional entertainment with his trio: our special guest of the evening Mark Fletcher on drums, Mickey O’Brien on Bass and himself on guitar playing some of Phil’s pieces.
The First Prize was won by Leo Morland on guitar with a fabulous performance of Phrygian Blues and the Second Prize was won by a duo performance from Oliver Canham on guitar and Adam Roberts on electric bass with a great rendition of Eastern Region.
We are posting all the performances of the evening starting with the first and second prize winners.
HERM
28.05.22
Simon Picard Interview by Aymeric Leroy
This week we are showing episode one of Aymeric’s interview of Simon Picard. Simon joined in Phil’s band In Cahoots in July 2005. You can watch him playing in the Phil Miller Tribute Concert on this site on Miserable Man, Fool’s Meeting, Nowadays a Silhouette, Second Sight and Nan True’s Hole.
HERM
21.05.22
Interview
Here is a link to an interview of Phil that appeared on the Hatfield face book page that Lynette Densham sent me because I had not seen it. The interviewer hilariously describes Phil as “quite” a nice man, whereas everyone who ever met Phil knew he was the nicest man on the planet!
HERM
15.05.22
In Cahoots at MelkWeg Amsterdam 1984
This is a very early In Cahoots gig from the first overseas tour that Phil took his band on. They played three gigs in France followed by twelve in Holland including a radio broadcast in Utrecht. This tour sadly marked the end of Richard Sinclair’s time with In Cahoots and the band didn’t begin performing again until 1985 when dear Hugh Hopper took up the Bass guitar slot and In Cahoots embarked on their second European tour.
HERM
14.05.22
New OPUS page published: PHRYGIAN BLUES
This week we are posting our second OPUS page featuring Phrygian Blues with Fred’s masterclass and several manuscripts and Sibelius files along with audio files from various performances/recordings.
Although on the index page we present these works in alphabetical order, we will not be posting them in this order but rather one page at a time as they are completed.
07.05.22
In Cahoots Quartet Travers Bruxelles Belgium 19th October 1998
In October 1998 In Cahoots played five consecutive European gigs, the last two as a quartet…
HERM
30.04.22
Double Up 2
The posthumous release of this album was a very poignant event. During the 40 years we spent together Phil was always at work on his music, always in his studio with his guitar and his computer. He had a lot of things on the go at the same time, some of them stretching over long periods of time. The work he and Fred Baker put in working on the music for this CD started soon after the release of the first Double Up CD. He and Fred were very close and Fred was a frequent visitor. Although he lived in Derbyshire he was a frequent visitor to London. As a member of In Cahoots there were plenty of rehearsals for upcoming gigs and tours and Fred always stayed with us in Dalston. The duo recorded the material for this CD on these occasions over the years. As you can read on Fred’s notes in the CD booklet Phil arranged some of this material for the band and they became part of their repertoire but these pieces can be heard in their original duet format on the new CD along with brand new, never before heard pieces. When Phil died in 2017 Fred and I agreed we would find these recordings and complete the work that Phil had left unfinished so that it could be included in his body of work. Benj Lefevre, Phil’s long standing faithful friend and brilliant sound engineer worked hard to rescue these old tapes and mix the material. To Preserve Phil’s legacy has been my driving force since his death and this website has been the vehicle but putting together and releasing this CD has been a deeply emotional experience. When somebody you love dies there is usually nothing more you can ever do for them. Listening to this CD for the first time made us feel we had done something for Phil that his death had prevented him from doing himself.
Several people have been in touch with me from Europe about having difficulties getting hold of Double Up 2 by Phil Miller and Fred Baker Crescent Discs CD12CD so yesterday I put copies up for sale on http://www.Discogs.com under Phil Miller (artist), seller: Herm Miller. Back in the days when Phil ran the Crescent Discs label, he always sold his CDs for a modest price which included free delivery. As this CD was brought out under the old Crescent Discs label, I have remained faithful to his example and priced the CD at £12 with free delivery to Europe (& UK). I sold a copy straight away so I know the system works.
HERM
23.04.22
In Cahoots Spaziomusica Pavia 26th May 1990
Today we are posting a performance of In Cahoots on their 1990 Italian tour.
HERM
16.04.22
OPUS: The Complete Works Of Philip Paul Brisco Miller
This new addition to the legacy website will eventually include all the material we have been able to gather on all of Phil’s 80+ compositions – manuscripts/scores, masterclasses, videos and audio files. This material is aimed primarily at the students of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire who are participating in the annual Phil Miller Guitar Prize.Although on the index page we present these works in alphabetical order, we will not be posting them in this order but rather one page at a time as they are completed. We are starting with Second Sight.
09.04.22
Jack Monck Interview final part
This week we are posting the final part of Aymeric’s interview with Jack Monck.
HERM
03.04.22
Jack Monck Interview part two
Today we have added the second part of our three part interview of Jack Monck by Aymeric Leroy.
HERM
27.03.22
Jack Monck Interview by Aymeric Leroy
This interview featuring the bassist Jack Monck – one of Phil Miller’s oldest friends. It is the third in our series of interviews by Aymeric Leroy. Here is episode one.
HERM
19.03.22
Delivery: Phil, Steve, JACK MONCK and Pip
In Cahoots Vortex London 2009
This is a recording I did of the last In Cahoots performance I ever attended – as it turned out, they only did one more in Colchester the following day, so this is a rare document of a lineup…
Doug Boyle Interview Concluding Episode
This week we are posting the second and final part of Aymeric Leroy’s interview with Doug Boyle.
Herm
04.03.22
Doug Boyle Interview by Aymeric Leroy
Today we are posting the first instalment of a two part interview with guitarist and composer, Doug Boyle, by Aymeric Leroy.
Herm
25.02.22
National Health Hull 1977
Listen to National Health Live at Hull University from November 1977
Herm
18.02.22
Phil Miller & Fred Baker Double Up 2 – February 4th 2022
We have some MEGA EXCITING NEWS to share with you all !!!! The long-awaited Phil Miller/Fred Baker Duo CD Double Up 2 will be released on March 4th 2022 and is available now for pre-order. A sequel to the much loved Double Up album released by Crescent Discs in 1992, the new CD is distributed worldwide by Burning Shed and will not be streamed or available from other distributors. Burning Shed is run for musicians by musicians, with all profits from these sales going directly to the artists with no record company involvement. You can get alerts of Shed’s new releases by subscribing to their newsletter.
Pre-order the CD at burningshed.com
Burning Shed newsletter
DOUBLE UP 2 is a beautiful CD which includes some of Phil’s brand new, never before heard tunes, recorded by Phil and Fred over an extended period and only recently discovered. You can hear more about the album from Fred who talks about it in the video we are posting today. The video also gives updates on all the activities being planned for the Phil Miller Guitar Prize event being hosted by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
The quickest way to get your copy is to pre-order now from Burning Shed.
Fred Baker Video
Here is the short Video I made of Fred Baker on his last visit just before the Soft Machine gig at New Cross Gate. Behind him you will see a preview of the paintings I have been doing for a display at the Phil Miller Guitar Prize event.Mean Fiddler March 2005
We didn’t know it at the time but that evening at the Mean Fiddler was an event not to miss and, sadly, not to be repeated. The official live debut of the reformed Hatfield and the North (with keyboardist Alex Maguire joining original members Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair and Pip Pyle), following an informal one earlier that year in Whitstable as part of what was billed as a Richard Sinclair Band gig…
28.01.22
Hugh Hopper’s Benefit Concert 2008
I recently came across this photo of Hugh that I took when Hugh brought his wife and their new daughter Rose to visit us many years ago. Today in fond memory of Hugh, we are showing a video of highlights from the benefit concert for him which was held at London’s 100 Club on 14th December 2008.
Herm
21.01.22
The Fred Baker Interview Final Part
This week we are showing the concluding episode of Aymeric Leroy’s interview with Fred Baker: the erstwhile bass player with Phil Miller’s band In Cahoots and now the new bass player with Soft Machine. This photo was taken on 5th January this year on the eve of the Soft Machine concert in New Cross Gate, London the next day. Look out for a surprise video of Fred next week giving an update on his work with Phil’s music at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Herm
14.01.22
The Fred Baker Interview Part Two
This week we are featuring Fred Baker again with episode two of his three part interview with Aymeric Leroy. Pictured here is a shot of Fred, well wrapped up against the cold, taken from Phil and Fred’s Russian Duo tour in 1993.
Herm
07.01.22
The Fred Baker Interview
We expect you have all seen the news that Fred is now the new Bass player in Soft Machine, replacing Roy Babbington, whose hand problems have forced him to retire. Fred was Roy’s recommendation for the job and we look forward to seeing him play in this new role. Today we are showing the first episode of Aymeric’s interview with Fred Baker, the longest serving bass player in Phil’s band In Cahoots. Phil and Fred came together in 1998 and played together in both In Cahoots and as a Duo. There will be two further episodes of Fred’s interview, meanwhile here is the first…
Herm
31.12.21
Matching Mole London 1972
London, Queen Elizabeth Hall – 7 September 1972
Re-assembled from three different sources, but primarily a decent audience recording (except for the beginning and end), this is chronologically the last Matching Mole performance captured for posterity, and it’s also the only one from after the band had recorded Little Red Record…
17.12.21
Final episode of Aymeric’s interview of the guitarist Jeff Green
In this conclusion of his interview Jeff gives us his thoughts on Phil, his own present activities, different approaches to music, playing without a score, his experiences playing with the participants in Ian Cruikshank’s Gypsy Festivals, thoughts on Miles Davis, and updates on Gentle Giant and his brother Gary.
Herm
10.12.21
Jeff Green interview: Django Reinhardt – Stephane Grappelli – Nigel Kennedy
In this penultimate episode of Aymeric’s interview with the guitarist Jeff Green, we hear how Jeff returned to the acoustic guitar, rediscovered the music of Django Reinhardt while playing with violinist Mike Piggott in the Chris Francis Quartet, played with bassist Jim Richardson’s Be-bop Quartet Pogo, joined the Stephane Grappelli Quartet with Martin Taylor and Alec Dankworth and became part of Nigel Kennedy’s ‘Wasp Factory’.
Herm
03.12.21
The Melting Pot of WALFORD ROAD in the 1970s
This week we are showing the third episode of Aymeric’s Jeff Green interview in which Jeff recalls the musicians who lived in Walford Road and some of the bands that emerged from this melting pot, including Elton Dean’s JUST US, Phil Howard’s MEGALOPOLIS and Jo Gallivan’s INTERCONTINENTAL EXPRESS.
Herm
26.11.21
Jeff Green as SOFT MACHINE roadie in USA 1971 tour
This week we are showing the second episode of Aymeric’s Jeff Green interview. Jeff takes us behind the scenes while acting as a roadie for Soft Machine on their first American tour.
Herm
19.11.21
No Holds Barred – Interviews by Aymeric Leroy
One of the spin-offs from the Phil Miller Tribute Concert that we arranged after Phil died, was Aymeric Leroy’s idea of a series of interviews of the musicians performing at the concert. I bought three Sony Camcorders and we organised an interviewing suite at Colvestone Crescent using Phil’s Edirol recorder and two tripods that I borrowed, with myself operating the hand-held camera for close-ups. Aymeric made many trips from France to do these interviews which we conducted over several days interviewing two or three musicians on each visit. You will have seen the short excerpts that Aymeric made from this series. What we are presenting here are the full-length versions. They can be found under the new MENU heading: NO HOLDS BARRED.
This first interview featuring the guitaist JEFF GREEN has been divided into five episodes. Here is the first episode….
Herm
12.11.21
Phil and Steve at St John’s Harlow 14 May 1998
Here is a recording of the dearly departed Miller brothers playing together at St John’s in Harlow over 20 years ago. The photograph is from an earlier period – probably 1966.
Herm
06.11.21
In Cahoots: new drummer rehearsal & Progman Cometh Festival 2002
When Pip Pyle left In Cahoots in 2002 to form his own band, Phil’s choice for a replacement was Mark Fletcher, fondly known as Fletch. There was no need to introduce Fletch as he was well known to everybody in the band – you would be hard pressed to find any musician on the scene that he hadn’t played with. In July 2002 Phil called a try out/rehearsal for Fletch before their upcoming performance in Seattle a few weeks later…
Herm
20.10.21
National Health Sweden 1980
National Health’s final line-up (1979-80) is well documented in live recordings, but this one is made extra special by being Alan Gowen’s last performance with the band, and his penultimate public appearance.
22.10.21
Fourth Anniversary of Phil Miller’s death.
PHIL MILLER 22.01.1949 – 18.10.2017
I have selected a piece of Phil’s music for this sad day…..
Herm
The Miller Bothers and Lol Coxhill at Rumours 1992
And now for something completely different: Phil, his brother Steve and Lol Coxhill playing live at Rumours in London on April 17th 1992. I found this DAT recording in a box of old tapes in Phil’s studio and thought it was worth giving it a second airing – not what you are used to listening to on this website!
