Myke Clifford
Vocals, Saxophone, Percussion
In the beginning was the Tenor Saxophone, gleaming, sexy and very very cool……….it just needed to be tamed. After 40 years Myke thinks he might just be getting the hang of it, ‘ The sax can be a very, ‘voice like’ instrument, seeming to speak to a lot of people in a very direct way. It can wail, purr and roar’ ……oh and of course girls love it.
‘I began with the flute at school and quickly progressed to Tenor Sax. Helping a band out one night when the singer was unavailable, I decided to give singing a go and I ‘liked it’
Mainly a jazz player, Myke has a very broad interest in many genres of music and clearly remembers the first time he heard Dark side of the Moon.
‘ I had loved most of Meddle but the thing that struck me about Dark side was its very clever construction. As a ‘complete piece’ I could listen to it in the same way as I would a classical symphony. When I first heard it in 1973 at the age of 13 it made a big impression and it’s quite a thrill to be performing it. This was in the days of vinyl of course, I still have the urge to get up and turn the CD over half way through. At Art school in the 70’s I was very keen on the album cover art of Hipnosis and loved Floyd’s visual concepts.
Myke is very proud of his 1954, Selmer Mk6 Tenor sax, very similar to the one that Dick Parry played on Darkside.
‘I prefer not to copy the Dick’s lines exactly, I try to keep pretty close in order to retain the original ‘soul’ of his performance. My main Sax heroes are jazz players such as John Coltrane, Lee Konitz, Michael Brecker and I really love the free jazz playing of Evan Parker.
In ‘real life’ Myke is a Photographer and Graphic Designer with the University of Cambridge, as a sideline he also compares at Glastonbury festival and has been main-stage compare at the Cambridge Folk Festival since 1985.
It’s around 35 years since Myke played his first earning gig, two old men and an organ in a sea front hotel in Gt Yarmouth [dreadful]. In the interim he has played around 2,000,0000.5900.5 notes, many of which where b flats. He wishes he was being paid by the note. Many of these same notes will be included in tonight’s performance, please only throw paper money.