Gilgamesh (band)

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Gilgamesh (1972-1975, 1977-1978) was a jazz fusion band in the 1970s led by keyboardist Alan Gowen.

The original basis of Gilgamesh was Gowen and drummer Mike Travis, the two working together on a band project with guitarist Rick Morcombe. The original Gilgamesh line-up consisted of Gowen, Travis, Morcombe, Jeff Clyne and Alan Wakeman on saxophone.

The band's line-up took a while to stabilise, with, for example, Richard Sinclair coming and going. By early 1973, a quartet had formed with Gowen, Travis, Phil Lee on guitar (recommended by Travis) and Neil Murray on bass in early 1973.

Murray was then replaced by Steve Cook, who in turn was replaced by former Egg bassist Mont Campbell, who in turn was replaced by a returning Clyne for the first album, Gilgamesh (Caroline Records, 1975). The band split up in late 1975 and Gowen and later Murray joined National Health. Gilgamesh and Hatfield and the North played two gigs in November 1973 with both bands playing their own sets and then a final "double-quartet" set, which in some ways prefigured the format of National Health.

After leaving National Health, in 1977 Gowen reformed Gilgamesh with Murray, Lee and drummer Trevor Tomkins (a longtime collaborator of Lee's) for occasional rehearsals. A second album was recorded in June 1978, Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into (released 1978 on Charly Records), with Gowen, Lee, Tomkins and bassist Hugh Hopper, but the band had no further existence. Gowen died a few years later in 1981.

In 2000, Cuneiform Records released archive recordings of the band under the name Arriving Twice. The material comes from 1973-75 and features variously Gowen, Lee, Travis, Murray, Cook, Clyne and Peter Lemer. The album includes "Extract", a theme from an unrecorded Gilgamesh/Hatfield and the North double-quartet piece.

[edit] Sources

• Interview at Calyx