Quiet Sun

Quiet Sun were an English progressive rock/jazz fusion band from the Canterbury Scene consisting of Phil Manzanera (guitars), Bill MacCormick (bass), Dave Jarrett (keyboards) and Charles Hayward (drums).

History

Having originated from a college band by the name of Pooh and the Ostrich Feather, Quiet Sun was formed in 1970 after MacCormick had made friends with Robert Wyatt, the son of a friend of his mother's. The band integrated jazz elements and sparkling keyboard sounds into their complex music - similar to Soft Machine - but Manzanera's energetic guitar made their music very different from the Softs' who had not been using any guitar on their regular albums before the 1975 release of Bundles (if you don't count bass guitar), and had used reeds as the main other melody instruments aside of keyboards.

Quiet Sun split up in 1972, Manzanera to Roxy Music, MacCormick to Matching Mole, Hayward to This Heat, and Jarrett began to teach mathematics.

In 1975, Manzanera booked a studio for 26 days to record his album Diamond Head and got Quiet Sun together again to record an album from their old composed material in the studio at the same time. This first and only album of theirs, with participation of Brian Eno and the late Ian MacCormick, titled Mainstream was critically acclaimed and became the New Musical Express' album of the month. You may find one of Quiet Sun's songs on Robert Wyatt's Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard, under the name of "Team Spirit", and other few on the already mentioned Diamond Head.

For a witty and informative overview of Quiet Sun's evolution, the making of Mainstream and its interference with Diamond Head, see Quiet Sun Press Pack. Retrieved on 2006-01-01..

Discography

• Mainstream (1975)
• Manzanera Archives: Rare One (2000, includes four previously-unreleased Quiet Sun demos)

References

External links

• Biography at www.smoothjazz1043.com
• Phil Manzanera - Recordings at www.manzanera.com
• Bill MacCormick - a 1995 interview with Bill for Facelift, illustrating his musical development from 1966 through the early 1980s, with many details from various musicians' activities over the years
• Charles Hayward interview
• Collapso - Canterbury Music Family Tree