The Steamer

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).

From 1976 to 1981 Etheridge toured the world with Stéphane Grappelli and featured in Live at Carnegie Hall (1978) and At the Winery (1980). In 1977 he formed with violinist Ric Sanders, who he met in Soft Machine, the jazz-rock group 2nd Vision, and published First Steps (1980) before dissolving in 1981. In 1979 he collaborated in the the French violinist Didier Lockwood New World with Gordon Breck on piano, Niels-Henning Ørsted-Pedersen on double bass and Tony Williams on drums. In 1982 he gave solo concerts in Australia and toured the United States with bassist Brian Torff, who he met playing with Grappelli.

In 1984 he participated in several Soft Machine performances at London jazz club Ronnie Scott’s which appeared in Rubber Riff (1994). That same year he toured the United Kingdom with his own trio and in 1985 he joined guitarist Gary Boyle from Isotop to play in duo and quartet. From 1989 to 1993 he was part of former Pentagle bassist Danny Thompson’s pop/rock band Whatever, and recorded with it Elemental (1990). In 1988 Etheridge toured with French jazz guitarist Biréli Lagrène playing gypsy jazz and launched Bohemia as a duet with New York jazz guitarist Vic Juris.

From 1988 to 1994 he toured at length in Germany with blues and jazz saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith, and published Live in Earlangen and Obsession Fees. He also founded the Dean/Etheridge Quartet with former Soft Machine member Elton Dean on alto sax and saxello, Fred Baker on double bass and Mark Fletcher on drums. In 1992 he was incorporated to the English violinist Nigel Kennedy’s group, with whom he recorded Kafka (1996) and The Kennedy Experience - The Music of Jimi Hendrix (1998).