On a recent visit to the Science Museum in Kensington, I came across an exhibition showing the history of electronic music. Included in the pictures at the exhibition was a shot of Keith Emerson, playing something that looked like a keyboard attached to an old telephone exchange. It triggered my memories of listening to The Nice, something that I still enjoy doing, despite my outward appearance of sophistication in all things musical. The Nice were an English progressive rock band from the 1960s, known for their blend of rock, jazz and classical music. Their debut album, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack was released in 1967 to immediate acclaim. It is sometimes considered the first true progressive rock album. The Nice consisted initially of keyboardist Keith Emerson, bassist/vocalist Lee Jackson, guitarist David OList, more commonly known as Davy, and drummer Ian Hague, quickly replaced by Brian Davison. The band took their name from Steve Marriotts slang term for being high, a term he used in the song Here Come the Nice. According to Lee Jackson and Emersons autobiography Pictures of an Exhibitionist suggests that the name originated with a suggestion from P. P. Arnold. The reference to being high is not mentioned, instead a routine by hipster/comic Lord Buckley is quoted. The Nice evolved from Gary Farr and the T-Bones, which Emerson and Jackson were both members of before the band dissolved in early 1967. Emerson then briefly played with the VIPs, and his playing style was influenced by the organist Don Shinn. Meanwhile, P. P. Arnold, a performer who reached a higher level of popularity in the UK than her native US, was unhappy with her backing band, The Blue Jays, and wanted a replacement. Her driver suggested Emerson would be able to put together such a group. Emerson agreed, but only on the condition the band could perform on their own, as a warm-up act. Since it effectively meant getting two bands for the price of one, manager Andrew Loog Oldham readily agreed. Emerson quickly recruited Jackson, drummer Ian Hague, and finally OList, the latter by recommendation from journalist Chris Welch. The band played its first gig in May 1967, and had its first major break at the 7th National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor on 13 August. Oldham had managed to secure a separate set for the group in a side tent away from also accompanying Arnold on the main stage, where they quickly gained attention. The next week, Welch wrote in the Melody Maker that it was the first time I had seen a group actually in the act of winning its first following in quite dramatic circumstances. When Arnold went back to the US to her family shortly afterwards, Oldham offered the group a contract of their own. Hague was not interested in the progressive direction the group wanted to go in, so he was replaced by former Mark Leeman Five and Habits drummer Davison. Now a band in their own right, The Nice expanded their gear, recruiting roadies Bazz Ward and Lemmy, the latter of whom provided Emerson with a Hitler Youth ceremonial dagger to stick into the keys on his Hammond Organ. They spent the end of 1967 on a package tour with Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Move and Amen Corner. The Floyds then leader, Syd Barrett, missed several gigs and OList had to stand in for him. The groups first album was recorded throughout the autumn of 1967, and in October of that year they recorded their first session for John Peels Top Gear. Early work tended toward the psychedelic but more ambitious elements soon came to the fore. The classical and jazz influences manifested themselves both in short quotes from Janáček (Sinfonietta) and in more elaborate renderings of Dave Brubecks Blue Rondo a la Turk which The Nice called simply Rondo, changing the meter from the original 9/8 to 4/4 in the process. Perhaps as a foil for the highbrow aspects of their music, the stage performances were bold and violent, with Emerson incorporating feedback and distortion. He manhandled his Hammond L-100 organ, wrestling it and attacking it with daggers (which he used to hold down keys and sustain notes during these escapades). This was inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Billy Ritchie of Clouds, and Don Shinn, an English organist who played alongside Rod Stewart in The Soul Agents, as well as earlier figures such as pianist Jerry Lee Lewis. For their second single, The Nice created an arrangement of Leonard Bernsteins America which Emerson described as the first ever instrumental protest song. It not only uses the Bernstein piece (from West Side Story) but also includes fragments of Dvořáks New World Symphony. The single concludes with a child speaking the lines America is pregnant with promise and anticipation, but is murdered by the hand of the inevitable. The new arrangement was released under the title America (Second