If (band)
Encyclopedia
If was a progressive rock
band formed in Britain
in 1969.
Referred to by Billboard
as "unquestionably the best of the so-called jazz-rock bands", in the period spanning 1970-1975, they produced 8 studio-recorded albums and did some 17 tours of Europe, the US and Canada.
and the United States during the early 1970s, with two U.S. tours during their first year, performing at most of the major venues and festivals of the day including Newport
, Reading
, Fillmore East
(November 10, 1970, sharing the billing with Black Sabbath
and Small Faces) and Fillmore West
, Whisky A Go-Go, and The Marquee.
They also shared billings with, amongst others, Miles Davis
, Muddy Waters
, Willie Dixon
and Leon Russell
as well as many of the classic rock bands of the day, such as Cream
, Traffic
, Yes
, Grand Funk Railroad
, Ten Years After
, KISS
, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, and Lynyrd Skynyrd
.
If thus became one of the most highly-acclaimed groups of the Seventies to never quite make the big time, despite good record sales and full venues. The band was managed and its albums produced by Lew Futterman, who had previously produced US jazz/soul stars Brother Jack McDuff and J.J. Jackson, amongst others. Signed on by Chris Blackwell
, an enthusiastic early fan, to Island Records
in the UK and to Capitol Records
in the US, their first album, If (1970), entered the charts in both the States (Billboard
) and the UK, as well as winning a design award for its cover, and was followed that same year by If 2
, also released on Island and Capitol.
The albums If 3
(1971), If 4
and Waterfall
(1972) were accompanied by heavy touring schedules in the States and Europe, especially in Britain and Germany, where the band appeared on TV (BBC’s Top of the Pops
/Old Grey Whistle Test
in the UK and one of their tracks was used as a signature tune for the news in Germany, as well as performing live (Sept. 1971) on Bremen TV's Beat-Club
, sharing the billing with Canned Heat
and Deep Purple
, among other acts).
Finally, following such intensive recording and touring schedules, in the summer of 1972, the band had to come off the road in the middle of a US tour when Dick Morrissey was admitted to hospital for major surgery. As a result of the break-up, the band members went off to work on other projects.
Consisting of essentially two clearly defined line-ups, as well as an intermediate, transitional one, the original band had a heavier leaning towards jazz, and was formed by Dick Morrissey
, on tenor sax and flute, and Terry Smith
on guitars, both Melody Maker
award-winning British jazz musicians who had played together in US soul singer J.J. Jackson
’s band. If’s original line-up included Dave Quincy, who had also been in Jackson's band, on alto and tenor saxes, with Spike Wells
on drums, Lionel Grigson
on keyboards and Daryl Runswick
on bass, although these last three musicians did not record with the band, with Wells going off to join Tubby Hayes
.
The definitive seven-piece line-up for the first incarnation of the band, with a more jazz-rock-oriented style, and which appears on the first four studio albums, as well as a live recording, was J. W. Hodkinson on lead vocals, John Mealing
on keyboards, Jim Richardson
on electric bass, Dennis Eliott
on drums, with Dave Quincy on alto and tenor saxes, Terry Smith on guitars, and Dick Morrissey on tenor and soprano saxes and flute.
The above line-up is possibly the band's best known, but the band was subject to other personnel changes. With If coming off the road when Dick Morrissey was admitted to hospital, J. W. Hodkinson joined Darryl Way
's Wolf, Terry Smith and Dave Quincy went off to form ZZebra
, John Mealing joined Klaus Doldinger
's Passport
before going on to Strawbs, Jim Richardson went on to do studio session work, and Dennis Elliott joined the hugely successful group Foreigner
.
A new line-up had Fi Trench
and Dave Greenslade
(ex-Colosseum
) on keyboards, and Dave Wintour
replacing Richardson on bass. Wintour left shortly afterwards to join Roger Daltrey
, appearing on his first two solo albums.
A sixth studio album, Double Diamond
(1973), with only Dick Morrissey left from the original line up, featured Fi Trench
(keyboards) and Pete Arnesen (keyboards), Steve Rosenthal (guitar/lead vocals), Kurt Palomacki (bass) and Cliff Davies (drums). It was recorded at The Manor
recording studios shortly after Mike Oldfield
's Tubular Bells
.
The last two If albums, Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces
(1974) and Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads
(1975), saw the band back on Capitol Records, and decidedly more rock oriented. They featured Geoff Whitehorn
on guitars and vocals, Gabriel Magno on keyboards and Walt Monaghan on bass and vocals (replacing Mike Tomich, who had toured with the band prior to these last recordings), as well as Cliff Davies and Dick Morrissey. The style was unique in generating a distinctive harmony of electric rock guitar and jazz sax.
Coinciding with their more rock-influenced style, they also changed their famous small-case logo "if" for the more solid looking large-case "IF".
If finally broke up in 1975, Dick Morrissey going on to work with the Average White Band and Herbie Mann
, eventually forming Morrissey-Mullen; Geoff Whitehorn to join Crawler
and, subsequently, Procol Harum
. Cliff Davies, Walt Monaghan and Gabriel Magno joined Ted Nugent
, who was also produced by Lew Futterman.
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band formed in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1969.
Referred to by Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
as "unquestionably the best of the so-called jazz-rock bands", in the period spanning 1970-1975, they produced 8 studio-recorded albums and did some 17 tours of Europe, the US and Canada.
History
They toured extensively in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the United States during the early 1970s, with two U.S. tours during their first year, performing at most of the major venues and festivals of the day including Newport
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
, Reading
National Jazz and Blues Festival
The National Jazz and Blues Festival was the precursor to the Reading Rock Festival and was the brainchild of Harold Pendleton, the manager of the prestigious Marquee Club in Soho....
, Fillmore East
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
(November 10, 1970, sharing the billing with Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
and Small Faces) and Fillmore West
Fillmore West
The Fillmore West was an historic music venue in San Francisco, California made famous by concert promoter Bill Graham. Named after Graham's original "Fillmore" location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it stood at Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue and was formerly...
, Whisky A Go-Go, and The Marquee.
They also shared billings with, amongst others, Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
and Leon Russell
Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
as well as many of the classic rock bands of the day, such as Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
, Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
, Grand Funk Railroad
Grand Funk Railroad
Grand Funk Railroad is an American rock band that was highly popular during the 1970s. Grand Funk Railroad toured constantly to packed arenas worldwide. A popular take on the band during its heyday was that, although the critics hated them, audiences loved them...
, Ten Years After
Ten Years After
Ten Years After is an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart...
, KISS
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, and Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
.
If thus became one of the most highly-acclaimed groups of the Seventies to never quite make the big time, despite good record sales and full venues. The band was managed and its albums produced by Lew Futterman, who had previously produced US jazz/soul stars Brother Jack McDuff and J.J. Jackson, amongst others. Signed on by Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
, an enthusiastic early fan, to Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
in the UK and to Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
in the US, their first album, If (1970), entered the charts in both the States (Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
) and the UK, as well as winning a design award for its cover, and was followed that same year by If 2
If 2
If 2 is the second release by the English Jazz rock band If. It was released as a vinyl LP in 1970 and re-issued as a CD in 2006 on Repertoire Records with liner notes by UK music critic Chris Welch....
, also released on Island and Capitol.
The albums If 3
If 3
If 3 is the third release by the English jazz rock band If. It was released in 1971 and reached #171 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart.The track "Forgotten Roads" featured on the band's live appearance on German TV's Beat-Club in September 1971....
(1971), If 4
If 4
If 4 is the fourth album released by the English jazz rock band If. It was first issued in 1972 and the last album to feature the original recording line-up.-Side one:# "Sector 17" – 10:34# "The Light Still Shines" – 5:06...
and Waterfall
Waterfall (album)
Waterfall is the fifth album released by the English jazz rock band If. It was first issued in 1972 and reached #195 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart...
