In 1967 keyboardist Keith Emerson, guitarist Davy O’List, bassist Lee Jackson and drummer Ian Hague came together to form the backing band for American soul singer PP Arnold, who’d decided to develop her solo career in the UK. As part of the deal, the group were able to perform their own set before Arnold joined them, and their unusual approach to making music meant they’d come to be seen as one of the earliest proponents of progressive rock.
Named The Nice, and featuring Brian Davidson in place of Hague, they stepped out on their own with 1968 album The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack (the character’s name a concoction of the members’ names). One of its most notable tracks was a reinterpretation of jazz icon Dave Brubeck’s Blue Rondo a la Turk, retitled Rondo. As the late Emerson told Prog in 2011, Brubeck liked what they’d done: “He gave me his autograph. He’d signed it: ‘Thank you, Keith, for your 4/4 version. Which I cannot play.’”
