Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and actor. Hancock started his career with Donald Byrd, he shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, Hancock experimented with jazz fusion and electro styles. Hancock's best-known compositions include "Cantaloupe Island", "Watermelon Man", "Maiden Voyage", "Chameleon", the singles "I Thought It Was You" and "Rockit", his 2007 tribute album River: The Joni Letters won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, only the second jazz album to win the award, after Getz/Gilberto in 1965. Hancock was born in Chicago, the son of Winnie Belle, a secretary, Wayman Edward Hancock, a government meat inspector, his parents named him after actor Herb Jeffries. He attended the Hyde Park Academy. Like many jazz pianists, Hancock started with a classical music education, he studied from age seven, his talent was recognized early.
Considered a child prodigy, he played the first movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 26 in D Major, K. 537 at a young people's concert on February 5, 1952, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of 11. Through his teens, Hancock never developed his ear and sense of harmony, he was influenced by records of the vocal group the Hi-Lo's. He reported that:"...by the time I heard the Hi-Lo's, I started picking that stuff out. I could hear stuff and that's when I learned some much farther-out voicings – like the harmonies I used on Speak Like a Child – just being able to do that. I got that from Clare Fischer's arrangements for the Hi-Lo's. Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept...he and Bill Evans, Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that's where it came from." In 1960, he heard Chris Anderson play just once, begged him to accept him as a student. Hancock mentions Anderson as his harmonic guru. Hancock left Grinnell College, moved to Chicago and began working with Donald Byrd and Coleman Hawkins, during which period he took courses at Roosevelt University.
Byrd was attending the Manhattan School of Music in New York at the time and suggested that Hancock study composition with Vittorio Giannini, which he did for a short time in 1960. The pianist earned a reputation, played subsequent sessions with Oliver Nelson and Phil Woods, he recorded his first solo album Takin' Off for Blue Note Records in 1962. "Watermelon Man" was to provide Mongo Santamaría with a hit single, but more for Hancock, Takin' Off caught the attention of Miles Davis, at that time assembling a new band. Hancock was introduced to Davis by a member of the new band. Hancock received considerable attention. Davis sought out Hancock, whom he saw as one of the most promising talents in jazz; the rhythm section Davis organized was young but effective, comprising bassist Ron Carter, 17-year-old drummer Williams, Hancock on piano. After George Coleman and Sam Rivers each took a turn at the saxophone spot, the quintet gelled with Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone; this quintet is regarded as one of the finest jazz ensembles yet.
While in Davis's band, Hancock found time to record dozens of sessions for the Blue Note label, both under his own name and as a sideman with other musicians such as Shorter, Grant Green, Bobby Hutcherson, Byrd, Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard. Hancock recorded several less-well-known but still critically acclaimed albums with larger ensembles – My Point of View, Speak Like a Child and The Prisoner featured flugelhorn, alto flute and bass trombone. 1963's Inventions and Dimensions was an album of entirely improvised music, teaming Hancock with bassist Paul Chambers and two Latin percussionists, Willie Bobo and Osvaldo "Chihuahua" Martinez. During this period, Hancock composed the score to Michelangelo Antonioni's film Blowup, the first of many film soundtracks he recorded in his career; as well as feature film soundtracks, Hancock recorded a number of musical themes used on American television commercials for such well known products as Pillsbury's Space Food Sticks, Standard Oil, Tab diet cola and Virginia Slims cigarettes.