(1972) were accompanied by heavy touring schedules in the States and Europe, especially in Britain and Germany, where the band appeared on TV (BBC’s Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
/Old Grey Whistle Test
Old Grey Whistle Test
The Old Grey Whistle Test was an influential BBC2 television music show that ran from 1971 to 1987. It took over the BBC2 late night slot from "Disco Two", which had been running since January 1970, while continuing to feature non-chart music. It was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers...
in the UK and one of their tracks was used as a signature tune for the news in Germany, as well as performing live (Sept. 1971) on Bremen TV's Beat-Club
Beat-Club
Beat-Club was a German music program that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen, Germany on Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen, the national public TV channel of the ARD, and produced by one of its members, Radio Bremen, later co-produced by WDR following the 38th episode...
, sharing the billing with Canned Heat
Canned Heat
Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...
and Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
, among other acts).
Finally, following such intensive recording and touring schedules, in the summer of 1972, the band had to come off the road in the middle of a US tour when Dick Morrissey was admitted to hospital for major surgery. As a result of the break-up, the band members went off to work on other projects.
Consisting of essentially two clearly defined line-ups, as well as an intermediate, transitional one, the original band had a heavier leaning towards jazz, and was formed by Dick Morrissey
Dick Morrissey
Richard Edwin "Dick" Morrissey was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and flute.- Background :...
, on tenor sax and flute, and Terry Smith
Terry Smith (British jazz guitarist)
Terence 'Terry' Smith is a British Jazz guitarist.-Biography:Twice winner of the Melody Maker Music Polls, Smith spent the early 1960s playing with the Tony Lee Trio, before becoming Scott Walker's musical director and accompanying The Walker Brothers on their Japan tour in 1968...
on guitars, both Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
award-winning British jazz musicians who had played together in US soul singer J.J. Jackson
J. J. Jackson (singer)
Jerome Louis "J.J." Jackson is an American soul/R&B singer, songwriter, and arranger. His singing style is as a belter....
’s band. If’s original line-up included Dave Quincy, who had also been in Jackson's band, on alto and tenor saxes, with Spike Wells
Spike Wells
Michael 'Spike' Wells is an English jazz drummer and priest.He was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral Choir School, then became interested in jazz after coming across a recording by Dizzy Gillespie, which he found 'very exciting'.He took up drums in his early teens: 'I suppose the thing that...
on drums, Lionel Grigson
Lionel Grigson
Lionel Grigson was a British jazz pianist, cornettist and teacher. He was educated at Dartington Hall School and at King's College, Cambridge University. His father was the critic and poet Geoffrey Grigson and his first wife was the publisher Margaret Busby.In the late 1960s he led a quintet with...
on keyboards and Daryl Runswick
Daryl Runswick
Daryl Runswick is a classically trained English composer, arranger, musician, producer and educationalist.He started playing bass with leading UK jazz musicians in the mid-60s, including Dick Morrissey and John Dankworth, with whom he would tour and compose for extensively for some 12 years...
on bass, although these last three musicians did not record with the band, with Wells going off to join Tubby Hayes
Tubby Hayes
Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest British jazz instrumentalists.- Early life :Hayes was born...
.
The definitive seven-piece line-up for the first incarnation of the band, with a more jazz-rock-oriented style, and which appears on the first four studio albums, as well as a live recording, was J. W. Hodkinson on lead vocals, John Mealing
John Mealing
John Mealing is a keyboards player, composer and arranger.After leaving the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet in the late-Sixties, he joined the pioneering British jazz-rock band If until they came off the road in 1972...
on keyboards, Jim Richardson
Jim Richardson (musician)
James Anthony Jim "Jimbo" Richardson born 16 February 1941, Tottenham, London, is a British jazz bassist and session musician.An original member of pioneering British jazz-rock band, If , he went on to doing intensive session and studio work...
on electric bass, Dennis Eliott
Dennis Elliott
Dennis Leslie Eliott is most famous as the drummer who played for Foreigner from 1976 to 1992. In later years he became a professional sculptor.-Life and careers:...
on drums, with Dave Quincy on alto and tenor saxes, Terry Smith on guitars, and Dick Morrissey on tenor and soprano saxes and flute.
