The People Band - Live at Caf� OTO

The People Band is a legendary improvising group which started in the mid 60s. Its music is inclusive: Genre, style, audience and environment are all enveloped into the music making. The group has had a liquid membership but if its central figures were to be narrowed they would be drummer Terry Day, the late pianist Mel Davis alongside renowned film maker Mike Figgis, Paul Jolly, Davey Payne, Charlie Hart and George Khan. It is Day's exceptional technique at the drums that attracted Charlie Watts, who financed the band's only studio album in 1968. 'People Band' was issued in 1970 on the Transatlantic label, and remained largely forgotten until Julian Cowley wrote an incisive feature on the group in the June 2002 issue of The Wire. Martin Davidson's Emanem label then reissued the 1968 album and a later double album featuring performances from 1969/1970. This new album is a collection of live performances made at London's Cafe Oto. featuring the core members with guests including vocalist Maggie Nicols.