Hancock wrote and conducted a spy type theme for a series of F. William Free commercials for Silva Thins cigarettes. Hancock liked it so much he wished to record it as a song but the ad agency would not let him, he rewrote the harmony and tone and recorded the piece as the track "He Who Lives in Fear" from his The Prisoner album of 1969. Davis had begun incorporating elements of rock and popular music into his recordings by the end of Hancock's tenure with the band. Despite some initial reluctance, Hancock began doubling on electric keyboards including the Fender Rhodes electric piano at Davis's insistence. Hancock adapted to the new instruments, which proved to be important in his future artistic endeavors. Under the pretext that he had returned late from a honeymoon in Brazil, Hancock was dismissed from Davis's band. In the summer of 1968 Hancock formed his own sextet. However, although Davis soon disbanded his quintet to search for a new sound, despite his departur
Synthesizer
A synthesizer or synthesiser is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals that may be converted to sound. Synthesizers may imitate traditional musical instruments such as piano, vocals, or natural sounds such as ocean waves, they are played with a musical keyboard, but they can be controlled via a variety of other devices, including music sequencers, instrument controllers, guitar synthesizers, wind controllers, electronic drums. Synthesizers without built-in controllers are called sound modules, are controlled via USB, MIDI or CV/gate using a controller device a MIDI keyboard or other controller. Synthesizers use various methods to generate electronic signals. Among the most popular waveform synthesis techniques are subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, wavetable synthesis, frequency modulation synthesis, phase distortion synthesis, physical modeling synthesis and sample-based synthesis. Synthesizers were first used in pop music in the 1960s. In the late 1970s, synths were used in progressive rock and disco.
In the 1980s, the invention of the inexpensive Yamaha DX7 synth made digital synthesizers available. 1980s pop and dance music made heavy use of synthesizers. In the 2010s, synthesizers are used in many genres, such as pop, hip hop, metal and dance. Contemporary classical music composers from the 20th and 21st century write compositions for synthesizer; the beginnings of the synthesizer are difficult to trace, as it is difficult to draw a distinction between synthesizers and some early electric or electronic musical instruments. One of the earliest electric musical instruments, the Musical Telegraph, was invented in 1876 by American electrical engineer Elisha Gray, he accidentally discovered the sound generation from a self-vibrating electromechanical circuit, invented a basic single-note oscillator. This instrument used steel reeds with oscillations created by electromagnets transmitted over a telegraph line. Gray built a simple loudspeaker device into models, consisting of a vibrating diaphragm in a magnetic field, to make the oscillator audible.
This instrument was a remote electromechanical musical instrument that used telegraphy and electric buzzers that generated fixed timbre sound. Though it lacked an arbitrary sound-synthesis function, some have erroneously called it the first synthesizer. In 1897 Thaddeus Cahill was granted his first patent for an electronic musical instrument, which by 1901 he had developed into the Telharmonium capable of additive synthesis. Cahill's business was unsuccessful for various reasons, but similar and more compact instruments were subsequently developed, such as electronic and tonewheel organs including the Hammond organ, invented in 1935. In 1906, American engineer Lee de Forest invented the first amplifying vacuum tube, the Audion whose amplification of weak audio signals contributed to advances in sound recording and film, the invention of early electronic musical instruments including the theremin, the ondes martenot, the trautonium. Most of these early instruments used heterodyne circuits to produce audio frequencies, were limited in their synthesis capabilities.
The ondes martenot and trautonium were continuously developed for several decades developing qualities similar to synthesizers. In the 1920s, Arseny Avraamov developed various systems of graphic sonic art, similar graphical sound and tonewheel systems were developed around the world. In 1938, USSR engineer Yevgeny Murzin designed a compositional tool called ANS, one of the earliest real-time additive synthesizers using optoelectronics. Although his idea of reconstructing a sound from its visible image was simple, the instrument was not realized until 20 years in 1958, as Murzin was, "an engineer who worked in areas unrelated to music". In the 1930s and 1940s, the basic elements required for the modern analog subtractive synthesizers — electronic oscillators, audio filters, envelope controllers, various effects units — had appeared and were utilized in several electronic instruments; the earliest polyphonic synthesizers were developed in the United States. The Warbo Formant Orgel developed by Harald Bode in Germany in 1937, was a four-voice key-assignment keyboard with two formant filters and a dynamic envelope controller.
