Soft Machine in Staffordshire

Soft Machine are an English band formed in Canterbury in 1966 by Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Mike Ratledge. Emerging from the Canterbury scene, they moved from psychedelic rock toward largely instrumental jazz-rock and extended improvisation. Their central recordings include Volume Two, Third, Fourth and Bundles, while “Moon in June” remains one of their best-known compositions. In 1968, Soft Machine toured North America supporting the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Two years later they performed at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, bringing their long-form jazz-rock to a concert-hall setting. In 1974, the band performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, a concert later released as Switzerland 1974.