The above line-up is possibly the band's best known, but the band was subject to other personnel changes. With If coming off the road when Dick Morrissey was admitted to hospital, J. W. Hodkinson joined Darryl Way
Darryl Way
Darryl Way is a British rock and classical musician who was a founding member of Curved Air and co-writer of their only hit single, "Back Street Luv". He is best known as a violinist although he also played keyboards.He began his musical training at Dartington College of Arts, and later studied at...
's Wolf, Terry Smith and Dave Quincy went off to form ZZebra
ZZebra
Zzebra were a British fusion and afro prog band active in the UK in the early 1970s.The band was formed when Terry Smith and Dave Quincy , both left the band If, when it broke up, and joined Lasisi "Loughty" Amao ex-Osibisa , Gus Yeadon ex-The Love Affair , Liam Genockey and John McCoy .They...
, John Mealing joined Klaus Doldinger
Klaus Doldinger
Klaus Doldinger is a German saxophonist, especially well-known for jazz and as a composer of film music. He was the recipient of 1997's Bavarian Film Awards .-Life and work:...
's Passport
Passport (band)
Passport is a German jazz ensemble led by saxophonist Klaus Doldinger.Passport was initiated in 1971 as a jazz fusion experimental group, similar to American groups such as Weather Report. The ensemble's first recording was issued in 1971, and through the 1970s had a constantly revolving...
before going on to Strawbs, Jim Richardson went on to do studio session work, and Dennis Elliott joined the hugely successful group Foreigner
Foreigner (band)
Foreigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in 1976 by veteran English musicians Mick Jones and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm...
.
A new line-up had Fi Trench
Fiachra Trench
Fiachra Terence Wilbrah Trench is a musician and composer from Drogheda, County Louth in Ireland....
and Dave Greenslade
Dave Greenslade
Dave Greenslade is a British keyboards player. He has played in his own eponymous band, Greenslade, and others including Colosseum, If and Chris Farlowe's Thunderbirds....
(ex-Colosseum
Colosseum (band)
Colosseum is a pioneering British progressive jazz-rock band, mixing progressive rock and jazz-based improvisation.-History 1968 - 1971:The band was formed in September 1968 by drummer Jon Hiseman, tenor sax player Dick Heckstall-Smith and bass player Tony Reeves, who had previously worked together...
) on keyboards, and Dave Wintour
Dave Wintour
Dave Wintour is a bass guitarist and session musician.He has played and recorded with artists such as Rick Wakeman, Pete Atkin, Kenny Young, the pioneer jazz-rock band If, Clifford T. Ward, Roger Daltrey, Slapp Happy, Steve Swindells, The Pretty Things, Stealers Wheel and Leo Sayer.From 1995 to...
replacing Richardson on bass. Wintour left shortly afterwards to join Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
, appearing on his first two solo albums.
A sixth studio album, Double Diamond
Double Diamond (album)
Double Diamond is the sixth album by British jazz-rock group If. With only Dick Morrissey left from the original band, the new line-up featured Fi Trench and Pete Arnesen , Steve Rosenthal , Kurt Palomaki and Cliff Davies...
(1973), with only Dick Morrissey left from the original line up, featured Fi Trench
Fiachra Trench
Fiachra Terence Wilbrah Trench is a musician and composer from Drogheda, County Louth in Ireland....
(keyboards) and Pete Arnesen (keyboards), Steve Rosenthal (guitar/lead vocals), Kurt Palomacki (bass) and Cliff Davies (drums). It was recorded at The Manor
The Manor Studio
The Manor Studio was a recording studio in the manor house at the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, north of the city of Oxford. It was the first residential recording studio in the UK...
recording studios shortly after Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
's Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success...
.
The last two If albums, Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces
Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces
Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces is the seventh studio album by British jazz-rock band If, released in 1974.- Side one :# "In the Winter of Your Life" – 4:59# "Stormy Every Weekday Blues" – 6:07...
(1974) and Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads
Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads
Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads, released in 1975, was the eighth and final studio album by British jazz-rock band If. It was followed by compilation CDs covering tracks from the first four LPs featuring the band's previous line-up....