The Hammond Novachord released in 1939, was an electronic keyboard that used twelve sets of top-octave oscillators with octave dividers to generate sound, with vibrato, a resonator filter bank and a dynamic envelope controller. During the three years that Hammond manufactured this model, 1,069 units were shipped, but production was discontinued at the start of World War II. Both instruments were the forerunners of the electronic organs and polyphonic synthesizers. In the 1940s and 1950s, before the popularization of electronic organs and the introductions of combo organs, manufacturers developed various portable monophonic electronic instruments with small keyboards; these small instruments consisted of an electronic oscillator, vibrato effect, passive filters. Most were designed for conventional ensembles, rather than as experimental instruments for electronic music studios, but contributed to the evolution of modern synthesizers; these instruments include the Solovox, Multimonica and Clavioline.
In the late 1940s, Canadian inventor and composer, Hugh Le Caine invented the Electronic Sackbut, a voltage-controlled electronic musical instrument that provided the earliest real-time control of three aspects of sound —corresponding to today's touch-sensitive keyboard and modulation controllers. The controllers were impl
Modulation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with a modulating signal that contains information to be transmitted. Most radio systems in the 20th century used frequency modulation or amplitude modulation for radio broadcast. A modulator is a device. A demodulator is a device that performs the inverse of modulation. A modem can perform both operations; the aim of analog modulation is to transfer an analog baseband signal, for example an audio signal or TV signal, over an analog bandpass channel at a different frequency, for example over a limited radio frequency band or a cable TV network channel. The aim of digital modulation is to transfer a digital bit stream over an analog communication channel, for example over the public switched telephone network or over a limited radio frequency band. Analog and digital modulation facilitate frequency division multiplexing, where several low pass information signals are transferred over the same shared physical medium, using separate passband channels.
The aim of digital baseband modulation methods known as line coding, is to transfer a digital bit stream over a baseband channel a non-filtered copper wire such as a serial bus or a wired local area network. The aim of pulse modulation methods is to transfer a narrowband analog signal, for example, a phone call over a wideband baseband channel or, in some of the schemes, as a bit stream over another digital transmission system. In music synthesizers, modulation may be used to synthesize waveforms with an extensive overtone spectrum using a small number of oscillators. In this case, the carrier frequency is in the same order or much lower than the modulating waveform. In analog modulation, the modulation is applied continuously in response to the analog information signal. Common analog modulation techniques include: Amplitude modulation Double-sideband modulation Double-sideband modulation with carrier Double-sideband suppressed-carrier transmission Double-sideband reduced carrier transmission Single-sideband modulation Single-sideband modulation with carrier Single-sideband modulation suppressed carrier modulation Vestigial sideband modulation Quadrature amplitude modulation Angle modulation, constant envelope Frequency modulation Phase modulation Transpositional Modulation, in which the waveform inflection is modified resulting in a signal where each quarter cycle is transposed in the modulation process.
TM is a pseudo-analog modulation. Where an AM carrier carries a phase variable phase f. TM is f. Digital modulation methods can be considered as digital-to-analog conversion and the corresponding demodulation or detection as analog-to-digital conversion; the changes in the carrier signal are chosen from a finite number of M alternative symbols. A simple example: A telephone line is designed for transferring audible sounds, for example and not digital bits. Computers may, communicate over a telephone line by means of modems, which are representing the digital bits by tones, called symbols. If there are four alternative symbols, the first symbol may represent the bit sequence 00, the second 01, the third 10 and the fourth 11. If the modem plays a melody consisting of 1000 tones per second, the symbol rate is 1000 symbols/second, or 1000 baud. Since each tone represents a message consisting of two digital bits in this example, the bit rate is twice the symbol rate, i.e. 2000 bits per second. This is similar to the technique used by dial-up modems as opposed to DSL modems.
