{"id":475,"date":"2018-08-23T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T07:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrybands\/2018\/08\/23\/whistler\/"},"modified":"2018-08-23T08:45:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-23T07:45:00","slug":"whistler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrybands\/2018\/08\/23\/whistler\/","title":{"rendered":"Whistler"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nWhistler<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\nc 1969 – 1971<\/span><\/div>\n


Avant Garde \/ Progressive Jazz Rock.<\/b>
Line up:<\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nKevin Harrison<\/b> – guitar, <\/span><\/div>\n
\nLynda Harrison – <\/b>Vocals<\/span><\/div>\n
\nGary Curtain<\/b> – drums <\/span>Later Nick Trevisick<\/b>.<\/span><\/div>\n
\nJohn Westacott<\/b> – bass, <\/span><\/div>\n
\nMick Gawthorp<\/b> – Alto sax, flute & vocals, <\/span><\/div>\n
\nMartin Barter<\/b> (keyboards).  <\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kevin Harrison<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nRick Woods<\/b> (Trumpet)<\/p>\n

Martin Barter<\/b> went on to Coconut Mat<\/b>, Just Jake<\/b> and many others – now with Joe O’Donnell’s Shkayla<\/b>. John Westacott<\/b> played blues harp and violin for Last Fair Deal <\/b>and with Kevin and Lynda Harrison<\/b> in Urge<\/b> (1979 – 81)<\/p>\n

Kevin Harrison<\/b> tells us: “We were basically a progressive jazz-rock group playing tricky time signatures. I remember playing some dodgy venues, but we (mostly) fared well with local audiences.”<\/p>\n

Whistler<\/b> were often seen to be rehearsing, hanging out or playing at the Coventry Arts Umbrella<\/a><\/i>. Among many local venues they played the Warwick University Arts festival<\/a> in 1971 on Sunday March 7th with Skin Alley, Pink Fairies, Bubastis <\/b>and Asgard<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Recordings<\/b><\/p>\n

In terms of recordings Mick Gawthorpe<\/b> commented on Vox in 2007 ” I’ll speak to Kev about whatever recordings might be possible, but we did record something at a studio in Snitterfield.<\/i>“<\/p>\n

This is Kevin Harrison’s musical history http:\/\/marzimprint.co.uk\/history\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n

An extract from Kevin Harrison’s Marzimprint<\/i> about the lead up to forming Whistler<\/b> <\/p>\n

” 68-72 – I’m at the local Art School, fall in love with Pop-Art, Dadaism, Girls, Cigarettes and<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lynda Harrison<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Alcohol. I get into trouble with girls parents, play my battered acoustic guitar and go to see and hear lots of good bands at ‘Mothers’<\/a>, in Erdington. Psychedelic\/underground music is now de rigueur and a passion, so, bored with the snobby and strait jacketed conventions of further education I decide instead to rent an Art Studio in Stockingford with my friends Geoff and Aidan. Geoff & I play a bit of acid-folk & record a demo at Fresh Maggots<\/b> Mick Burgoyne’s<\/b> Home studio (Incredible String Band, Third Ear Band, Tyrannosaurus Rex are an inspiration), I then join ‘Whistler<\/b>‘, and play some progressive jazz-rock with tricky time signatures (Mothers of Invention, Caravan, Soft Machine)”<\/span><\/div>\n

\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n

Whistler’s film project (from the above cutting)<\/b><\/p>\n

Music for the Fools<\/b><\/p>\n

“An all instrumental Coventry pop group has been asked to write the score for an american<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mick Gawthorpe – Flute – Alto-Sax<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

surrealist film.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
The group – comprising Kevin Harrison (guitar), Michael Gawthorpe (Flute, alto sax), Rick Woods (Trumpet) and John Westacott (bass), met the californian director of the film through a mutual friend.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
Mr Howard Minshk listened to them play their avant garde jazz and rock music…and the group – Whistler – got the job.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
The film Le Compte De Foix (The Count of Fools) will probably last for two and half hours. Whistler will write one and a half hours of music for the film, which will be shown throughout universities in the States.<\/p>\n

From Coventry evening Telegraph – Diary page c 1969 \/ 70<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n

\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\nBelow – Kevin and Lynda Harrison <\/b>and John Westacott <\/b>years later in Urge<\/b>.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
BACK TO BAND INDEX<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whistler c 1969 – 1971 Avant Garde \/ Progressive Jazz Rock.Line up:  Kevin Harrison – guitar,  Lynda Harrison – Vocals Gary Curtain – drums Later Nick Trevisick. John Westacott – bass,  Mick Gawthorp – Alto sax, flute & vocals,  Martin Barter … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrybands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrybands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrybands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrybands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrybands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrybands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrybands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrybands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrybands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}