Soft Machine Legacy: New Morning—The Paris Concert

In December 2005, less than two months before the death of saxophonist Elton Dean, the umpteenth lineup of the venerable British prog-jazz-rock unit Soft Machine convened for a 40th-anniversary concert at a Paris club called New Morning. In front of a polite, reverential crowd, the quartet—Dean, bassist Hugh Hopper, drummer John Marshall, and guitarist John Etheridge—churned out a 10-song set containing a few old Soft Machine favorites with new treatments (such as “Kings & Queens”) and more recent material (such as “1212”). While Dean, who died at 60 of a variety of ailments, looks the worse for wear, he delivers some blistering saxello work—Hopper and Marshall provide a solid backbone, but this is essentially Dean's show, with Etheridge lending nimble-fingered support. More jazz than anything else, the performance captures a pretty solid document of what the “Canterbury Sound” was all about, taking off occasionally on an inspired rock riff (“Kite Runner”) or some amped-up excursions by Etheridge, but for the most part delivering the kind of meandering, almost ambient exercises that got Soft Machine mentioned in the same breath as Pink Floyd. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, with the lone bonus feature being an interview segment in which all four musicians discuss their personal histories in the band and its overall place in the English prog-rock pantheon, this is a must for Soft Machine fans, and a solid addition for prog-rock/jazz fusion collections. Recommended. Aud: P. (M. Moore)