Nick Fletcher (UK) - JR/F?

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   As a result of this suggestion in January 2021, John Hackett & Nick Fletcher were added to the site based on their collaboration album 'Beyond the Stars' (2018). Five more albums have subsequently been added to the page, two of which aren't prog, and three of which are Nick Fletcher solo albums (though John Hackett does contribute as a guest on one of them). The two non-prog albums don't matter, since they are a genuine part of the duo's collaborative discography, but the three Nick Fletcher solo albums don't belong on the page, and are almost certainly worthy of a place here under Nick Fletcher as a solo artist (John Hackett should be here as a solo artist too, but that's another story for another day).

So, a suggestion is now necessary for Nick Fletcher, whose last three solo albums would probably be of interest to the JR/F team (though the vast bulk of his discography is just classical guitar music). The problem is that there are no samples that I could find on line for any of them other than 30 second clips on his website. Most of his earlier classical stuff is available on the usual streaming platforms, but NOT his three more recent prog albums. We do have a copy of the latest (2023) 'Quadrivium' album which can be shared via pm, but one album from a discography of many isn't likely to be anywhere near enough to get him approved, so this suggestion at the moment just ain't going anywhere. 

Anyhow, we've got to at least try to get this guy cleared on here somehow, so I'm putting his biography and photo on here in the hope that someone, somewhere can provide samples of the two additional albums that the team will need to hear. These are: 'Cycles Of Behaviour' (2021) and 'The Cloud Of Unknowing' (2022).

Here's his biography:

Nick Fletcher is a guitarist and composer from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom who has been playing the guitar and writing music professionally since leaving music college in 1981. He started out as a classical guitarist and guitar teacher, but subsequently embarked on a career as a session guitarist, and has played in many bands.

Nick was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, in 1960 and started to play guitar at the age of 12, initially being drawn to rock music. However, in 1976 after being inspired by the likes of Steve Hackett, Jan Akkerman, Steve Howe etc, Nick took up playing the classical guitar, and after watching Christopher Nupen's documentary about the legendary classical guitarist Andres Segovia, he started to become more serious about the instrument. Nick subsequently spent three years studying classical guitar with David Taplin at Huddersfield School of Music where he also became interested in the music of guitarists such as Ralph Towner and Bill Connors, and he started to write some music of his own for the instrument.

At this time, around 1980, Nick met Dave Bainbridge, who went on to become a founder member of the band Iona. The band Dave and Nick formed together became known as Plan B, which struggled to gain recognition, but in many ways became the launchpad for Iona. The two also played together in a jazz fusion type band called Staircase. After these early bands split up Nick started to do many sessions for various companies and artists and formed another fusion band called Trivial Pursuit. 

By the early 1990s Nick had started to focus more on arranging, composing and performing music for the classical guitar, which meant that his work with the electric guitar was put on the back burner for almost 25 years. During this time he has had over 80 compositions published by Les Productions d'OZ, a Canadian music publishing house founded in 1986 by Sylvain Lemay, and over 100 song arrangements published by Integrity Music, of Brentwood Tennessee.

In the mid 1990s Nick was a record producer for Kingsway Records and made a number of successful Celtic recordings and co-produced the album 'Breaking of the Dawn' with English guitarist and keyboard player Dave Bainbridge (Iona, Celestial Fire, Lifesigns, Strawbs). Nick also recorded an album of hymns and worship songs for Kingsway called 'Classical Praise Guitar: Soften My Heart' which sold reasonably well, and similar projects, 'No Strings Attached' (1995), 'Chords Of Grace' (2006) and 'Six String Hymns' (2007), were subsequently issued.

As well as the Kingsway albums, Nick recorded an album of classical guitar lullabies for Dorling Kindersley. In the mid 1990s Nick became more involved with record production, and produced five Celtic music recordings. He also began giving classical guitar recitals, but writing music for the guitar was really becoming his consuming passion, and some of Nick's best ever recordings have been those on which he has collaborated with Dave Bainbridge. Nick's own compositions were by now receiving ever increasing acclaim though as well, and he has recorded many CDs of classical guitar music both as a soloist and with John Hackett as part of the Fletcher/Hackett guitar and flute duo.

In 2015 Nick once again took up performing and recording with the electric guitar after being invited to join the John Hackett Band, though he also continued his career as a classical musician. Nick has also performed and recorded with Nick's brother Steve. In 2018 Nick collaborated with John Hackett and the duo released the album 'Beyond the Stars' on the Esoteric Antenna label.

Nick's more recent rock-based music is generally based around jazz fusion, but incorporates many diverse influences all of which can be heard on his first solo prog recording 'Cycles of Behaviour' (2021). These influences range from Pink Floyd, Genesis, Camel, Bruford, & Holdsworth to Ravel, Stravinsky and the English choral composer Herbert Howells. To create the album, Nick assembled a band consisting of John Hackett, Dave Bainbridge, Tim Harries (ex Bill Bruford’s earthworks), Russ Wilson and Caroline Bonnet, who also co produced, mixed and mastered the album. The album had come about due to the great press reaction to 'Beyond the Stars', and Nick had been writing similar material and some new musical ideas that expanded on the 'Beyond the Stars' project.
'The Cloud of Unknowing' followed in 2022, and is an album of nine original progressive rock compositions featuring Nick on electric guitar which draw musical inspiration from the likes of Genesis, Focus, Pink Floyd, Allan Holdsworth and Dream Theater. The album once again has contributions Dave Bainbridge, Tim Harries, Caroline Bonnett and Russ Wilson, plus Stuart Barbour contributing lead vocals on two tracks. 'Quadrivium' is the latest album by Nick Fletcher, and is a breathtaking suite of eleven instrumental movements featuring Bainbridge and Caroline Bonnett on keyboards and the late Jeff Beck's astounding former drummer, Anika Nilles. The album was released by Rough Draft Audio on September 15th 2023.

https://www.nickfletcherguitarmusic.com/.
https://www.facebook.com/nicholas.j.fletcher.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0zkktODM7ilY2D4K0YkOYE/discography (none of his solo prog albums are here though).
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_bPf-yVVtOUpXnu_0a0ykg (again, no solo prog albums here).
https://awesomeprog.com/artists/22429 (his three solo prog albums are in the wrong place on AwesomeProg too at the moment, though I've messaged Mike about this).

And that's all I can do for now...

Edit: There have been two quite glowing reviews of the 'Quadrivium' album by a couple of highly respected prog reviewers, one right here on PA by tszirmay, and the other by lazland on his own website.

Edit 2: Mike has now fixed the issue of the albums being in the wrong place on AwesomeProg. All three are now included on Nick Fletcher's solo page there. 

Edited by yam yam - January 10 2024 at 13:36

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yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Collaborator Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 6546	Post Options Post Reply Quote yam yam Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Nick Fletcher (UK) - JR/F? Posted: January 09 2024 at 20:34
	As a result of this suggestion in January 2021, John Hackett & Nick Fletcher were added to the site based on their collaboration album 'Beyond the Stars' (2018). Five more albums have subsequently been added to the page, two of which aren't prog, and three of which are Nick Fletcher solo albums (though John Hackett does contribute as a guest on one of them). The two non-prog albums don't matter, since they are a genuine part of the duo's collaborative discography, but the three Nick Fletcher solo albums don't belong on the page, and are almost certainly worthy of a place here under Nick Fletcher as a solo artist (John Hackett should be here as a solo artist too, but that's another story for another day). So, a suggestion is now necessary for Nick Fletcher, whose last three solo albums would probably be of interest to the JR/F team (though the vast bulk of his discography is just classical guitar music). The problem is that there are no samples that I could find on line for any of them other than 30 second clips on his website. Most of his earlier classical stuff is available on the usual streaming platforms, but NOT his three more recent prog albums. We do have a copy of the latest (2023) 'Quadrivium' album which can be shared via pm, but one album from a discography of many isn't likely to be anywhere near enough to get him approved, so this suggestion at the moment just ain't going anywhere. Anyhow, we've got to at least try to get this guy cleared on here somehow, so I'm putting his biography and photo on here in the hope that someone, somewhere can provide samples of the two additional albums that the team will need to hear. These are: 'Cycles Of Behaviour' (2021) and 'The Cloud Of Unknowing' (2022). Here's his biography: Nick Fletcher is a guitarist and composer from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom who has been playing the guitar and writing music professionally since leaving music college in 1981. He started out as a classical guitarist and guitar teacher, but subsequently embarked on a career as a session guitarist, and has played in many bands. Nick was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, in 1960 and started to play guitar at the age of 12, initially being drawn to rock music. However, in 1976 after being inspired by the likes of Steve Hackett, Jan Akkerman, Steve Howe etc, Nick took up playing the classical guitar, and after watching Christopher Nupen's documentary about the legendary classical guitarist Andres Segovia, he started to become more serious about the instrument. Nick subsequently spent three years studying classical guitar with David Taplin at Huddersfield School of Music where he also became interested in the music of guitarists such as Ralph Towner and Bill Connors, and he started to write some music of his own for the instrument. At this time, around 1980, Nick met Dave Bainbridge, who went on to become a founder member of the band Iona. The band Dave and Nick formed together became known as Plan B, which struggled to gain recognition, but in many ways became the launchpad for Iona. The two also played together in a jazz fusion type band called Staircase. After these early bands split up Nick started to do many sessions for various companies and artists and formed another fusion band called Trivial Pursuit. By the early 1990s Nick had started to focus more on arranging, composing and performing music for the classical guitar, which meant that his work with the electric guitar was put on the back burner for almost 25 years. During this time he has had over 80 compositions published by Les Productions d'OZ, a Canadian music publishing house founded in 1986 by Sylvain Lemay, and over 100 song arrangements published by Integrity Music, of Brentwood Tennessee. In the mid 1990s Nick was a record producer for Kingsway Records and made a number of successful Celtic recordings and co-produced the album 'Breaking of the Dawn' with English guitarist and keyboard player Dave Bainbridge (Iona, Celestial Fire, Lifesigns, Strawbs). Nick also recorded an album of hymns and worship songs for Kingsway called 'Classical Praise Guitar: Soften My Heart' which sold reasonably well, and similar projects, 'No Strings Attached' (1995), 'Chords Of Grace' (2006) and 'Six String Hymns' (2007), were subsequently issued. As well as the Kingsway albums, Nick recorded an album of classical guitar lullabies for Dorling Kindersley. In the mid 1990s Nick became more involved with record production, and produced five Celtic music recordings. He also began giving classical guitar recitals, but writing music for the guitar was really becoming his consuming passion, and some of Nick's best ever recordings have been those on which he has collaborated with Dave Bainbridge. Nick's own compositions were by now receiving ever increasing acclaim though as well, and he has recorded many CDs of classical guitar music both as a soloist and with John Hackett as part of the Fletcher/Hackett guitar and flute duo. In 2015 Nick once again took up performing and recording with the electric guitar after being invited to join the John Hackett Band, though he also continued his career as a classical musician. Nick has also performed and recorded with Nick's brother Steve. In 2018 Nick collaborated with John Hackett and the duo released the album 'Beyond the Stars' on the Esoteric Antenna label. Nick's more recent rock-based music is generally based around jazz fusion, but incorporates many diverse influences all of which can be heard on his first solo prog recording 'Cycles of Behaviour' (2021). These influences range from Pink Floyd, Genesis, Camel, Bruford, & Holdsworth to Ravel, Stravinsky and the English choral composer Herbert Howells. To create the album, Nick assembled a band consisting of John Hackett, Dave Bainbridge, Tim Harries (ex Bill Bruford’s earthworks), Russ Wilson and Caroline Bonnet, who also co produced, mixed and mastered the album. The album had come about due to the great press reaction to 'Beyond the Stars', and Nick had been writing similar material and some new musical ideas that expanded on the 'Beyond the Stars' project. 'The Cloud of Unknowing' followed in 2022, and is an album of nine original progressive rock compositions featuring Nick on electric guitar which draw musical inspiration from the likes of Genesis, Focus, Pink Floyd, Allan Holdsworth and Dream Theater. The album once again has contributions Dave Bainbridge, Tim Harries, Caroline Bonnett and Russ Wilson, plus Stuart Barbour contributing lead vocals on two tracks. 'Quadrivium' is the latest album by Nick Fletcher, and is a breathtaking suite of eleven instrumental movements featuring Bainbridge and Caroline Bonnett on keyboards and the late Jeff Beck's astounding former drummer, Anika Nilles. The album was released by Rough Draft Audio on September 15th 2023. https://www.nickfletcherguitarmusic.com/. https://www.facebook.com/nicholas.j.fletcher. https://open.spotify.com/artist/0zkktODM7ilY2D4K0YkOYE/discography (none of his solo prog albums are here though). https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_bPf-yVVtOUpXnu_0a0ykg (again, no solo prog albums here). https://awesomeprog.com/artists/22429 (his three solo prog albums are in the wrong place on AwesomeProg too at the moment, though I've messaged Mike about this). And that's all I can do for now... Edit: There have been two quite glowing reviews of the 'Quadrivium' album by a couple of highly respected prog reviewers, one right here on PA by tszirmay, and the other by lazland on his own website. Edit 2: Mike has now fixed the issue of the albums being in the wrong place on AwesomeProg. All three are now included on Nick Fletcher's solo page there. Edited by yam yam - January 10 2024 at 13:36