(1975), saw the band back on Capitol Records, and decidedly more rock oriented. They featured Geoff Whitehorn
Geoff Whitehorn
Geoffrey Charles 'Geoff' Whitehorn is a guitarist and singer-songwriter, who has played as a member of If, Crawler and Procol Harum.- History :...
on guitars and vocals, Gabriel Magno on keyboards and Walt Monaghan on bass and vocals (replacing Mike Tomich, who had toured with the band prior to these last recordings), as well as Cliff Davies and Dick Morrissey. The style was unique in generating a distinctive harmony of electric rock guitar and jazz sax.
Coinciding with their more rock-influenced style, they also changed their famous small-case logo "if" for the more solid looking large-case "IF".
If finally broke up in 1975, Dick Morrissey going on to work with the Average White Band and Herbie Mann
Herbie Mann
Herbert Jay Solomon , better known as Herbie Mann, was a Jewish American jazz flutist and important early practitioner of world music...
, eventually forming Morrissey-Mullen; Geoff Whitehorn to join Crawler
Crawler (band)
There are various bands with the name CrawlerIt was first created from the ashes of Back Street Crawler, following the death of guitarist, Paul Kossoff.-History:...
and, subsequently, Procol Harum
Procol Harum
Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"...
. Cliff Davies, Walt Monaghan and Gabriel Magno joined Ted Nugent
Ted Nugent
Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent is an American guitarist, musician, singer, author, reserve police officer, and activist. From Detroit, Michigan, he originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, before embarking on a lengthy solo career...
, who was also produced by Lew Futterman.
Band members
1969 |
|
|---|---|
1969 - 1972 |
John Mealing John Mealing is a keyboards player, composer and arranger.After leaving the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet in the late-Sixties, he joined the pioneering British jazz-rock band If until they came off the road in 1972... - keyboards, vocals Dick Morrissey Richard Edwin "Dick" Morrissey was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and flute.- Background :... - saxophones, flute Jim Richardson (musician) James Anthony Jim "Jimbo" Richardson born 16 February 1941, Tottenham, London, is a British jazz bassist and session musician.An original member of pioneering British jazz-rock band, If , he went on to doing intensive session and studio work... - bass Terry Smith (British jazz guitarist) Terence 'Terry' Smith is a British Jazz guitarist.-Biography:Twice winner of the Melody Maker Music Polls, Smith spent the early 1960s playing with the Tony Lee Trio, before becoming Scott Walker's musical director and accompanying The Walker Brothers on their Japan tour in 1968... – guitar Dennis Elliott Dennis Leslie Eliott is most famous as the drummer who played for Foreigner from 1976 to 1992. In later years he became a professional sculptor.-Life and careers:... - drums |
1972 - 1973 |
Dennis Elliott Dennis Leslie Eliott is most famous as the drummer who played for Foreigner from 1976 to 1992. In later years he became a professional sculptor.-Life and careers:... - drums Dave Greenslade Dave Greenslade is a British keyboards player. He has played in his own eponymous band, Greenslade, and others including Colosseum, If and Chris Farlowe's Thunderbirds.... - keyboards John Mealing John Mealing is a keyboards player, composer and arranger.After leaving the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet in the late-Sixties, he joined the pioneering British jazz-rock band If until they came off the road in 1972... - piano, organ Dick Morrissey Richard Edwin "Dick" Morrissey was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and flute.- Background :... - saxophones, flute, vocals Jim Richardson (musician) James Anthony Jim "Jimbo" Richardson born 16 February 1941, Tottenham, London, is a British jazz bassist and session musician.An original member of pioneering British jazz-rock band, If , he went on to doing intensive session and studio work... - bass Terry Smith (British jazz guitarist) Terence 'Terry' Smith is a British Jazz guitarist.-Biography:Twice winner of the Melody Maker Music Polls, Smith spent the early 1960s playing with the Tony Lee Trio, before becoming Scott Walker's musical director and accompanying The Walker Brothers on their Japan tour in 1968... - guitar Dave Wintour Dave Wintour is a bass guitarist and session musician.He has played and recorded with artists such as Rick Wakeman, Pete Atkin, Kenny Young, the pioneer jazz-rock band If, Clifford T. Ward, Roger Daltrey, Slapp Happy, Steve Swindells, The Pretty Things, Stealers Wheel and Leo Sayer.From 1995 to... - electric and acoustic guitar, bass, vocals |
1973 - 1974 |
Dick Morrissey Richard Edwin "Dick" Morrissey was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and flute.- Background :... - saxophones, flute Fiachra Trench Fiachra Terence Wilbrah Trench is a musician and composer from Drogheda, County Louth in Ireland.... - piano |
1974 - 1975 |
Dick Morrissey Richard Edwin "Dick" Morrissey was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and flute.- Background :... - saxes and flute Geoff Whitehorn Geoffrey Charles 'Geoff' Whitehorn is a guitarist and singer-songwriter, who has played as a member of If, Crawler and Procol Harum.- History :... - guitars and vocals |
Studio albums
- If (1970) U.S. #187
- If 2If 2If 2 is the second release by the English Jazz rock band If. It was released as a vinyl LP in 1970 and re-issued as a CD in 2006 on Repertoire Records with liner notes by UK music critic Chris Welch....
