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

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

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

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

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’.

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

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

“I wish I could tell you more about where and when this particular performance by In Cahoots was 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…”