Amazing Band

The Amazing Band was a free-jazz outfit, originating in 1963 and based around trumpeter Mal Dean and violinist Rab Spall (who had appeared on "Moon In June" on Soft Machine - Third). Other members of what appears to have been a floating ensemble include Top Topham on guitar, Miriam Spall on vocals, Jim Mullen on double bass, Mick Brannan on alto sax and drummer Ken Hyder (after Wyatt's stint with the band). Immortalised by a Melody Maker article in September 1970 which also suggested that Spall and Dean had formed a band in the mid-Sixties in Oxford, which was called The Korean War and also featured Wyatt and Mike Ratledge. Amazing Band recorded an album, "Roar", at London's Pathway Studios in June 1970, which remained in the vaults until it was finally released in 1997 by Future Music Records.
== Links To Peel ==
Although the Amazing Band released no records during their period together, they did record a Top Gear session in 1970. 
The Amazing Band had a floating line-up, based around trumpeter Mal Dean (known for his cartoons in Melody Maker) and violinist Rab Spall, who appeared on the version of Robert Wyatt's "Moon In June" on the third Soft Machine LP. Other members of the band included Scottish jazz drummer Ken Hyder, who later did a Peel session with his band Talisker, and guitarist Jim Mullen, whose extensive discography includes spells with Pete Brown's Piblokto!, Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, Kokomo and the Average White Band. 
Producer John Walters was interested in free jazz at the time and was probably responsible for booking them. Walters attempted to defend them at their BBC audition, saying "A band concerned with experiments in free improvisation can hardly be failed as there is no real yardstick to measure them by", but the panel weren't impressed. Comments included "Pretentious ... boring ... a musical confidence trick of the first order" (quoted in Ken Garner, The Peel Sessions, p.252). 
In 1997, when studio recordings of the short-lived combo from 1970 were finally released, available tracklistings suggest that Peel did not play any tracks from the album on his show. 
== Sessions ==
1. Recorded: 1970-09-29. Broadcast: 17 October 1970.
*Find / Amazing March
==Other Shows Played==
*None, according to available playlists.
==External Links==
*Discogs
*RateYourMusic
Category:Artists