mdanderson | Wednesday, November 11, 2009 | 9:13 pm

I saw them open for Yes on Dec.4th,1974 at TCCC in Ft.Worth,Tx. This was my first concert ever. What a treat.

KPBong | Tuesday, June 09, 2009 | 2:32 pm

I had the pleasure of being at the reunion concert last Sarurday that Brian mentioned. They were fantastic - you would never think they hadn't played a show for 32 years! If you read this, Brian, please do some more. And if you could persuade Richard to let them be more electric that would be even better...

lamplightneal @comcast.net | Friday, March 20, 2009 | 2:11 pm

I was lucky enough to see this tour, and all I can say is that GRYPHON WERE BRILLIANT!! Great to see this show here!

Mushrump | Saturday, March 07, 2009 | 2:18 pm

Gryphon is the greatest band of all time. No one else in the world could bring a medieval sound to modern progressive music and they rule at it.

avianbrain | Thursday, February 12, 2009 | 7:19 am

Actually I'm not that erudite- just a good researcher. The Gryphon early history I posted was written by Bruce Elder of the All Music Guide and can be found in its entirety on the Amazon.com USA site. Elder finishes by writing, "Harvey has gone on to a multi-tiered career in film music, classical chamber music, and forays into rock in collaboration with Kate Bush, Elvis Costello, et al. Gulland appeared on records with Richard & Linda Thompson and Billy Squier, Graeme Taylor passed through the Albion Band and also worked with Richard & Linda Thompson, and Oberle turned to the business side of rock journalism. Ironically, the group's sound on the four Transatlantic albums was so distinctive and accomplished that reissues of their work into the 21st century have ensured the addition of new fans to their ranks of admirers, more than a generation after Gryphon disbanded." Cheers, avianbrain

MAGNIFIKATONE | Thursday, February 12, 2009 | 5:18 am

Brian again,silly olde futtock that I am, I did'nt make clear that it was RICHARD playing all those tricky keyboard parts on the Hart organ and Moog Synthesizer.(Ernest called the organs COPEMAN HART so presumably he had a sleeping partner ). Over & out. Brain

MAGNIFIKATONE | Thursday, February 12, 2009 | 5:12 am

Hello,Brian Gulland here again,sorry about the last note being all in capitals,it was typed by Yvette my lovely wife,& looks very self important all in caps.Not intentional,sorry. Avianbrain,(a very self-effacing nickname for someone so erudite !, must be a condor at the very least!),you seem to have an extraordinary knowledge of the group.There are a couple of things to correct,however. Phil Nestor left the band during the recording of Red Queen to Gryphon Three,Richard Harvey played the Bass Guitar parts still unrecorded,and Malcolm Bennett subsequently joined on Bass,who you can hear on this recording. Ernest Hart was, in the 1970's,at the forefront of electronic research dedicated to impersonating a pipe organ. Some kind soul suggested to us one of his instruments would be very handy for our sound. Correct !. We managed to hire one for a track on our first album (Juniper Suite on the eponymous "Gryphon"),and subsequently commissioned Ernest to make us a similar organ.Once we had it,we used the instrument on almost all subsequent material,it's all over Midnight Mushrumps and Gulland Rock,everything from flutey sounds to Full Organ. The interest in the band is very flattering AND humbling,we had no idea what we were up to at the time of writing,and I don't think we're any the wiser now !! Don't hold your breath, but there is a strong possibility of us doing a reunion concert in London this summer, which would feature the two first records,(Richard does'nt want to do anything too electric or loud,understandably ). Love to All Brian

