Soft Works Abracadabra Reviews

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Seven Formerly
First Trane
Elsewhere
K Licks
Baker's Treat
Willie's Knee
Abracadabra
Madame Vintage

Allan Holdsworth, electric guitar and Synthaxe
Elton Dean, saxophones, Fender Rhodes
Hugh Hopper, electric bass
John Marshall, drums

A "So What..."-type nonchalancy heads up this exciting outing by what must be the closest we get to a supergroup in jazz; whispy ethereal saxophone paired exquisitely with crystal-pure syntax, limpid pools of bass and crisp time-perfect backbeats all point towards exceptional mastery as essentially the huge musical family known as the Soft Machine continue their remarkable legacy.
Soon after a stint with Long John Baldry (the "John" in Elton John), Dean (the "Elton") left to join Keith Tippett's Sextet and soon after that joined Soft Machine to be part of the four-horn lineup intended to augment the few remaining original players, their number shrunk after Daevid Allen's failure to re-enter the UK. Since then no fewer than a score of others have passed through the ranks.

So, it's not an easy task to work through the numerous Soft Machine line-ups, but it seems that of the Soft Works, only Marshall and Holdsworth were ever concurrent Soft Machine members, albeit for only a short while until John Etheridge replaced Holdsworth in 1976. Following Soft Works, history repeated itself for the next band reincarnation as Soft Machine Legacy with Etheridge once again replacing Holdsworth in 2005 for touring and the next three albums, Live in Zaandam (2005), Soft Machine Legacy (2006) and Live at the New Morning (2006). Theo Travis has since replaced Dean who died in 2006.

Their contribution on this album is the same as on pretty much any Soft Machine recording. They always knew that it wasn't necessary to rush into the middle of a piece, but the journey was as much part of the experience as the climax, and they keep on showing us that it is possible to integrate free-form ideas with strong melodic centres, keeping it tight but allowing your soloists plenty of space to explore and develop dialogues with each other. Welcome to the masterclass.