24-06-2021, 21:18
Well here’s a first in this thread! Patrick Moraz was born on this day in 1948, on an aeroplane! Somewhere over Switzerland presumably – or possibly not – who knows? His hometown is Morges, which is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva.
He was musically precocious, probably as a result of being born into a family of pros. He seems to have had a very full and interesting life – especially the first half – imagine being 16 and winning a best soloist award at a major jazz festival, then swanning off to teach scuba diving while spending time with and performing for Salvador Dali and friends in one’s spare time! The mind boggles.
He was 26 years old when he was asked to join Yes (after Grumpy Old Rick departed), having had several adventures inbetween, including traveling to the UK sans a work visa and forming his own band. He recorded Relayer with Yes and went on tour with them having learned a whole lot of their material for that purpose before being shafted due to the return of RW for the recording of Going for the One. By 1978 he’d hooked up with the Moody Blues, replacing Mike Pinder – the first album he appeared on with them being Long Distance Voyager. He played with the band for 15 years before they asked him to leave – suffice to say it didn’t end well. He’s made 13 solo albums and appears on a few more – a keys wiz for sure but his more recent stuff is not much to my taste. I listened to his Out in the Sun (1977) in honour of the occasion. The album gets a bunch of accolades and I can hear why.
He was musically precocious, probably as a result of being born into a family of pros. He seems to have had a very full and interesting life – especially the first half – imagine being 16 and winning a best soloist award at a major jazz festival, then swanning off to teach scuba diving while spending time with and performing for Salvador Dali and friends in one’s spare time! The mind boggles.
He was 26 years old when he was asked to join Yes (after Grumpy Old Rick departed), having had several adventures inbetween, including traveling to the UK sans a work visa and forming his own band. He recorded Relayer with Yes and went on tour with them having learned a whole lot of their material for that purpose before being shafted due to the return of RW for the recording of Going for the One. By 1978 he’d hooked up with the Moody Blues, replacing Mike Pinder – the first album he appeared on with them being Long Distance Voyager. He played with the band for 15 years before they asked him to leave – suffice to say it didn’t end well. He’s made 13 solo albums and appears on a few more – a keys wiz for sure but his more recent stuff is not much to my taste. I listened to his Out in the Sun (1977) in honour of the occasion. The album gets a bunch of accolades and I can hear why.
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson