Roy Babbington
Roy Babbington ( born July 8, 1940 in Kempston, Bedfordshire ) is an English bass player.
Generally
Babbington was known for his membership in the art-rock and jazz-rock group Soft Machine. He began as a bassist in local jazz groups. By Alexis Korner, he expanded his musical background of experience in the area of blues and rhythm 'n' blues and sat now increasingly also the electric bass a. Here the legendary Fender Bass VI became his main instrument. On the recommendation of Korner he joined the band Delivery, who was one of the nuclei of the Canterbury scene with Phil Miller, Pip Pyle and Lol Coxhill. He also began to work as a session musician with Jazz-/Fusion-Musikern like Michael Gibbs and The Keith Tippett Group ( with Elton Dean ), on whose albums he played as well as in Tippett's big band Centipede project (1971) and Dean's album Just us. As delivery in 1971 after publishing a single album ( Fools Meeting with Carol Grimes ) broke up, Babbington joined the jazz-rock band Nucleus.
He appeared on albums by Mike d'Abo, Chris Spedding and the folk singer Harvey Andrews and belonged temporarily to the groups " Schunge ", " Solid Gold Cadillac " ( by Mike Westbrook with Spedding and Phil Minton ) and " Ovary Lodge " with Julie Tippett Keith Tippett and.
Roy Babbington at Soft Machine
Through his jazz background, he offered himself for an ideal to Contribute to the Soft Machine LPs Fourth and Fifth. With his double bass he created in the swing passages of the piece Teeth a delightful contrast to the electric bass by Hugh Hopper, he eventually completely replaced from the album Seven (1973). Babbingtons distinct funk and rock stresses on the electric bass guitar complemented each other perfectly with the jazz-rock ambitions of Karl Jenkins and the drum work of John Marshall. He also shows in songs like Down The Road As If and impressive at the sonic possibilities of the coated bass.
Since 1976
In 1979 he worked with on the album Welcome To The Cruise by Judie Tzuke. In the eighties and nineties Babbington returned to its origins back - for double bass and pure jazz. You can hear Roy Babbington also on recordings by Barbara Thompson, Carol Grimes, Elvis Costello and the BBC Big Band. He has collaborated in 2001 with a trio of Mose Allison.
In 2008 he played with Soft Machine Legacy and replaced Hugh Hopper after his death as electric bassist of the band ..