Gryphon (band)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gryphon
General information
Genre (s) Progressive rock , folk , medieval music
founding 1972 to 2018
resolution 1977
Website thegryphonpages.com
Current occupation
Richard Harvey
Brian Gulland
Graeme Taylor
Dave Oberlé
Jonathan Davie
Graham Preskett
former members
Malcolm Bennett
Philip Nester

Gryphon is a British progressive rock group with strong folk and medieval influences that existed from 1972 to 1977, reunited for short concert tours in 2009 and from 2014, and recorded a new studio album in 2018.

history

Gryphon was founded as a folk group in the early 1970s by multi-instrumentalist Richard Harvey and bassoonist Brian Gulland. After guitarist Graeme Taylor and percussionist David Oberlé joined the band, the band released five studio albums between 1973 and 1977, with the musicians moving further and further away from their original acoustic medieval sound and increasingly incorporating elements of rock music and jazz into their own compositions and expanded their unusual instruments ( bassoon , crumhorn , recorder ) to include modern instruments of rock music ( electric guitar , synthesizer , drums ).

In 1974 Gryphon composed the music for a theatrical production of Shakespeare's The Tempest , performed at the UK's Royal National Theater , directed by Sir Peter Hall . The title track of their second album Midnight Mushrumps , which they were the first rock band to present at the National Theater in July 1974 , emerged from the soundtrack . After the release of their third album Red Queen To Gryphon Three , Gryphon played as opening act for Yes on their USA tour in the fall of 1974 .

After the band split up in 1977, there was a one-time reunion concert in London's Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2009 . The Gryphon members performed again in 2014 as part of a short tour of Great Britain. In the following years there were further sporadic appearances. With a partly new line-up, the group released the studio album Reinvention in 2018 after a creative break of more than forty years .

Collaboration with other artists

Gryphon accompanied Steve Howe on the instrumental piece The Nature of the Sea on his first solo album Beginnings (1975).

Discography

Studio releases

  • 1973: Gryphon
  • 1974: Midnight Mushrumps
  • 1974: Red Queen to Gryphon Three
  • 1975: Raindance
  • 1977: Treason
  • 2018: Reinvention

Publications published after the band broke up

  • 1991: The Collection
  • 1995: The Collection II
  • 2002: About as Curious as It Can Be (BBC live recordings from 1974 and 1975)
  • 2003: Glastonbury Carol (BBC live recordings from 1972 and 1974)
  • 2004: Crossing the Styles: The Transatlantic Anthology

Web links