According to one definition of digital signal, the modulated signal is a digital signal. According to another definition, the modulation is a form of digital-to-analog conversion. Most textbooks would consider digital modulation schemes as a form of digital transmission, synonymous to data transmission; the most fundamental digital modulation techniques are based on keying: PSK: a finite number of phases are used. FSK: a finite number of frequencies are used. ASK: a finite number of amplitudes are used. QAM: a finite number of at least two phases and at least two amplitudes are used. In QAM, an in-phase signal and a quadrature phase signal are amplitude modulated with a finite number of amplitudes and summed, it can be seen as a two-channel system, each channel using ASK. The resulting signal is equivalent to a combination of PSK and ASK. In all of the above methods, each of these phases, frequencies or amplitudes are assigned a u
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression, it emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes and response vocals and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms"; as jazz spread around the world, it drew on national and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation.
In the 1930s arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, a hard-swinging, improvisational style and Gypsy jazz were the prominent styles. Bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging "musician's music", played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed near the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, linear melodic lines; the 1950s saw the emergence of free jazz, which explored playing without regular meter and formal structures, in the mid-1950s, hard bop emerged, which introduced influences from rhythm and blues and blues in the saxophone and piano playing. Modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock music's rhythms, electric instruments, amplified stage sound. In the early 1980s, a commercial form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful, garnering significant radio airplay.
Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such as Afro-Cuban jazz. The origin of the word "jazz" has resulted in considerable research, its history is well documented, it is believed to be related to "jasm", a slang term dating back to 1860 meaning "pep, energy". The earliest written record of the word is in a 1912 article in the Los Angeles Times in which a minor league baseball pitcher described a pitch which he called a "jazz ball" "because it wobbles and you can't do anything with it"; the use of the word in a musical context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its first documented use in a musical context in New Orleans was in a November 14, 1916 Times-Picayune article about "jas bands". In an interview with NPR, musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of the slang connotations of the term, saying, "When Broadway picked it up, they called it'J-A-Z-Z', it wasn't called that. It was spelled'J-A-S-S'; that was dirty, if you knew what it was, you wouldn't say it in front of ladies."
The American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century. Jazz is difficult to define because it encompasses a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years, from ragtime to the rock-infused fusion. Attempts have been made to define jazz from the perspective of other musical traditions, such as European music history or African music, but critic Joachim-Ernst Berendt argues that its terms of reference and its definition should be broader, defining jazz as a "form of art music which originated in the United States through the confrontation of the Negro with European music" and arguing that it differs from European music in that jazz has a "special relationship to time defined as'swing'". Jazz involves "a spontaneity and vitality of musical production in which improvisation plays a role" and contains a "sonority and manner of phrasing which mirror the individuality of the performing jazz musician". In the opinion of Robert Christgau, "most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz".
A broader definition that encompasses different eras of jazz has been proposed by Travis Jackson: "it is music that includes qualities such as swing, group interaction, developing an'individual voice', being open to different musical possibilities". Krin Gibbard argued that "jazz is a construct" which designates "a number of musics with enough in common to be understood as part of a coherent tradition". In contrast to commentators who have argued for excluding types of jazz, musicians are sometimes reluctant to define the music they play. Duke Ellington, one of jazz's most famous figures, said, "It's all music." Although jazz is considered difficult to define, in part because it contains many subgenres, improvisation is one of its defining elements. The centrality of improvisation is attributed to the influence of earlier forms of music such as blues, a form of folk music which arose in part from the work songs and field hollers of African-American slaves on plantations; these work songs were structured around a repetitive call-and-response pattern, but early blues was improvisational.
Classical music performance is evaluated more by its fidelity to the musical score, with less attention given to interpretation and accompaniment. The classical performer's goal is to play the composition. In contrast, jazz is characterized by the product of i
Modular synthesizer
The modular synthesizer is a type of synthesizer, which exists in both physical and virtual forms, consisting of separate specialized modules. The modules are not hardwired together by the manufacturer but are connected together with patch cords, a matrix patching system, or switches by the user to create a patch; the output from the modules may function as control voltages, or logic/timing conditions. Typical modules are oscillators, amplifiers/gates and Envelope generators; the basic modular functions are: signal, logic/timing. Inputs and outputs are an electric voltage; the difference between a synthesizer module and a effects unit is this: the effects unit will have sockets for input and output of the audio signal and knobs or switches for the musician to control various parameters of the device. Modules with the same basic functions may have different inputs and controls, depending on their degree of complexity; some examples include the Voltage Controlled Oscillator, which may have options for sync, linear or exponential frequency modulation, variable waveshape.
