The new issue of Prog is on sale this Friday..
And you may remember us, a while back, asking you to vote for your favourite progressive musician and artist of all time. Well, an unbelievable amount of you voted, and it’s taken for ever to work our sway through all the votes and come up with an ultimate list of 100 which will appear in the next issue. Of course we asked load of the musicians we write about to tell us who their favourites are as well, and in the run up to the new issue going on sale, we’re sharing a few of those with you.
Next up is Gentle Giant frontman Derek Shulman. It’s been a pretty good year for Gentle Giant. Not only did the band pick up the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Prog Awards, but they cracked the charts with the recent reissue of their 1972 album Octopus. Not bad going for a ban d who actually split up in 1980!
Anyway, we asked Derek who is favourite prog artist of all time was, and he chose** JETHRO TULL**.
“Having worked and performed with so many great musicians over the years, it is a very difficult thing to pinpoint one particular band. However, for me touring with Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull in Europe and North America in 1972 was a huge turning point for Gentle Giant and myself.
Jethro Tull were touring Thick As A Brick and Gentle Giant had just released_ Octopus_.
Watching Ian’s command of the stage and the band’s incredible tightness and musicianship was inspiring indeed. Their onstage dynamics and humour were something we loved. They also utilized creative and thoughtful theatrics without seeming pompous, bombastic or pretentious.
“At the same time we all became friends and I believe we had mutual respect for each other’s music as well as people on personal levels. We remain great friends to this day! So for me, Jethro Tull circa 1971⁄72 are the kings!”
