Quintessence were a rock band formed in April 1969 in Notting Hill, London, England. Their style was a mixture of jazz, psychedelic rock and progressive rock with an influence of music from India. and recorded three albums for Island Records between 1969 and 1971, with two further albums recorded in 1972 for RCA.

They built a reputation on solid club work. Besides appearing at the first two Glastonbury Festivals (then called 'Fayres'), in 1970/71, they also were invited to play the Montreux Jazz Festival.

thumb|right|300px|Photo published in 1972

thumb|right|250px|Photo publ. the same year

On 18 September 1971, Quintessence played a benefit concert for Bangladesh at The Oval, Kennington.

Although Quintessence played many hundreds of concerts and festivals all over Europe, they turned down a U.S. record deal negotiated by Island Records' Chris Blackwell and did not play at a concert at New York's Carnegie Hall lined up in early 1972, or tour the U.S., because four of the band's members wanted a larger monetary advance. This disappointed Blackwell and he dropped the band from the record label. Quintessence then signed with RCA and recorded one album with Jones and Dev. The reunion of Phil Shiva Jones with Dev's Quintessence for the 2010 Glastonbury Festival was documented in a BBC One Inside Out programme which was aired in November 2010.

Maha Dev's Quintessence continued to perform sporadically in the UK recreating the 'classic' Island Records era Quintessence sound. Dev released his first solo album, and Jones' Quintessence continues to record sporadically. Jake Milton went on to form Blurt with his brother Ted Milton. Raja Ram went on to help create the psytrance style of electronic music in the 1990s, and continues to produce electronic music to this day, being most well known for his involvement in Shpongle.

Maha Dev (born David Codling) died on 5 July 2019 from cancer.

Personnel

  • Sambhu Babaji (Richard Vaughan) - bass guitar <small>(1969-1980)</small>
  • Jake Milton - drums, percussion <small>(1969-1980)</small>
  • Allan Mostert (Alan Mostert) - lead guitar <small>(1969-1980)</small>
  • Raja Ram (Ronald Rothfield) - flute, percussion <small>(1969-1980)</small>
  • Maha Dev (David Codling) - rhythm guitar <small>(1969-1972, 2010; died 2019)</small>
  • Phil Shiva Jones (Phil Jones) - vocals, keyboards, percussion <small>(1969-1972, 2010)</small>

Discography

;Studio albums

  • In Blissful Company (Island Records, 1969)
  • Quintessence (Island Records, 1970) - UK No.&nbsp;22
  • Dive Deep (Island Records, 1971) - UK No.&nbsp;43
  • Self (RCA, 1972) - UK No.&nbsp;50
  • Indweller (RCA, 1972)

;Live albums

  • Infinite Love, Live At Queen Elizabeth Hall 1971 (Hux, 2009)
  • Cosmic Energy, Live At St Pancras 1970 (Hux, 2009)
  • Rebirth Live At Glastonbury 2010 (Hux, 2011)

See also

  • Island Records discography
  • List of former Island Records artists
  • List of film score composers

References

  • Mooncowhq.ch
  • Official Myspace page
  • Information on Quintessence, including photos