Examples of more complex modules include the frequency shifter and vocoder. There are some standards which manufacturers followed for their range of physical synthesizers, such as 1V/octave control voltages, gate / trigger thresholds providing general compatibility. In the past, modular synthesizers were bulky and expensive. Due to the continuously variable nature of knobs and sliders, reproducing an exact patch can be difficult or next to impossible. In the late 1970s, modular synthesizers started to be supplanted in pop music by integrated keyboard synthesizers, racks of MIDI-connected gear, samplers. However, there continued to be a community who chose the physically patched approach, the flexibility and the sound of traditional modular systems. Since the late 1990s, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of analog synthesizers aided by physical standardization practices, an increase in'retro' gear and interest, decreased production costs and increased electronic reliability and stability, the rediscovered ability of modules to control things other than sound, a heightened education through the development of virtual synthesis systems such as MAX/MSP, Pd and Reaktor etc.
Modules can be categorized as either sources or processors Some standard modules found on any modular synthesizer are: Sources - characterized by an output, but no signal input. In its basic form these may be simple waveforms, however these can be dynamically changed through such controls as sync, frequency modulation, self-modulation. Noise source - A source that outputs a random voltage. Common types of noise offered by modular synthesizers include white and low frequency noise. LFO - A low-frequency oscillator may or may not be voltage-controlled, it may be operated with a period anywhere from a fortieth of a second to several minutes. It is used as a control voltage for another module. For example, modulating a VCO will produce frequency modulation, may create vibrato, while modulating a VCA will produce amplitude modulation, may create tremolo, depending on the control frequency; the rectangular wave can be used as a logic / timing / trigger function. EG - An envelope generator is a transient voltage source.
A trigger in the presence of a gate, applied to an envelope generator produces a single, shaped voltage. Configured as ADSR it provides a transient voltage that rises and falls, it can be triggered by a keyboard or by another module in the system that produces a rising trigger in the presence of a gate. It controls the amplitude of a VCA or the cutoff frequency of a VCF, but the patchable structure of the synthesizer makes it possible to use the envelope generator to modulate other parameters such as the frequency or pulse width of the VCO. Simpler EGs or more complex are sometimes available. Sequencer sometimes called an Analog Step Sequencer, is a family of compound module types which may be a source or a processor, see below; as a source, depending upon the configuration, it may produce a sequence of voltages set by adjusting values on front panel knobs. The sequencer may output a trigger, and/or gate, at each step. Sequencers are stepped by a trigger being applied to the trigger input. Designs may allow for stepping forwards or backwards, oscillating patterns, random order, or only using a limited number of stages.
An example of an analog sequencer and controller with this level of complexity is the Doepfer A-154, A-155 combination. Processors - characterized by a signal input and an output.
Electronic oscillator
An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a periodic, oscillating electronic signal a sine wave or a square wave. Oscillators convert direct current from a power supply to an alternating current signal, they are used in many electronic devices. Common examples of signals generated by oscillators include signals broadcast by radio and television transmitters, clock signals that regulate computers and quartz clocks, the sounds produced by electronic beepers and video games. Oscillators are characterized by the frequency of their output signal: A low-frequency oscillator is an electronic oscillator that generates a frequency below 20 Hz; this term is used in the field of audio synthesizers, to distinguish it from an audio frequency oscillator. An audio oscillator produces frequencies in about 16 Hz to 20 kHz. An RF oscillator produces signals in the radio frequency range of about 100 kHz to 100 GHz. Oscillators designed to produce a high-power AC output from a DC supply are called inverters.
