JOHN MARSHALL

One of the most important people in my MoonJune life is gone early today. The legendary British drummer John Marshall, one of my dearest ‘uncles’. I was very sad when I received the news a few hours ago from another ‘uncle’ of mine, the legendary bassist Roy Babbington. In 2000 I had a childlike dream with my old friend, the legendary sax player Elton Dean, to recreate the legacy of Soft Machine. My other buddy, the legendary bass player Hugh Hopper accepted to be part of the dream. Then we’ve convinced John Marshall to be in our dream-team, and once I met the legendary Allan Holdsworth in January of 2002, my life has changed and forever. Uncle John was struggling with health problems for years, and last year, on June 20, he did his very last performance with Soft Machine at the London‘s Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. 5 weeks later he was in studio with his fellow softmachinistas John Etheridge, Theo Travis and Fred Thelonious Baker to record the latest album of the band ‘Other Doors’. He was weak and fragile, but he made it, played fabulously. Two weeks later, when I joined them in London for the second part of the recording, he really couldn’t make it. He was a lovely man and one of my all time favorite drummers, a legend, actually, THE LEGEND. Rest In Peace Uncle John, You will be loved and remembered forever.