#FOREIGNER MUSIC CRACKED#

“Schizoid Man” became a highlight of In the Court of the Crimson King, which also featured moodier tracks like “Epitaph” and “The Court of the Crimson King” that highlighted McDonald’s skill on other instruments - including the Mellotron, flute and harpsichord. “I remember the hairs on the back of my neck rising as the roar from this huge crowd went up.” “The high point of that gig was the whole audience rising to their feet as one and cheering Ian McDonald’s solo during ‘Schizoid,’” Crimson roadie Richard “Vick” Vickers told band biographer Sid Smith. McDonald’s sax solo made a huge impression at the Hyde Park gig. It was the precision of the piece that was most interesting.” And you had the guitar being twinned with the sax the whole time, so it was a very angular approach. “You had that sort of free-jazz sensibility, but it was done with rock sensibility.

“We hadn’t really heard anything else like it,” former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett told Rolling Stone of seeing Crimson live in those early days. King Crimson started performing around London in the spring of 1969, and immediately developed a reputation as a fearsome and highly original band. “As soon as he played that, I went to the Mellotron and went ‘daaah-daaah-dah,’ the chromatic run-up that follows it.” “Greg came out with this six-note line in the rehearsal room,” he recalled. One day, at the band’s rehearsal space in the basement of London’s Fulham Palace Cafe, singer-bassist Greg Lake played the first half and McDonald added the rest. He also helped fill out the song’s iconic doomy opening riff. That whole section is mine that I lifted from that score that I had written.” I wrote this piece called ‘Three Score and Four,’ and we put it into ‘Schizoid Man’ there. “I was very into things like Stan Kenton and these kind of big bands at the time,” McDonald told Rolling Stone in 2019.

A piece that he wrote for the army band called “Three Score and Four” would turn into the midsection of “21st Century Schizoid Man.” His jazz sensibility was key to the early King Crimson sound. He collaborated with the group Giles, Giles, and Fripp - an early project featuring fellow Crimson co-founders Robert Fripp and Michael Giles that planted the seeds for King Crimson. He served for five years in the British Army, playing in a jazz band. Ian McDonald was born in Osterley, Middlesex, in England, in 1946. His final major project was the rootsy rock band Honey West. Rex’s classic 1971 album, Electric Warrior, and later reunited with part of the original Crimson lineup as a member of the 21st Century Schizoid Band. McDonald also performed as a session saxist on T. He was a musician of great substance and versatility. “He was and always will be a giant on the English progressive rock scene. “When I had the idea of forming Foreigner, Ian McDonald was among the first I turned to,” Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones wrote on Facebook on Friday.

#FOREIGNER MUSIC CRACKED#

Later, McDonald co-founded rock outfit Foreigner with guitarist Mick Jones, playing various instruments and singing on their first three LPs - all of which cracked the Top 10. “Ian’s contribution to King Crimson was invaluable and profound,” read a statement on the website for Discipline Global Mobile, King Crimson’s record label. Meet the Beatle: A Guide to Ringo Starr's Solo Career in 20 Songs

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