MAGNIFIKATONE | Thursday, February 12, 2009 | 3:26 am

HELLO PEOPLE, THIS IS BRIAN GULLAND OF GRYPHON HERE..THANK YOU FOR ALL THESE VERY KIND COMMENTS, GRYPHON WAS NEVER OFFICIALLY FILMED, WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO MOVING IMAGES OF US! HAS ANYONE OUT THERE IN THE GREAT BIG WORLD WHERE WE ALL LIVE GOT ANY FOOTAGE OF GRYPHON ON FILM...VIDEO...OR DOES ANYONE KNOW OF ANY? HUGE THANKS IN ADVANCE. LOVE TO ALL BRIAN

avianbrain | Wednesday, February 11, 2009 | 5:42 pm

Gryphon was one of the more unusual of the folk-rock groups to come out of England in the 1970s, mostly because they didn't confine their musical genre-melding to folk-rock. Spawned at the Royal College of Music, they started out making a name for themselves in folk-rock, but their classical training and their approach to composition, recording, and performance soon took them into the much bigger field of progressive rock, and eventually had them playing gigs in front of arena-size audiences. Richard Harvey (winds, mandolin, keyboards), who'd been playing music since age four, crossed paths with Brian Gulland (winds, bassoon, keyboards, vocals) -- Harvey had a growing interest in traditional folk music and had previously played with an ensemble called Musica Reservata, while Gulland had lately begun delving into Renaissance and medieval church music. Together with guitarist Graeme Taylor, an old friend of Harvey's, they began working as a trio, playing a brand of what might best be called archaic folk music on instruments that were decidedly pre-20th century in either origin or sound. This early trio most resembled a cross between Pentangle and Amazing Blondel, but Gryphon's members were more proficient in their musicianship. In 1972, the trio became a quartet with the addition of David Oberle as percussionist, and the following year they were signed to Transatlantic Records, which was then one of the biggest of England's independent labels, with a special emphasis on folk music. Their debut album was taken seriously enough to get them gigs at places like the Victoria & Albert Museum -- where they lectured as well as concertized -- and other venues outside the usual range of folk performances. Additionally, the group's formal musical training made it possible for them to accept a commission from Sir Peter Hall for a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest at the National Theatre. That commission, in turn, resulted in the creation of the group's first real thrust into progressive rock, with the album-side length "Midnight Mushrumps," which also became the title of their second LP, released in early 1974. The group was, by then, cultivating a dedicated audience that mixed open-minded folk enthusiasts and more serious progressive rock aficionados, their repertoire encompassing everything from medieval airs and dances to folk-based renditions of Beatles songs. By 1974, they'd also added bassist Philip Nestor, whose presence, coupled with Oberle's switch from percussion to an actual drum kit, toughened up their sound and extended their range still further -- but they were still among the very few rock acts whose music featured a krumhorn or recorder cadenza. Their music could leap, in a single measure, from a piece of 15th century religious music across four hundred years, from medieval recorder to electric guitar, without skipping a beat. Yet audiences were keeping up, and even the rock audience was taking note -- Richard Harvey could play the recorder flute at a speed that made Ian Anderson (rock's best known flutist) look like he was working in slow motion. In 1974, the group released what is usually regarded as their magnum opus, Red Queen to Gryphon Three, which marked their headfirst plunge into progressive rock, eschewing vocals for the first time in their history and stretching out their playing on a quartet of extended tracks clocking in at ten minutes or more each. For that album, they added a sixth member in organist Ernest Hart, whose keyboard prowess -- at least rivaling Yes' Tony Kaye, if not Rick Wakeman, for boldness on a single instrument -- allowed the group to expand its musical canvas.

avianbrain | Wednesday, February 11, 2009 | 5:24 pm

Gryphon were the warm up for Yes on the 1974 "Relayer" tour. I saw them in Louisville Kentucky. Supporting their "Red Queen to Gryphon Three" album on Transatlantic Records. recorder/keyboard player Richard Harvey bassoonist Brian Gulland (both Harvey and Gulland play archaic krumhorns). guitarist Graeme Taylor drummer Dave Oberle Harvey played "The Sailor's Hornpipe" VERY fast on the tin whistle at the end of their warm-up set.