Chloe and the Pirates

Soft Machine Legacy: Theo Travis (tenor and sopranos saxes, flute), John Etheridge (electric guitar), Hugh Hopper (electric bass) and John Marshall (drums, percussion). From the album Steam (2007).

Theo Travis is an English saxophonist, flautist, clarinetist and composer who has made a place for himself on the British jazz scene with his virtuosity and emotional style, as well as his excellent compositions characterized by creativity in their harmonic structures and tempo. He has also been a member of progressive rock bands. Born in Birmingham, he studied classical music at the University of Manchester specializing in the compositions of Shostakovich and graduating in saxophone and flute while playing in jazz and rock groups. His influences range from Stan Getz or Chick Corea to the Beatles or Pink Floyd.

In addition to forming his own bands, he has played with the musicians Dick Heckstall-Smith, Harold Budd, Keith Tippet, Burnt Friedman, Mick Darn, David Gilmore, John Foxx, Jim Mullen, Bill Nelson, Dave and Richard Sinclair, Tony Coe, Norma Winstone, Jah Wobble, Slim Gaillard, David Sylvian and Anja Garbarek, and with the groups Bass Communion, Kangaroo Moon, The Tangent, No Man and Hatfield and the North of the Canterbury scene. In 1987 Travis performed at the New York’s legendary Blue Note club. He also participated in Distant Echoes (1993) and NOW (2008) by the progressive rock band Jade Warrior.

In 1993 he was named Best Newcomer by the Financial Times, signed with the 33 Jazz label and recorded his first album 2am in post-bop style, but with ingredients of progressive rock and Latin music. The second one was View From the Edge (1994), in which he exposes the events of his daily life in a musical way. It was voted Best British 1994 Jazz CD by the Jazz on CD Readers/Critics survey. That same year he founded the jazz fusion group The Other Side and released Dangerous Days. In 1996 he issued the exciting Secret Island, which requires to be listened to carefully, and in which we can find some exciting guitar solos by John Etheridge. Travis then toured the United Kingdom and was hired to write a new soundtrack for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1926 mute film The Lodger. In 1998 he published Bodyworks in a trio with guitarist Mark Wood and drummer John Marshall.