There are two main types of electronic oscillator – the linear or harmonic oscillator and the nonlinear or relaxation oscillator. The harmonic, or linear, oscillator produces a sinusoidal output. There are two types: The most common form of linear oscillator is an electronic amplifier such as a transistor or operational amplifier connected in a feedback loop with its output fed back into its input through a frequency selective electronic filter to provide positive feedback; when the power supply to the amplifier is first switched on, electronic noise in the circuit provides a non-zero signal to get oscillations started. The noise travels around the loop and is amplified and filtered until quickly it converges on a sine wave at a single frequency. Feedback oscillator circuits can be classified according to the type of frequency selective filter they use in the feedback loop: In an RC oscillator circuit, the filter is a network of resistors and capacitors. RC oscillators are used to generate lower frequencies, for example in the audio range.
Common types of RC oscillator circuits are the phase shift oscillator and the Wien bridge oscillator. In an LC oscillator circuit, the filter is a tuned circuit consisting of an inductor and capacitor connected together. Charge flows back and forth between the capacitor's plates through the inductor, so the tuned circuit can store electrical energy oscillating at its resonant frequency. There are small losses in the tank circuit, but the amplifier compensates for those losses and supplies the power for the output signal. LC oscillators are used at radio frequencies, when a tunable frequency source is necessary, such as in signal generators, tunable radio transmitters and the local oscillators in radio receivers. Typical LC oscillator circuits are the Hartley and Clapp circuits. In a crystal oscillator circuit the filter is a piezoelectric crystal; the crystal mechanically vibrates as a resonator, its frequency of vibration determines the oscillation frequency. Crystals have high Q-factor and better temperature stability than tuned circuits, so crystal oscillators have much better frequency stability than LC or RC oscillators.
Crystal oscillators are the most common type of linear oscillator, used to stabilize the frequency of most radio transmitters, to generate the clock signal in computers and quartz clocks. Crystal oscillators use the same circuits as LC oscillators, with the crystal replacing the tuned circuit. Quartz crystals are limited to frequencies of 30 MHz or below. Other types of resonator, dielectric resonators and surface acoustic wave devices, are used to control higher frequency oscillators, up into the microwave range. For example, SAW oscillators are used to generate the radio signal in cell phones. In addition to the feedback oscillators described above, which use two-port amplifying active elements such as transistors and operational amplifiers, linear oscillators can be built using one-port devices with negative resistance, such as magnetron tubes, tunnel diodes, IMPATT diodes and Gunn diodes. Negative-resistance oscillators are used at high frequencies in the microwave range and above, since at these frequencies feedback oscillators perform poorly due to excessive phase shift in the feedback path.
In negative-resistance oscillators, a resonant circuit, such as an LC circuit, crystal, or cavity resonator, is connected across a device with negative differential resistance, a DC bias voltage is applied to supply energy. A resonant circuit by itself is "almost" an oscillator; the negative resistance of the active device cancels the internal loss resistance in the resonator, in effect creating a resonator with no damping, which generates spontaneous continuous oscillations at its resonant frequency. The negative-resistance oscillator model is not limited to one-port devices like diodes. At high frequencies, transistors and FETs do not need a feedback loop, but with certain loads applied to one port can become unstable at the other port and show negative resistance due to internal feedback, causing them to oscillate. So high-frequency oscillators in general are designed using negative-resistance techniques; some of the many harmonic oscillator circuits are listed b
Yes (band)
Yes are an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Peter Banks, keyboardist Tony Kaye, drummer Bill Bruford. The band has undergone numerous formations throughout its history. Since June 2015, it has consisted of guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Geoff Downes, singer Jon Davison, bassist Billy Sherwood, with no remaining founding members. Yes have explored several musical styles over the years, are most notably regarded as progressive rock pioneers. Yes began in 1968, performing original songs and rearranged covers of rock, pop and jazz songs, as evident on their first two albums. A change of direction in 1970 led to a series of successful progressive rock albums until their disbanding in 1981, their most successful being The Yes Album and Close to the Edge. Yes toured as a major rock act that earned the band a reputation for their elaborate stage sets, light displays, album covers designed by Roger Dean.