Herm
08.10.21
Prog Italia Magazine Article – part three
A big thank you again to Vincenzo Giorgio for writing a fantastic three-part biography of Phil for Prog Italia magazine. The third and final part can be found here.
01.10.21
1996 Mystery Gig
“I wish I could tell you more about where and when this particular performance by In Cahootswas recorded, but it came on a DAT tape that had evidently been recorded over since it mentioned a 1991 date and the repertoire here is clearly 1996…”
25.09.21
Miller Baker Duo Maassluis Netherlands 1992
Listen to and download this Miller/Baker concert,
19.09.21
Fred Baker Trio 1000 Trades Birmingham 2019 – part three
Watch the third part of the Fred Baker Trio at the 1000 Trades in Birmingham playing Green & Purple.
15.09.21
In Cahoots Tribute to The Love Generation Tokyo 2001
We are all very excited about this week’s posting: the newly discovered tapes of Tribute to the Love Generation in Tokyo 2001 where In Cahoots played two great concerts on the 8th and 9th of December. The band were in tip top form and the music was at it’s best with a brand new set list. Everyone played really well and to top it all it was brilliantly recorded by one of Phil’s greatest friends: the inspired sound engineer Benj LeFevre. We decided to post both these superb concerts together and also updated the video of this event with the new sound track. So here it is in all it’s glory. Enjoy!
Herm
03.09.21
Fred Baker Trio 1000 Trades Birmingham 2019 – part two
Watch the second part of the Fred Baker Trio at the 1000 Trades in Birmingham playing Truly Yours and Delta Borderline.
28.08.21
Fred Baker Trio 1000 Trades Birmingham 2019 – part one
Watch the Fred Baker Trio play God Song and Underdub in Birmingham (1000 Trades) from 2019.
21.08.21
Fred Baker Trio 2019 – part three
Watch the third part of Fred’s Trio playing Above and Below at the Neptune in Chesterfield. The Trio features Fred Baker on guitars, Mickey O’Brien on Bass and Nick Twyman on drums.
07.08.21
Prog Italia Magazine Article.
A big thank you to Vincenzo Giorgio for writing a fantastic three-part biography of Phil for Prog Italia magazine. The second part can be found here, starting on page 28.
05.08.21
Fred Baker Trio 2019 – part two
Watch Fred’s Trio playing at the Neptune, his local pub in Chesterfield. The Trio features Fred Baker on guitars, Mickey O’Brien on Bass and Nick Twyman on drums.
30.07.21
In Cahoots BBC 1985
“Recorded on the eve of the band studio sessions for “Cutting Both Ways“, these are live-in-the-studio performances of the music Phil had recently written with the aid of a bursary from the Arts Council, specially recorded for the BBC’s Jazz Today programme…“
17.7.21
In Cahoots Mean Fiddler 2005
“This is a relatively short set by In Cahoots – for two reasons. First, this was a transitional line-up with a new frontline of Theo Travis (this would be his only performance with the band) on saxes and flute and Simon Finch on trumpet…”
10.07.21
Interview with Phil
Thanks to Aymeric for providing this fascinating interview with Phil from the spring of 1982.
07.07.21
National Health Squat Theater New York 1979
“The penultimate stop of National Health’s North American tour was a pair of shows at the Squat Theater, a venue in Manhattan that in subsequent years would host shows by the likes of Daevid Allen, Fred Frith, Sun Ra, Nico, the Lounge Lizards and Etron Fou Leloublan, who were touring the US at the same time as National Health…”
04.07.21
Remastered recordings
Thanks to Aymeric for remastering and separating four of our earlier recordings.
Use these links to listen:
Hatfield & The North, Club Citta Tokyo 2005
Miller/Baker and Friends, Tokyo 1991
In Cahoots, Université Villeneuve Lille 1984
In Cahoots, Nervi (Genova) 1991
23.06.21
New Masterclass: Out There
Today we have published a brand new masterclass. Out There is our first masterclass to have both guitar and bass guitar parts. To take a look, click here.
17.06.21
Solo Demos 1984/5
“These solo demos were recorded by Phil using a Fostex 4-track cassette recorder in 1984/85. Obviously the intention was to help the other members of In Cahoots get the feel of each piece, along with the score, rather than a finished product anyone outside that close circle was supposed to ever hear. But this is a fascinating listen for anyone who likes Phil’s music and, particularly, his wonderful multi-layered guitar playing…”
12.06.21
Delivery BBC ‘Sounds of the Seventies’ 1971
Thanks to Joerg Reinicke for this very special recording of Roy Babbington and Laurie Allan playing together with Delivery in March 1971 at the BBC for Alan Black’s ‘Sound of the Seventies’.
06.06.21
In Cahoots Jazz Café London 1994
“A very nice DAT recording of In Cahoots’ only gig of 1994, a release party of sorts for the “Recent Discoveries” album recorded the previous year, and which provides a very large chunk of the setlist here…”
Short Wave Brussels 1994
“We’ve had two early performances by this band (originally known as Hugh Hopper & Special Friends) from 1991 on this site. Three years on, with the “Live” CD (actually a mixture of studio and live recordings) coming out in the meantime, the repertoire was still largely unchanged here, and in fact Short Wave’s activities came to an end by 1996…”
22.05.21
In Cahoots Utrecht 1984
“This is one of the best recordings by the original line-up of In Cahoots, broadcast live by AVRO radio during the band’s Dutch tour of May 1984. It is quite well preserved, too, save for the first few seconds of Above and Below…”
16.05.21
Prog Italia Magazine Article.
A big thank you to Vincenzo Giorgio for writing a fantastic three-part biography of Phil for Prog Italia magazine.
For those of you that speak Italian, the first part (pg 58-65) can be found in the March edition here.
13.05.21
Miller Baker Duo Vilnius 1993
“In January 1993, Phil’s old friend and promoter of many Dutch tours for his various bands, Henk Weltevreden, took Phil and Fred Baker to Russia for a duo tour that actually began with a two-day stop in Vilnius, Lithuania…”
09.05.21
In Cahoots Florence 1991
“In the early days of the site we had posted a gig from this May/June 1991 In Cahoots tour with basically the same setlist in a different order but with only a continuous soundtrack. See below Immenstadt, Germany 25th May now with a fully documented playlist…”
02.05.21
In Cahoots New Vortex 2005
“This was In Cahoots’ first appearance at the Vortex in its new Dalston premises – the club’s previous location had seen the last performance by the Dean/Dvorak line-up in April the previous year…”
25.04.21
In Cahoots Eindhoven 1985
“We had already covered In Cahoots’ March 1985 (the first with Hugh Hopper on board) in a previous upload of the Paris Dunois gig, but that was an incomplete recording, and this performance from the Dutch leg of the tour adds a lot of extra material…”
18.04.21
Matching Mole London 1972
“This incomplete recording of one of Matching Mole’s two appearances at the King’s Cross Cinema, just a short walking distance from the band’s rehearsal space…”
11.04.21
In Cahoots Villebon-sur-Yvette 1998
“This is one of two In Cahoots gigs in 1998 where fellow guitarist, and long-time Pip Pyle associate Patrice Meyer sat in with the band…”
27.03.21
In Cahoots Old Fire Station Oxford 1987
“This excellent soundboard recording documents the first In Cahoots tour with Steve Franklin on keyboards, but still with Hugh Hopper on bass – a line-up that remains undocumented on any official release…”
20.03.21
National Health Washington DC 1979
Listen to and download National Health from their 1979 US tour, live in Washington DC on November 28th.
“National Health’s US tour of 1979 has been well documented with bootleg recordings of most shows in circulation. This is one that’s less common than others…”
13.03.21
New Master Class – Early Days
We have just published our latest master class with Fred Baker on Early Days. Find it here.
08.03.21
In Cahoots Le Dunois Paris ’85
Click here for our first ever recording from In Cahoots’ March 1985 European tour.
27.02.21
In Cahoots Pijnacker NL ’84
Listen to and download this newly digitized recording of In Cahoots at the de Trucker club in Pijnacker, Netherlands from 13th May 1984.
03.02.21
Billie Bottle’s Tribute to Phil
“HAPPY 72nd BIRTHDAY to the late, great, guitarist/composer and all round inspiration, Phil Miller.”
Phil’s Birthday
Today, as it is Phil’s birthday, I thought I would post this recent portrait of Phil at 17. It was painted from a photo taken by his brother Steve in Cannes in the south of France. Pip Pyle had borrowed his mother’s Mustang and driven the three of them there during the summer holidays. They had a great time, hanging out in the sun and sleeping on the beach. It was this year that saw the forming of the band Delivery.
Listen to Delivery live in Canterbury from 1972 here.
HERM – 22.01.21
Artchipel Orchestra: New Tribute to Phil
This CD dropped through my letter box from Italy last week. It is a wonderful homage to Phil from the Artchipel Orchestra and is called TRULY YOURS – The Music of Phil Miller. How great to hear Phil’s music has a new life.
I have included an extract here from the first track to whet the appetite and a link to their site.
HERM – 06.12.20
New Fred Baker Master Class
We are very happy to announce our latest master class is now available. Click here to see Fred Baker exploring Phrygian Blues.
30.11.20
A Life in Music: complete playlists
Now that we have completed our series of videos from Phil’s tribute concerts at the Vortex Jazz Club from January 2019, we have compiled then into two separate video playlists (one of each set) so that you can watch them continuously from start to finish. These can be found on the Concert page here. For those of you that would like to read Aymeric’s introduction, these can be found further down the same page.
23.11.20
Matching Mole 1972 TV Appearance
Someone has finally searched the vaults of the long-defunct Education TV for which Matching Mole filmed a 15-minute session in 1972. This was always presumed lost, but here it is, in black & white but in excellent condition.
09.09.20
Coming Saturday 1st August
Downloadable Midi Files
As of today we will be including Midi files with our scores on The dots page. These can be played on many media players and edited with most sequencing software. We are starting the collection with Phrygian Blues, which was our most recently added score and scheduled to be Fred Baker’s next masterclass.
28.06.20
New Score
Today we have added Phil’s score for Phrygian Blues, which can be found here.
17.06.20
Fred’s 60th Lockdown Bash
Here is a video Fred Baker put up on YouTube. He had to cancel the concerts he had planned around his birthday on 4th June because of Lockdown, so he made this performance from his garden. He includes one of Phil’s pieces: Early Days from Phil Miller’s CD: OUT OF THE BLUE on the Crescent Discs label.
07.06.20
Nan True’s Hole
Hoping that everyone is keeping well and safe and thanks to Luciano Margorani for his great version of Nan True’s Hole, which you can watch on his Facebook page here.
GPD European Tour 1972
In these uncertain times, with many of us having to isolate, we’d like to thank Aymeric for a very welcome distraction in the form of this extensive, four-hour collection.
“Painstakingly assembled from disparate cassettes found in the personal collections of both Phil and Steve Miller, this is as complete a documentation as possible of the low-key European tour undertaken by the trio of Steve Miller (piano), Lol Coxhill (soprano sax, vocals) and Laurie Allan (drums) in October and November 1972…” 
Fred Baker Trio – Truly Yours
Watch The Fred Baker Trio playing Truly Yours live from November 2019.
14.03.20
Phil On Composing
Listen to Phil discussing the process of composing in this conversation with Henk Weltevreden.
07.03.20
New Master Class – Green & Purple
Watch our latest master class with Fred Baker.
“This master class shows how Phil’s use of the whole form of the symmetric scale in Green and Purple is actually the up-side-down version which gives you a whole different set of harmony and chords.”
01.03.20
Rarely Heard Recording
Thanks again to Aymeric for this almost never heard In Cahoots recording for VPRO radio in The Netherlands from October 1989.
“Fans of the band will recognise the opening track, For The Moment, as the same version heard on the Live 86-89 album, but the rest of the concert had never been heard before. I’s quite a unique mix of InCa staples like Above and Below and the Medley, and material rarely if at all heard elsewhere…”
22.02.20
Delivery Brighton 1972 Restored
Thanks to Aymeric for restoring this very old audio cassette recording from September 1972 of Delivery playing live in Brighton.
“This version of Delivery, a prototype of Hatfield and the North with Steve Miller on electric piano, was short-lived and played only a handful of gigs, so we are lucky to have any document from this period…”
16.02.20
New Recording Found
Today we uploaded a newly found live recording of In Cahoots live in Wuppertal from 1986. We posted the first three numbers of this gig a while back, but this tape, found elsewhere in Phil’s collection, has almost the entire concert.
08.02.20
New Master Class
We have just added another of Fred Baker’s fantastic guitar master classes. Here he covers Phil’s classic Truly Yours which was first recorded for Split Second shortly after Fred joined the band.
02.02.20
Fred Baker Trio – Delta Borderline
Watch Fred Baker and his trio, Nick Twyman (drums) and Mickey O’Brian (bass) perform Delta Borderline from November last year.
25.01.20
Fred Baker Trio with Nick Twyman on drums and Mickey O’Brian, bass guitar playing Delta Borderline at Northern Light Cinema Wirksworth on 24th Nov 2019.
Tomorrow 22nd January is Phil’s Birthday. Had he lived he would have been 71. We have not forgotten you Phil and we have not been idle. We have finished editing the film from the Tribute Concert PHIL MILLER – A LIFE IN MUSIC at the Vortex on Jan 6th 2019 and we are waiting for the soundtrack to be edited, so you will soon be able to see the results here on the website.
Another piece of good news is that the long – awaited second Miller/Baker Duo CD is on its way! Phil and Fred Baker have been recording the music for this CD ever since they brought out the original CD DOUBLE UP in 1992. It has been an ongoing project that occupied them every time Fred came to stay with us, whether he came for In Cahoots rehearsals, the Guildhall Summer School, gigs or whatever, he and Phil would be working away in his studio. When Phil died and Fred and I looked for this material. We were mystified as search as we might we just couldn’t find it. More than 2 years later I found the tapes! They had been there all along but I had foolishly thought they were video tapes that I had been unable to play. This is because the recording had been done via Phil’s ADAT machine which uses 8 track tapes that look identical to the old video tapes of yesteryear. The wonderful Benj Lefevre took them to a studio in Brixton and had them transposed into WAV files and has been busy mixing the tracks. We hope to bring out the new CD DOUBLE UP 2 in the not too distant future under the Crescent Disc label.
And from Italy comes the news that the Artchipel Orchestra have just finished recording a tribute CD to Phil, featuring the titles Truly Yours, Eastern Region, Second Sight,Above and Below, Calyx, Godsong and Nan True’s Hole. This CD will be coming out in the spring. It will be fascinating to hear Phil’s music being played by this brilliant group.
And for his birthday here is the latest of my series of portraits:
Herm
In Cahoots Vortex 2009
Watch In Cahoots live at the Vortex Jazz Club from November 2009.
19.01.20
Phil on Medley
Listen to Phil being interviewed by Aymeric about Medley along with some live footage.
10.01.20
In Cahoots Padova 1991
Watch more In Cahoots live in Italy at Banale, Padova from May 1991.
29.12.19
In Cahoots Pavia 1990
Watch In Cahoots live in Italy from May 1990.
14.12.19
Hatfield and the North Elephant’s Coda
Thanks to Aymeric for this great Hatfield clip.
02.12.19
In Cahoots St Jean aux Bois 1998
I’d first heard the horn-less quartet version of In Cahoots in September 1997 in Groningen, on what was likely its debut, and liked the trimmed-down approach very much, so I couldn’t possibly miss their brief tour of France in March 1998. So I found myself driving to St Jean aux Bois, a small village near Compiègne, about 45 minutes drive North of Paris. The venue ‘Les Naiades’ was a friendly little sort of inn with even a fireplace on the side of the stage. Longtime friend/supporter, Serge Wodrascka (who can be heard sitting in on Above And Below) put on gigs there into the 2000s and Canterbury Scene bands like Pip Pyle’s Bash and Hugh Hopper’s Franglo Band were some of the other bands I later saw there – not to mention the trio + guest version of In Cahoots in 2001, documented elsewhere on this site. Eventually, the place was filled with about 50 people, who were treated to a performance consisting of two lengthy sets, with familiar material like Above And Below and No Holds Barred as well as pieces I’d never heard before, Pete’s Big Dick and Fred’s Upside (during which a couple stood up and danced, much to the band’s surprise!), both of which would appear five years later on All That, re-arranged for the sextet.
13.11.19
18th October 2019
This is the second anniversary of the death of Phil Miller.
Here is a painting of Phil that I completed recently.
Can I please ask you all on this day to click the link to listen to this piece of Phil’s music?
It is the 6th track from the album Split Seconds and only lasts for 3.30 minutes.
It is called “I Remain”
Phil may have died but his music remains alive.
My heartfelt thanks to you all for doing this in his memory today.
Herm
In Cahoots Immenstadt Austria 1987
Watch In Cahoots (Phil, Elton, Steve Franklyn, Pip & Hugh) live at The Rainbow, Immenstadt, Austria, from 28th November 1987.
Despite the quality of this ancient recording, this early In Cahoots gig is well worth a look, especially for the great Pip Pyle drum solo.
16.10.19
Hatfield & the North Central TV 1990
Progman Cometh Seattle 2002
Watch In Cahoots at the Moore Theatre, Seattle from the 18th August 2002.
22.08.19
New Video Interviews
Today we added seven new interview excerpts to our interviews page, including more from Doug Boyle, Jack Monck, Jim Dvorak and Pete Lemer, and new interviews with Marc Hadley, Sarah Gail and Simon Picard.
14.08.19
Canterbury Legends 2007 Videos
Watch four videos of Canterbury Legends live in Cluny from 2007.
31.07.19
New Interviews Page
We have just added a new page of video interview excerpts that Aymeric Leroy conducted with a number of musicians that had worked with Phil over many years.
21.07.19
Green and Purple
Here is a drawing of Phil made by Guido Spring’s six year old son Jasper.
Great drawing Jasper!
05.07.19
Hatfield and the North – Son of There’s No Place Like Homerton – 1974
In April/May 1974, Hatfield and the North played a series of ‘big band’ concerts, of which Dave Stewart’s epic (Son Of) There’s No Place Like Homerton was the highlight. Sadly, none of the three shows were filmed, but we have Kim Fyson to thank for some truly wonderful photos of the Cambridge gig…
02.07.19
Canterbury Legends (In Their Own Lunchtime) Bourgoin ’08
Watch Phil, Hugh Hopper, Didier Malherbe, Patrice Meyer, Alex Maguire and Manuel Denizet perform at the SMAC Les Abattoirs in Bourgoin-Jallieu, near Lyon, France, from May 2008.
20.06.19
In Cahoots live in Paris ’85
Listen to In Cahoots live in Paris from 1985.
16.06.19
Phil Miller Guitar prize
Tomorrow evening (10.06.19) Fred Baker and John Etheridge will be judging the Phil Miller Guitar Prize at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Click Here for more information and tickets.
09.06.19
Calyx, arranged by Luciano Margorani
Thanks to Luciano for this great arrangement.
“A homage to Phil Miller and his amazing composition “Calyx”
I used the original track from Hatfield’s first album and changed it a bit with my computer.
You can hear Phil with Robert Wyatt, Richard Sinclair, Pip Pyle and Dave Stewart.
Recorded at Tappo studios in February 2019.
RIP Phil, you’ll be forever in my heart.”
05.06.19
In Cahoots at The Bull & Gate 1982
Click here to listen to our earliest live recording of In Cahoots.
29.05.19
NEW PAGE: Fred T Baker’s Guitar Master Classes
Click here to watch Fred’s video master class on Phil’s classic composition, God Song.
In this first of a series, Fred takes a fascinating and detailed look into one of Phil’s earlier pieces, explaining not only how to play it but also shares his great expertise on why it is such a great piece of music.
DON’T MISS THIS!
Fred T Baker New Trio:
with Micky O’brien (bass) and Nick Twyman (drums)
Playing music by Phil Miller and Fred T Baker
Wednesday 17th April 2019
Lichfield, Cathedral Hotel, Beacon St. WS13 7AR.
Doors open 7:15 pm, music at 8:00 pm
£10 / £12 students £5
Book in advance: lichfieldarts.org.uk
Short Wave – Bresse-sur-Grosne – 1991
Billed here as Hugh Hopper and Friends, these two sets were recorded in France in November 1991.
14.03.19
New Score
We have just added Phil’s score for Your Root 2, along with his notes, to our dots page.
26.01.19
Birthday Tribute
Hi everyone, here is a link to a wonderful birthday tribute to Phil from Billie Bottle. Please listen to it. It is Billie singing lyrics using 22 titles of Phil’s music played to a version of Above and Below. It is beautiful and only takes a few minutes.
Herm x
For those of you not on Facebook, you can find it here on YouTube.
Phil Miller Memorial Concert
Phil’s Memorial Concert took place on Sunday 6th Jan to packed houses – There was hardly room to breathe but that didn’t stop the cheering! All the musicians played magnificently and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all 21 of them from the bottom of my heart. It was a stunning performance all round and enthusiastically received by the audience. We have had a bagful of enthusiastic emails from musicians and audience members alike. It was a night I shall never forget.
We filmed and recorded the entire event and will eventually post a good selection of pieces up on this site. It will take some time to edit the footage and mix the recording and I will only be posting numbers one at a time as they are finished and approved by all concerned.
We would love to hear from anyone who was there and would love to post your photos and comments on this site, so please send them in.
In the meantime Jonathan Coe has written a review of the concert for the latest edition of the NEW STATESMAN, Phil Howitt has put a review on his site. Sergio Amadori has written this review on Hibou Anemone & Bear, and Mike Barnes will reviewing the concert for PROG magazine.
Herm
JUST IN: Jakko Jakszyk will be now be flying in tomorrow to perform at both concerts, after Carol Grimes had to sadly pull out earlier today.
18:30 – 5 Jan 2019
Phil Miller commemorative T-shirts
£15 each – available at the venue on the day of the concerts in a variety of sizes.
Updated rolling news about the Phil Miller memorial concert: again we are sorry to say that Didier Malherbe is still recovering from his accident and won’t be able to be at the concert. We wish him well in his recovery. Trevor Tomkins has also had to pull out due to ill health. Get well soon Trevor. Paul Booth has accepted an Australian tour which prevents him attending and Jakko Jakszyk is heartbroken to say he has to pull out due to a family crisis . We hope this does not disappoint anyone too much. We are looking forward to seeing you all on 6th Jan. The concert has been oversubscribed and sadly a lot of people have been unable to buy tickets. If anyone who doesn’t live too far away from the Vortex is interested: the Vortex is going to live stream the music from the concerts to the bar downstairs so that musicians can relax downstairs and still be able to hear when they should make their way upstairs. Also we are having the concerts filmed and recorded and we will be putting this on this site during the course of next year. Commemorative T-shirts will be for sale, probably downstairs as it will be too crowded to do it upstairs. We still have a few of Phil’s CDs – mainly Mind overMatter and Out of the Blue, which we will give away on the 6th. Make sure you get your copy.
Herm
Click here to listen to Radio Story about sounds of London, inspired by Phil Miller and made by Guido Spring.
Click to Listen to National Health play Fourfold from 1979 and watch one of Aymeric’s slideshows of the musicians.
ALL TICKETS TO BOTH CONCERTS ARE NOW SOLD OUT!
GOOD NEWS! THE VORTEX JAZZ WEBSITE IS NOW SELLING TICKETS FOR PHIL’S CONCERT ON 6TH JAN AT THE VORTEX JAZZ CLUB
The Phil Miller Memorial Concert – Jan 6th – two concerts 4pm and 8pm at The Vortex, Dalston, London E8 – tickets £15 for single concert or £25 for both.
Featuring a total of 25 renowned musicians, performing a wide selection of Phil’s music, across two concerts on one night.
We were going to set a normal price for tickets along with a concession rate but were told by the club that was not possible, so we are selling ALL tickets at the concession rate! The Vortex is a small venue so ticket numbers are limited: book early so as not to miss out.
Go to this page on the Vortex website to see the musicians who will be playing and buy your tickets.
Keep up to date by visiting the legacy site where we will be posting rolling news.
HERM
Lol Coxhill Interview |
17.10.18 – KYLE |
Listen to Aymeric Leroy interview Lol Coxhill and listen to Phil and Lol playing together.
In Cahoots Radio Bremen 1986 |
10.10.18 – AYMERIC |
Click to listen to an In Cahoots Radio Bremen broadcast from 20 May 1986
In Cahoots Utrecht 1986 |
03.10.18 – AYMERIC |
Hatfield & the North live in London November 1972 |
27.09.18 – AYMERIC |
Click here to listen to and download very, very early Hatfield and the North, only weeks after they changed their name from Delivery and Dave Sinclair replaced Steve Miller – plus guest appearances from Lol Coxhill and Robert Wyatt.
Hugh Hopper & Friends (Short Wave) at Europa Jazz Festival, Le Mans 1991 |
23.09.18 – AYMERIC |
Steve Miller All Saints 1994 |
20.09.18 – KYLE |
Watch Phil’s brother Steve play and be interviewed for Wire TV
In Cahoots Le Triton 2003 |
09.09.18 – AYMERIC |
National Health – A Fleeting Glance 80 |
31.08.18 – AYMERIC |
Watch National Health perform A Fleeting Glance.
Miller/Lemer duo Netherlands 95 |
27.08.18 – AYMERIC |
Phil & Fred Belgium ’95 |
24.08.18 – AYMERIC |
The Miller/Baker duo from Belgium in April 1995 Click here to listen and read Aymeric’s notes.
In Cahoots Penny Theatre part two (possibly) |
16.08.18 – AYMERIC |
This tape was labelled In Cahoots Boat Race 1994 but this seems to be an error. The year is clearly wrong – InCa only played one gig in all of 1994, it’s the Jazz Café (aka Halloween) recording. The band did play the Boat Race in Cambridge, but in December 1995, so that is very likely it, especially since the gig includes early versions of the Parallel repertoire which didn’t yet exist in 1994. Now what’s interesting is that this would be the day after the Canterbury Penny Theatre recording, but with absolutely NO overlap in the set list, which leads me to wonder if they could not be two halves of the same gig. We may never know – there doesn’t seem to be much contextual information in Phil’s typically concise stage announcements. In any case taken together they form a great document of that particular tour, with what I suppose is the complete repertoire played on it. Click here to listen or download.
In Cahoots Italy 1991 |
14.08.18 – AYMERIC |
Watch In Cahoots live in Pavia from June 1991
In Cahoots Canterbury 1995 |
11.08.18 – AYMERIC |
Click here to listen to In Cahoots live at the Penny Theatre in Canterbury from 1995
Short Wave – 2PM |
08.08.18 – AYMERIC |
Click here to watch Short Wave live at Gong 25 from 1994
New score for Digging In |
04.08.18 – KYLE |
Click here to download Phil’s score and notes for Digging In. Click here to listen to the album.
In Cahoots Wuppertal 1986 |
02.08.18 – AYMERIC |
Short Wave – Shuffle Demons |
31.07.18 – AYMERIC |
Watch Short Wave perform Shuffle Demons at Gong 25. Click here to watch
New Score added – Truly Yours |
30.07.18 – KYLE |
Today we added Phil’s score and notes for his composition Truly Yours, which can be found on the album Split Seconds. Click here to view this and other scores.
Portrait of Phil by Herm |
28.07.18 – HERM |
See Herm’s latest portrait of Phil and view a slideshow of how it was done. Click here to view
Short Wave – The Balladin |
25.07.18 – AYMERIC |
Watch Short Wave perform The Balladin live in this video Click here to watch now
In Cahoots Paris 1993 complete gig |
18.07.18 – AYMERIC |
IN CAHOOTS live at New Morning, Paris from 19 March 1993. Now without the missing beginning Click here to listen now
In Cahoots Vortex 2008 |
15.07.18 – AYMERIC |
IN CAHOOTS live at the Vortex Jazz Bar in Hackney, London from 10 June 2008. Click here to listen now
Remastered National Health Kansas 1979 plus all new material |
11.07.18 – AYMERIC |
Thanks to Aymeric Leroy for this remastered recording of National Health live in Lawrence, Kansas, which now includes, the entire gig along with some historic demos recorded a few days earlier. Click here to listen now
New Interviews page |
07.07.18 – KYLE |
Today we have added some magazine interviews with Phil (and Fred Baker) from the 90s. Click here to visit now
Steve Miller / Lol Coxhill 1974 |
03.07.18 – HERM |
Steve Miller and Lol Coxhill on the 1974 Virgin Crisis Tour Click here to listen or download
Hatfield and the North 2005 |
23.06.18 – KYLE |
Reformed Hatfield and the North live from Club Citti, Tokyo from October 2005 Click here to listen or download
National Health Kansas 1979 |
23.06.18 – KYLE |
National Health live in Lawrence, Kansas from November 1979 Click here to listen or download
In Cahoots St. Jean-aux-Bois 2001 |
18.06.18 – DOUG |
In Cahoots live at St. Jean-aux-Bois, Les Naïades (near Compiègne, France) from June 2 2001 Click here to listen or download
Hatfield and the North Pennsylvania 2006 |
15.06.18 – KYLE |
Video of Hatfield and the North live at the Zoellner Arts Center, Bethlehem PA, 2006 Click here to watch now
Hatfield and the North New York 2006 |
12.06.18 – KYLE |
Video of Hatfield and the North live at the Bowery Poetry Club, New York, 2006 Click here to watch now
New score added |
11.06.18 – KYLE |
Just added Phil’s score for Eastern Region to our dots page along with his original notes.
Historic TV footage of very early Canterbury music |
05.06.18 – KYLE |
We have just finished digitising an old DVD of Phil’s containing historic TV footage of National Health, Soft Machine, Caravan and Kevin Ayers. Watch a young Michael Parkinson interview Soft Machine and Annie Nightingale introduce National Health on the Old Grey Whistle Test. Click here to watch now.
In Cahoots live in Osaka |
02.06.18 – HERM |
In December 1991 Phil took In Cahoots on tour to Japan. The line-up was Phil Miller on guitar, Fred Baker on bass guitar, Pete Lemer on keyboards, Pip Pyle on drums, Elton Dean on saxes and Jim Dvorak on trumpet, playing all Phil Miller compositions. In Cahoots played four concerts in Osaka and Tokyo. The CD Phil Miller In Cahoots Live in Japan was taken from these concerts. This recording is the concert in Osaka December 12th 1991. Click here to listen or download now.
In Cahoots on BBC Radio 3’s Jazz Today 1983 |
21.05.18 – KYLE |
Listen to early Inca playing Second Sight and Your Root 2, as recorded for BBC Radio 3’s Jazz Today programme in 1983. Recorded from the radio onto reel-to-reel tape by Phil’s father-in-law and my grandfather, Gordon. Click here to listen now.
Original videos |
16.05.18 – KYLE |
Today we have added a new videos page, on which we will be publishing original and otherwise unseen footage. These files have been digitised from Phil’s own collection of DVDs and VHS tapes, as well as contributions from our visitors. The first video is a two hour In Cahoots gig, recorded in Tokyo from December 2001. Click here to watch it now.
In Cahoots live at New Morning Paris 1993 |
28.04.18 – DOUG |
“This excellent quality DAT tape was digitised by Herm from Phil’s private collection of numerous DATs. This is a line up of In Cahoots without any keyboards at all leaving Phil as the sole chordal voice in a music which is packed with dense harmonic information (of course the bass player can always have a bit of go with chords too but it’s probably courtesy to make it clear that it’s the same money). It is testament to the quality of the compositions that Phil has chosen his chording in this format to be sparse and understated enough to put fuller focus on the horn lines, this bringing a fascinating new perspective on the In Cahoots music and interaction of the musicians. Jim’s sound in particular really rings out throughout…” Click to visit page
Featured on KKFI 90.1FM tonight |
13.04.18 – KYLE |
Thanks to our friend Rick Chafen, Kansas City Community Radio (KKFI 90.1 FM) will be broadcasting some of our previously unreleased material tonight on the show The Real Deal at 19:00 CDT. Once a month, Rick co-hosts the show, on what is known as Obscuropean Fridays. If you are in the Kansas City area, you can tune in on 90.1 on your FM band, otherwise there is a live stream that can be found at kkfi.org ; below is a snippet of Rick’s introduction to the show. “I never knew that a band called Delivery had a 30-minutes spotlight on the BBC. But now it’s been made available thanks to philmillerthelegacy.com. In some ways, Delivery became a sort of proto-Hatfield and the North. The 1970 performance includes three players who would form the Hatfields. Delivery was the first proper band that Phil Miller and Pip Pyle had together and they would play in the same bands until Pip’s death (right after a gig) in 2006. I can promise you a whole lot more music from Phil’s various bands will soon be featured.” Click here to read it all and tune in if you can.
