Belatedly I have only just received the news of Brian Godding's passing, at the age of 78.
Brian first became known to the record-buying public through his mid to late 60s band Blossom Toes, having alongside being the group's guitarist composed quirky original songs with unorthodox chord changes not dissimilar to those from the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper period before taking a more mainstream rock approach for their final output around 1970. Brian's guitar improvising began around that time, initially somewhat limited in scope, but over the following decade gradually acquiring a sophistication that was aiming in the direction of Allan Holdsworth. Not mentioned in the attached tribute is that Godding was one of the first to deploy a guitar synthesiser, through which timbral enrichments very much his own were to be a feature of his improvising lines, but were used to orchestral effect underpinning some of the most memorably atmospheric passages in Mike Westbrook's The Cortege. Guitar synths weren't production line available in the early 1980s; Brian had designed and built his own. Later, in the 1990s he joined saxophonist Chris Biscoe, that criminally underlooked bassist Marcio Mattos and drummer Tony Marsh in a stylistically wide open improvising quartet called Full Monte, in which his colourful sound pallette was used to dramatic effect. Brian was a nice regular sort of guy with a dry sense of humour, and he will be greatly missed as both friend to the music and musician.
Sampled tracks of Full Monte - amazing stuff - to be found below:
Brian first became known to the record-buying public through his mid to late 60s band Blossom Toes, having alongside being the group's guitarist composed quirky original songs with unorthodox chord changes not dissimilar to those from the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper period before taking a more mainstream rock approach for their final output around 1970. Brian's guitar improvising began around that time, initially somewhat limited in scope, but over the following decade gradually acquiring a sophistication that was aiming in the direction of Allan Holdsworth. Not mentioned in the attached tribute is that Godding was one of the first to deploy a guitar synthesiser, through which timbral enrichments very much his own were to be a feature of his improvising lines, but were used to orchestral effect underpinning some of the most memorably atmospheric passages in Mike Westbrook's The Cortege. Guitar synths weren't production line available in the early 1980s; Brian had designed and built his own. Later, in the 1990s he joined saxophonist Chris Biscoe, that criminally underlooked bassist Marcio Mattos and drummer Tony Marsh in a stylistically wide open improvising quartet called Full Monte, in which his colourful sound pallette was used to dramatic effect. Brian was a nice regular sort of guy with a dry sense of humour, and he will be greatly missed as both friend to the music and musician.
Sampled tracks of Full Monte - amazing stuff - to be found below:
Comment