The success of "Roundabout", the single from Fragile, cemented their popularity across the decade and beyond. In 1983, Yes reformed with a new line-up that included Trevor Rabin and a more commercial and pop-oriented musical direction; the result was 90125, their highest-selling album, which contained the U. S. number-one single, "Owner of a Lonely Heart". From 1990 to 1992, Yes were an eight-member formation after they merged with Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe for Union and its tour. Since 1994, Yes have released albums with varied levels of success and completed tours from 1994 to 2004. After a four-year hiatus, they continue to release albums. In 2016, a new group of former Yes members began touring and named themselves Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman. Yes are one of the most successful and longest-lasting progressive rock bands, they have sold 13.5 million RIAA-certified albums in the US. In 1985, they won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance with "Cinema", received five Grammy nominations between 1985 and 1992.
They were ranked No. 94 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. Yes have headlined annual progressive rock-themed cruises since 2013 named Cruise to the Edge, their discography spans 21 studio albums. In April 2017, Yes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which chose to bestow the honour upon current and former members Anderson, Bruford, Howe, Rick Wakeman and Rabin. In 1967, bassist Chris Squire formed the rock band Mabel Greer's Toyshop, with singer and guitarist Clive Bayley, drummer Bob Hagger, guitarist Peter Banks, they played at the Marquee Club in Soho, London where Jack Barrie, owner of the nearby La Chasse club, saw them perform. "There was nothing outstanding about them", he recalled, "the musicianship was good but it was obvious they weren't going anywhere". Barrie introduced Squire to singer Jon Anderson, a worker at the bar in La Chasse, who found they shared interests in Simon & Garfunkel and harmony singing; that evening at Squire's house they wrote "Sweetness,", included on the first Yes album.
Meanwhile, Banks had left Mabel Greer's Toyshop to join Neat Change, but he was dismissed by this group on 7 April 1968. In June 1968, Hagger was replaced in the nascent Yes by Bill Bruford, who had placed an advertisement in Melody Maker, Banks was recalled by Squire, replacing Bayley as guitarist; the classically trained organist and pianist Tony Kaye, of Johnny Taylor's Star Combo and the Federals, became the keyboardist and the fifth member. The newborn band rehearsed in the basement of The Lucky Horseshoe cafe on Shaftesbury Avenue between 10 June and 9 July 1968. Anderson suggested. Squire suggested. Banks responded "yes", and, how the band were named; the first gig under the new brand followed at a youth camp in East Mersea, Essex on 4 August 1968. Early sets were formed of cover songs from artists such as the Beatles, the 5th Dimension and Traffic. On 16 September, Yes performed at Blaise's club in London as a substitute for Sly and the Family Stone, who failed to turn up, they were well received by the audience, including the host Roy Flynn, who became the band's manager that night.
That month, Bruford decided to quit performing to study at the University of Leeds. His replacement, Tony O'Reilly of the Koobas, struggled to perform with the rest of the group on-stage. After Bruford was refused a year's sabbatical leave from Leeds and Squire convinced him to return for Yes's supporting slot for Cream's farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 November. After seeing an early King Crimson gig in 1969, Yes realised that there was stiff competition on the London gigging circuit, they needed to be much more technically proficient, starting regular rehearsals, they subsequently signed a deal with Atlantic Records, that August, released their debut album Yes. Compiled of original material, the record includes renditions of "Every Little Thing" by the Beatles and "I See You" by the Byrds. Although the album failed to break into the UK album charts, Rolling Stone critic Lester Bangs complimented the album's "sense of style and subtlety". Melody Maker columnist Tony Wilson chose Yes and Led Zeppelin as the two bands "most to succeed".
Following a tour of Scandinavia with the Small Faces, Yes performed a solo concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 21 March 1970. The second half consisted of excerpts from their second album Time and a Word, accompanied by a 20-piece youth orchestra. Banks left the group in May, two months before the a
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