New YouTube videos added |
12.04.18 – HERM |
Today we have added six new YouTube videos, including a tribute by Fred Baker recorded on Phil’s birthday this year. Click to visit page.
New score – Green & Purple |
10.04.18 – KYLE |
We have just posted Phil’s score and notes for Green & Purple. Next up will be Eastern Region. Click to visit page
Phil & Fred – Japan – 1991
Phil Miller and Fred Baker live at the Roppongi Pit Inn, Tokyo, Japan, 21.12.1991. With surprise guests… In Cahoots bassist Fred Baker is a premium musician of many facets. He is a Professor of music at the Birmingham Conservatoire, a composer and a fully featured guitar whizz. While anyone present when Fred (in bass mode) hits his Fuzz Pedal of Ultimate and Terminal Filth will know how his passion for motorbikes has informed his musical character, the more refined and introspective side of him found a perfect expression in his guitar duo with Phil heard on the exquisite Double Up album. Fred was always highly attuned to the emotional twists and turns in Phil’s compositions and I love his harmonic overlays and commentary. It takes a musician of uncommon sensitivity to expand on Phil’s harmonic systems without overwhelming their economy; nothing in Phil’s music happened by accident and in Fred he found a foil as meticulous and detail conscious as himself. Here Phil and Fred appear at the famous Roppongi Pit Inn, Tokyo for a set of palpable intimacy that morphs into one of the gutsiest and most spiritually assertive gigs I have heard. I’ve mentioned before that Eastern Region is one of my absolute fave Phil tunes and it’s lovely to hear it’s poignant English character kicking off the set here. In contrast Nowadays a Silhouette adopts an evocatively languid continental mood in this format. Another gear change and Fred spins lines of octave leaping gypsy nonchalance on Underdub before chopping out melodies in ferocious fifths a la Wes Montgomery. There is no mystery at all why Fred had his right hand patented (only he is allowed to use it). Fred’s composition For Christine is given a perfectly crafted and delicate arrangement and Phil and Fred truly lock in as one entity. The playing here from both is touchingly peaceful and focused. Above and Below is one of Phil’s most monumental compositions. This version has an unmatched gravitas and at this point Phil announces the first in a series of very special guests… As the evening progresses Second Sight, in particular steams along thrillingly and I would like to draw your attention here to a delightful example of Phil’s examplary rhythm playing. …so, without giving too much away, it’s sufficient to say that all participants are on joyously lunatic form, and so will you be after experiencing this testament to a very special evening that is best experienced in one chunk of listening pleasure, as it happened, and without skipping ahead for sneak previews!
Click to listen
05.04.18 – DOUG
National Health – Maassluis – 1979
National Health live at Toverbal Club, Maassluis (Netherlands) 29/3/1979 Phil Miller – guitar Alan Gowen – keyboards John Greaves – bass and vocals Pip Pyle – drums Thanks to Rick Chafen for this file and thank you also to Aymeric Leroy for identifying the date and location. These are two men I will be thanking a lot more… This is a very tight mic recording close to the stage in a fairly acoustically dead venue. Buzzing and occasionally drop-outs notwithstanding the balance is excellent. The Alan Gowen line up of National Health was a somewhat looser affair than the Dave Stewart led version. Phil and Alan’s compositions still had enough twists and turns to keep all the musicians in a constant state of insomnia inducing, buttock-clenching anxiety (I’d have thought) but the blowing sections are noticeably more liquid and jazzier in feel. These are my personal highlights;- John Greaves’ Squarer for Maud is an absolute delight; like wondering through a series of chambers. Each with it’s own surprising and unique decor but all forming a satisfying integrity of form (whatever that means). Astonishingly inventive and fluid solo from Phil who typically operates his wah pedal in the opposing direction than any other guitarist would have done. ‘Playing backwards’ is a comment I’ve heard about Phil’s playing more than once but, to slightly paraphrase a Stewartism, he was in fact playing forwards in a backwards world. Following on from this display and not be outdone, a fully goaded Alan Gowen brings us a Rhodes solo that sparkles like a rare gem. Key centre shifting wildly around in a manner hinted at in some unearthly chording earlier in the piece. This cut is triumphant. Phil’s classic Dreams Wide Awake is a really flowing affair by this point. The exquisite lines heard on the album version have an even more conversational and engaging character here. J Greaves and P Pyle are just so damn slinky and sinous. Compared to the intricate elegance of Neil Murray, Greaves approach has a little more ‘tude and a nice filthy punch in his tone without sacrificing elegance. Highly contrasting but I love them both, right. Playtime is a lovely, suspenseful composition by Alan Gowen (and originally heard with Gilgamesh). Every Phil solo has it’s own character and this one has an ironic sneering quality and a slight haughty air before dropping down an octave into some downright sleazy bends. Phil was generally warm and avancular but scrutiny of stage patter reveals Phil had some tech issues this night and fancy I can hear a bit of the ruffled mood of the man here and I think it’s great! Nowadays a Silhouette is a piece of open character in marked contrast to most of Phil’s compositions. Were almost back to Matching Mole conceptually. Lovely dynamic drop into Alan Gowen’s synth solo with Pip creeping supportively in behind. The feeling of space and lightness enhanced by an inspired Greaves who flows beautifully all over the neck. This is top flight musicianship that you would associate with fusion and progressive music but actually exists set apart and in it’s own category, all due to the wit, humanity, and depth of vision of the participants.
Click to listen
30.03.18 – DOUG
Welcome to our new homepage
Thank you to everyone who has visited, engaged with and contributed to the site. Due to the enthusiastic interest in the new material we have been posting, we have decided to use this page as a blog, to provide up-to-date news of recent and upcoming uploads. If you would like to receive email notifications of new posts, use the ‘Subscribe’ section on the left of this page. We will also be using this feed to post any other items of interest that we, or you, might find. We are continuing to digitise Phil’s collection of DAT, Audio cassettes and VHS tapes. We will shortly be uploading a video of In Cahoots playing live at The Love Generation Festival in Japan. We also have a remarkable video with some very early TV recordings of National Health, which also includes In Cahoots band members such as Richard Sinclair in an extremely early Caravan broadcast and Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper with early Soft Machine including Robert Wyatt, not long out of school, before he grew his hair, along with Kevin Ayres and The Whole World.
29.03.18 – HERM