(1970) (1970) U.S. #203 - If 3If 3If 3 is the third release by the English jazz rock band If. It was released in 1971 and reached #171 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart.The track "Forgotten Roads" featured on the band's live appearance on German TV's Beat-Club in September 1971....
(1971) U.S. #171 - If 4If 4If 4 is the fourth album released by the English jazz rock band If. It was first issued in 1972 and the last album to feature the original recording line-up.-Side one:# "Sector 17" – 10:34# "The Light Still Shines" – 5:06...
(1972) - WaterfallWaterfall (album)Waterfall is the fifth album released by the English jazz rock band If. It was first issued in 1972 and reached #195 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart...
(1972) U.S. #195 - Double DiamondDouble Diamond (album)Double Diamond is the sixth album by British jazz-rock group If. With only Dick Morrissey left from the original band, the new line-up featured Fi Trench and Pete Arnesen , Steve Rosenthal , Kurt Palomaki and Cliff Davies...
(1973) - also released in Germany as This is If. - Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty FacesNot Just Another Bunch of Pretty FacesNot Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces is the seventh studio album by British jazz-rock band If, released in 1974.- Side one :# "In the Winter of Your Life" – 4:59# "Stormy Every Weekday Blues" – 6:07...
(1974) - Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'EadsTea Break Over, Back on Your 'EadsTea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads, released in 1975, was the eighth and final studio album by British jazz-rock band If. It was followed by compilation CDs covering tracks from the first four LPs featuring the band's previous line-up....
(1975)
Compilations
- Forgotten Roads: The Best of IFForgotten Roads: The Best of IFForgotten Roads: The Best of IF was British jazz-rock group If's first compilation album, released on CD twenty years after the band's dissolution in 1975. The tracks and line-up were from the first three If albums...
(1995) - Europe '72 (Live)Europe '72 (Live)Europe '72 , released in 1997, is a compilation album of live performances by British jazz-rock group If. It features material from their first four LPs that was recorded live on tour and before studio audiences...
(1997) - All Good Clean FunAll Good Clean FunAll Good Clean Fun was originally a promotional sampler issued by United Artists Records in 1971. This original release was a double album containing 23 tracks by 20 different artists, with three artists; Morning, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Canned Heat, having 2 tracks each.Most of the...
- BumpersBumpers (album)Bumpers was a double sampler album from Island Records, released in Europe and Australasia in 1970; there were minor variations in track listings within Europe but the Australian release was fundamentally different...
External links
- [ Allmusic]
- John Peel at BBC Radio 1
- Fan website devoted to if - unofficial
- Jim Newsom's website review of If 1 album
- Horn Rock Heaven
- If biography from linernotes by Chris WelchChris WelchChris Welch is a music journalist, reviewer and critic with Melody Maker, famous during the 1960s and 1970s for reporting on the rise of such bands as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, If, Cream and Jeff Beck. During that time he also reported on the UK jazz scene.- Career...
at Alex Gaitlin's website - Beat-Club (German TV)
- The Free-Lance Star - December 18, 1971 at Google News