Quintessence

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Quintessence
General information
Genre (s) Progressive rock
founding 1969
resolution 1980 (?)
Founding members
Flute, percussion, bells, tubular bells
 Raja Ram (Ronald Rothfield)
Singing, keyboard, percussion
 Shiva Shankar (Phil Jones) (until 1972)
Bass, guitar, jaw harp, stories
 Sambhu Babaji (Richard Vaughan)
Rhythm guitar
 Maha Dev (Dave Codling) (until 1972)
Lead guitar, vina, acoustic guitar
 Allan Mostert (until 1975?)
Drums, percussion
 Jeremy "Jake" Milton (until 1975?)
Last occupation
Flute, percussion, bells, tubular bells
 Raja Ram (Ronald Rothfield)
Bass, guitar, jaw harp, stories
 Sambhu Babaji (Richard Vaughan)
Keyboard
 Keith Hale
Synthesizer, vocals
 Rolf Fichter
Drums
 Klaus Fichter

Quintessence is an English progressive rock band from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

history

The band Quintessence was founded in April 1969 by the Australian jazz flutist Ronald Rothfield in Ladbroke Grove , Notting Hill . At that time Ladbroke Grove was considered a stronghold of the hippie scene , and Hawkwind , Pink Fairies , T. Rex and Steamhammer were rehearsing in this corner of London . Rothfield found his fellow musicians through advertisements in Melody Maker , England's most influential weekly music magazine. Rothfield recruited an international cast from over 200 applicants: the Australian Phil Jones, the Canadian Jake Milton, the American Richard Vaughn, the English Dave Codling and the Mauritius native Allan Mostert.

Shortly after the band was founded, the spiritually interested musicians came into contact with the Hindu clergyman Swami Ambikananda, who gave four of the musicians new Hindu names.

The first appearance of Quintessence took place in 1969 in the Convent Garden , the band appeared regularly during the "Implosion Nights" titled events in the well-known Roundhouse and could be seen at open airs in Hyde Park . Swami Ambikananda and his Ashram were also considered group members and occasionally took part on the stage. In any case, they put at concerts increased value on a corresponding to the zeitgeist decorating the stage with velvet and batik cloths, incense, etc. The concerts were often of extravagant improvisations on the sitar and tabla initiated, as well as improvised generally mostly during concerts.

Since Quintessence combined folk rock , psychedelic rock and progressive rock with Indian elements in an independent way , they quickly caught the attention of the record company Island Records , which was located in the vicinity of the band's rehearsal room. In September 1969, the band's first album, In Blissful Company, was released . In the lavishly designed gatefold cover, the band presented itself in the style of a commune with friends and families, so that a total of 28 adults, 12 children and a few dogs can be seen there.

Under the direction of Island Records, where Jethro Tull and King Crimson were also under contract at the same time , two more albums were produced until 1971: Quintessence (1970) and Dive Deep (1971). The band continued to perform frequently, including twice at the Glastonbury Fair Festival and three times at the Royal Albert Hall .

In 1972 he switched to RCA , where two more albums were released in the course of the same year: Self and Indweller . The complete second page of Self's album reproduces a concert excerpt from December 1971, which impressively demonstrates the band's ability to improvise in high quality.

In the course of 1972, however, Shiva Shankar and Maha Dev left Quintessence and founded the short-lived band "Kala", which released the LP Kala of the same name on the Bradley label in 1973 , but otherwise did not appear.

The line-up of Quintessence, which had shrunk to a quartet, could not follow up on earlier successes without Shiva and Maha Dev and degenerated into insignificance. After Allan Mostert and Jake Milton left the band, only Raja Ram and Sambhu Babaji were left of the founding members of Quintessence 1975, now led by Keith Hale (keyboard) and the brothers Rolf (synthesizer, vocals) and Klaus Fichter ( Drums) were accompanied. Smaller gigs took place until at least 1980, then it was quiet about Quintessence.

Founder Raja Ram temporarily withdrew completely from the music scene and only reappeared in the early 1990s when he produced Psytrance for the Dragonfly label and then founded his own label TIP Records (now: TIP World) in 1994 , where he has been since then different project names and mostly in collaboration with other musicians released records.

Phil Jones ("Shiva") hired himself as a rock musician in various bands in the 1980s. The native Australian then discovered the didgeridoo for himself and published meditation music with this instrument. In 2000 he held didgeridoo-based yoga classes and published the ethno rock album Samadhi .

Shiva's quintessence

In 2003 Shiva began working with the Swiss musician Rudra Beauvert, who mixed the old quintessence style with influences from techno and trance with his electronic instruments . The former rhythm guitarist Maha Dev (Dave Codling) could also be won for this project. In 2003 this formation brought out a CD under the name "Shiva Shakti", since 2005 the formation has been called "Shiva's Quintessence".

Discography

Quintessence

  • 1969: In Blissful Company ( Island Records )
  • 1970: Quintessence (Island Records)
  • 1971: Dive Deep (Island Records)
  • 1972: Self ( RCA )
  • 1972: Indweller (RCA)

Follow-up projects (extract)

  • 1973: Kala - Kala (Bradley)
  • 1998: Shpongle - Are You Shpongled? (Raja Ram, Twisted Records)
  • 2001: Shpongle - Tales of the Inexpressible (Raja Ram, Twisted Records)
  • 2005: Shpongle - Nothing Lasts… But Nothing is Lost (Raja Ram, Twisted Records)
  • 2009: Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries From Shpongleland (Raja Ram, Twisted Records)
  • Phil Jones (Shiva) - Samadhi
  • 2003: Shiva Shakti - Shiva Shakti (Shiva, Mystic Records)
  • 2005: Shiva's Quintessence - Cosmic Surfer (Shiva, Eclectic Discs)
  • 2011: Shiva's Quintessence - Only Love Can Save Us (Shiva, Hux-Records)

Web links