Amendment) as a pointed reference to the US Bill of Rights provision for the bearing of arms. During the long and wildly popular tour that followed the release of their second album, the group spawned controversy when Emerson burned an American flag onstage during a performance of America at a charity event, “Come Back Africa” in Londons Royal Albert Hall, on 26 June 1968, provoking a big controversy and a lifetime ban. The Nice were banned from ever playing the Royal Albert Hall again. By the summer of 1968, Jackson, Davison and Ward became concerned that OList would turn up late for gigs. After a gig in Croydons Fairfield Hall in September, OList left the band. According to Ward, OList had an altercation with him in mid-performance. Emerson subsequently called a band meeting with Jackson and Davison and stated flatly that OList should be sacked. They agreed, and immediately after their performance at The Ritz, Bournemouth in October, he was fired by Stratton-Smith with the rest of the band present. OList, however, claims that he left the band voluntarily because he was upset at Stratton-Smiths decision to make Emerson the front man, saying I left the band and waited for Keith to get in contact... I should have gone straight to Keith, but I didnt. The Nice briefly considered looking for a replacement, with Steve Howe trying out at an audition. Howe got on well with the rest of the band, but a week later had second thoughts and decided not to join. Following this, they decided to continue as a rock organ trio. With OList gone, Emersons control over the bands direction became greater, resulting in more complex music. The absence of a guitar in the band and Emersons redefining of the role of keyboard instruments in rock set The Nice apart from many of its contemporaries. The earlier work of French pianist Jacques Loussier and the more-or-less contemporary Charles Lloyd Quartet (featuring Keith Jarrett) can be seen as influences. Loussier took classical works, notably by Bach, and arranged them for jazz piano trio. The Charles Lloyd band was bridging the jazz and rock spheres and Jarretts performances (which included playing inside the piano) received much attention. The Nice performed two pieces from the Lloyd repertoire: Sombrero Sam and Sorcery. Part of the musical approach of The Nice was transferring the innovations of these jazz artists into an electric medium, one that was influenced by The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and The Beatles. Another influence was Bob Dylan, whose songs were common currency at the time; The Nice interpreted several of them, typically reducing them to three or four verses and featuring a long improvised middle section. Cover versions of other artists songs, such as Tim Hardins Hang on to a Dream were realised in similar fashion. Their short and long versions of this song would be in my top ten favourite pieces of music, of all time. The bands second LP Ars Longa Vita Brevis featured an arrangement of the Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite by Jean Sibelius and the albums second side was a suite which included an arrangement of a movement from J.S. Bachs Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. The group used an orchestra for the first time on some parts of the suite. To be frank, this album is “patchy”! The third album, titled “Nice” in the UK and “Everything As Nice As Mother Makes It” in the US, featured one side recorded live on their American tour and one side of studio material. This was my favourite Nice album for years. I liked the way a Lalo tune (Symphonie Espagnol) was used for Diary of an Empty Day. The Five Bridges suite, commissioned for the Newcastle Arts Festival, was premiered with a full orchestra conducted by Joseph Eger on 10 October 1969 (the recorded version is from 17 October in Croydons Fairfield Hall). The title refers to the citys five bridges spanning the River Tyne (three more have since been built). It was a good piece, and far more successful than some contemporary attempts to mix rock bands with an orchestra. By 1970, Emerson and the other band members were frustrated with their lack of mainstream success and they soon broke up. They played their last concert on 30 March 1970 at the Sportpalast, in Berlin. A posthumous Nice release “Elegy” included different versions of already familiar tracks, two being studio versions and two live from the 1969 US tour. Despite the critics’ views, I love this album, with the extended songs mixing up classical music and boogie woogie. After over three decades, The Nice reformed in 2002 for a series of concerts, and a three-CD set Vivacitas was released. I didn’t ever see The Nice, though I did later see Lee Jackson and Brian Davison in another band. Number 97 of #100boringpostsin2014
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 14:15:02 +0000
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