Mirakaze Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Eclectic, JRF/Canterbury, Avant/Zeuhl Joined: December 17 2019 Location: (redacted) Status: Offline Points: 4118	Post Options Post Reply Quote Mirakaze Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: January 16 2024 at 06:06
	I've notified the genre team.
	Freelance composer, accepting commissions \| Bandcamp page

yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Collaborator Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 6546	Post Options Post Reply Quote yam yam Report Post Thanks(2) Quote Reply Posted: December 22 2024 at 22:20
	Almost a year has now passed since the evaluation in JR/F started, and although two team members voted 'yes' fairly promptly, the third decided that there were insufficient samples available and voted 'no'. Full samples of the most recent album were provided in mid October this year, which meant that the 'no' vote was changed to 'time', but it still doesn't seem to have been enough to bring the evaluation to a conclusion. An excellent interview with Nick was broadcast on Progzilla Radio back in early November this year (the interview was actually conducted a couple of weeks earlier), containing six full tracks from his four solo fusion albums: https://progzilla.com/in-conversation-with-nick-fletcher-october-2024/. The broadcast can be streamed or downloaded from that link, and the music it contains can be heard as indicated below: Track: 'Cycles Of Behaviour' (from 'Cycles Of Behaviour' 2021) @ 0:31 Track: 'The Eyes Of Persephone' (from 'The Cloud Of Unknowing' 2022) @ 19:13 Track: 'The Journey To Varanasi' (from 'Quadrivium' 2023) @ 38:17 Track: 'A Pathway To The Hermitage' (from 'A Longing For Home' 2024) @ 58:27 Track: 'The Sage, The Monk and The Scholar' (from 'A Longing For Home' 2024) @ 1:11:07 Track: 'To Hear The Angels Sing' (feat. Dikajee) (from 'A Longing For Home' 2024) @ 1:29:57 The first two of those six tracks weren't previously available to the team, so here's hoping that these extra samples can help bring this long-running evaluation to a close. Edit: There are even more tracks from 'The Cloud Of Unknowing' in this 'Flight of The Sky Pilot' show which featured the album, and was broadcast on Progzilla Radio in June 2022: https://progzilla.com/podcast-17-flight-of-the-sky-pilot-19-june-2022/ - in fact all the tracks on the album are played in sequence in between the segments of conversation with Nick. Again, the podcast can be streamed or downloaded from that link, and the first of Nick's tracks, 'Out Of The Maelstrom', starts at the 38:30 mark. The other tracks can be found as follows: 38:30 - 'Out of The Maelstrom' 46:01 - 'The Eyes of Persephone' 1:00:38 - 'Scenes From The Subconscious Mind' (full suite, scenes 1-5) 1:30:49 - 'Arcadia', followed by 'The Paradox' Surely we have enough samples to put this evaluation to bed now. Edited by yam yam - 17 hours 39 minutes ago at 16:36

Heart of the Matter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 01 2020 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 3154	Post Options Post Reply Quote Heart of the Matter Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Yesterday at 06:45
	As good as their duo is, both Nick Fletcher and John Hackett are terrific prog solo artists, so I've initiated a thread suggesting John for Crossover here: https://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=134105&PID=6166638�

yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Collaborator Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 6546	Post Options Post Reply Quote yam yam Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Yesterday at 10:34
	^ The plan, if we can get Nick Fletcher approved as a solo artist, is to move all his solo albums from the current John Hackett & Nick Fletcher page to the newly created Nick Fletcher solo page, and possibly also the two guitar and flute albums as well (though they don't really belong on PA in all honesty, so they could maybe just be done away with) leaving just the 'Beyond the Stars' album on that page, which is almost universally considered to be a John Hackett album that he put together in collaboration with Nick Fletcher. John Hackett is therefore technically already approved for inclusion here in Crossover on the strength of the previous evaluation of that album as a result of your January 2021 suggestion here, so my proposal would be to rename that page as simply John Hackett, remove the Nick Fletcher section from the biography - leaving just the existing biography that you previously wrote for John Hackett on the page - and then add the missing albums. If the other Crossover team members don't agree with this idea, and insist on there being a fresh evaluation for John Hackett, then you can rest assured that we will carry one out. I have plenty of samples to pass over the other team members, including the 2005 'Checking Out of London' album, which isn't available for streaming anywhere these days as far as I know. But first we need to get Nick Fletcher added here as a solo artist, so fingers crossed that these new samples will pave the way for that to happen.

Heart of the Matter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 01 2020 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 3154	Post Options Post Reply Quote Heart of the Matter Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 21 hours 29 minutes ago at 12:46
	Sounds like a plan I'm here to help, if needed.

yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Collaborator Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 6546	Post Options Post Reply Quote yam yam Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 17 hours 37 minutes ago at 16:38
	^ Thanks for that, Eduardo.