21st Century Schizoid Band

Nice to see someone else focusing on what was an extraordinary ensemble of what I have described in other forums from time to time as prog legends.

The debate has raged on whether they are a tribute band or perhaps a varied incarnation of the original . To suggest the latter, of course, tends to upset the staunch Frippofiles among us. Certainly, with the exception of Jakko Jakszyk, they have all been members of the movable feast that was the earlier KC. Also, from what I have read, it seems Mr. Fripp was very supportive of this project and the late and great Ian Wallace offshoot ' The Crimson Jazz Trio ' [ CJ3 ].

I subscribe to the view that Jakko who has more recently made valuable contributions to ' The Tangent ', [ and who has released a double album of wonderful Canterbury music ] handled guitar and vocals extremely well , given that he had such enormous shoes to try and fill, doing lead vocals to boot.

Lucky you for having seen them live . The best I have is the ' Live in Japan ' DVD which I really enjoy because I believe the likes of Collins and MacDonald have improved with age . Their work on woodwinds in particular is A grade to say the least .

Tribute band or not, people who hanker for the earlier jazz laced KC material and who can overcome these alumni having the affrontery of reworking these classics in the absence of RF, should just get into them .

It's a real shame they could not hold it together . The untimely loss of IW has not helped and it underlines the significance of a band like this . None of us is getting younger and reunion bands such as this should be cherished for what they are before its too late.

I saw them at the Canterbury Festival too (different year) - great set, great band - I wouldn't call them a tribute band any more than I would the current Focus line-up

I agree. When you have such a complement of original/past band members, is it really a tribute band ? At least some of them had a hand in writing the material they played as I understand it. This is certainly not true of most tribute bands .

However, I know others here will only ever treat them as a tribute band which I find a little insulting to the likes of Collins/ MacDonald/Giles/Giles and Wallace.

Anyway, this thread gives us the opportunity of celebrating all that was exceptional about them.


P.S. If you're into Jazz trios , CRIMSON JAZZ TRIOs [ CJ3 ] arrangements of some KC classics into a jazz trio format, thanks to the late Ian Wallace on drums, is amazing . To hear some of your favourite KC melodies woven into the improvisational force that is jazz and played by 3 top musicians is a great experience imo. It works so well because the original tunes were well written and capable of such adaptions. CJ3 is here on PA if you're interested. Wonderful mood music .

It will probably please you fans of this fine band that I'm working on the addition of guitarist Jakko Jakszyk, whose album The Bruised Romantic Glee Club (which Mrgd kindly mentioned) is a real masterpiece of Canterbury music, 21-century style.

I have, Dick, thank you very much for the input! Jakko's bio is a bit tricky to write, but I appreciate any help I can get from better informed people like you.

Thank goodness two such well informed correspondents as Raff and Dick are putting this entry of Jakko together . He thoroughly deserves to be here if not for ' The Bruised Romantic Glee Club ' alone , but of course, his pedigree and influence extend far beyond this great release.

He also seems to have time to respond to fans . [ He personally responded to a query I sent to him through his website about the possibilty of the CJ3 Volume II of the KC Songbook being released , given that it was well advanced and in fact very nearly finished , at least as far as recording was concerned ,at the time of IWs sad passing . He indicated that he thought it would be completed and released but, of course, he could not say when].

His website has not been updated for some time either so he must be otherwise occupied. I'm sure the two of you could well do justice to a bio for him . It seems to me to be important that he is included as soon as reasonably possible to help him get further exposure which his work so richly deserves imo.