Colosseum are an English jazz‑rock band known for blending blues, rock and jazz‑based improvisation. Colin Larkin has noted that “the commercial acceptance of jazz rock in the UK” was largely due to the band. Between 1975 and 1978 a separate group, Colosseum II, existed as a progressive‑rock project founded by Colosseum leader Jon Hiseman. Colosseum, one of the earliest bands to fuse jazz, rock and blues, were formed in early 1968 by drummer Jon Hiseman and tenor saxophonist Dick Heckstall‑Smith. The two had previously worked together in the New Jazz Orchestra and in the Graham Bond Organisation, where Hiseman replaced Ginger Baker in 1966. They reunited in early 1968 while both were members of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, contributing to the Bare Wires album. Hiseman’s childhood friend Dave Greenslade soon joined on organ, followed by bassist Tony Reeves, who had known both Hiseman and Greenslade since their teenage years in South East London. After extensive auditions, the line‑up was completed by guitarist Jim Roche and guitarist/vocalist James Litherland, although Roche left after recording only one track. The band’s debut album, Those Who Are About to Die Salute You, featuring the Graham Bond composition “Walkin’ in the Park” as its opening track, was released on Philips’ Fontana label in early 1969. In March of the same year, Colosseum were invited to participate in Supershow, a two‑day filmed jam session that also featured the Modern Jazz Quartet, Led Zeppelin, Jack Bruce, the Roland Kirk Quartet, Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills and Juicy Lucy.
More information
Skelington Part 1 Live 1994
Lost Angeles (part 1)
Rope ladder to the moon…
Walking in the park
Valentyne Suite Part-1/2
Debut” live 1969
theme for an imaginary western – Chris Farlowe
The kettle
Tanglewood
Valentyne Suite Part-2/2
Daughter of Time 1970 Full album
Strange New Flesh Full Album
This page contains text from Wikipedia. The content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution‑ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY‑SA 4.0). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
This text is based on the original Wikipedia article.