Quintessence

Spiritual enlightenment descended upon Nottinghill Gate in 1969 when Ram Jam alias Ron Rothfield formed the esoteric Quintessence. Members included ex Unknown Blues vocalist Phil Jones (Shiva Shankar) keyboards, ex Confusion Allan Mostert lead guitar / Veena, Sitar, Maha Dev rhythm guitar, Shanbhu Baba bass, ex Junior’s Eyes Jake Milton drums & Dave Balen tablas. (Mostert’s previous Confusion included future Strider guitarist Gary Grainger) Quintessence gigs were normally opened with sitar/tabla set coupled with Surya, the Indian dancer who played tamboura on Blissful Company and the 2nd Album. The group were all part of a ‘Sai Baba Ashram’ headed by Swami Ambikanada that regularly gigged at Portobello’s ‘All Saints Hall’ expounding Mahavishnu freeform.

Quintessence would eventually evolve to the ‘Albert Hall’ and be invited to the ‘Montreux Jazz Festival’. In essence the group were the English answer to the Grateful Dead with Allan paying continual homage to Jerry Garcia’s guitar style. Live performances were strengthened by Greenwich flautist Ron Rothfield as in the cascading “Prisms”. Mostert’s ragas define the core of these devotees reaching Nirvana on “Move Into The Light” with an extended anointing on “St. Pancreas” and “Burning Bush”. The groups 1969 debut “Notting Hill Gate”, a tribute to informal jams was followed by the meditative Blissful Company.The groups 1970 self titled second reached #22 until supreme glory on the two in one Self / Indweller, warmly enhanced by the majestic “Wonder Of The Universe” with tremors of The Rainbow Band.

Spiralling Eastern intrigue scaled the jazzy “Freedom” and “Water Goddess” which culminated into the guitar severed “Gunga Mai” single. The psychedelic Quintessence guitar breaks held their fragrance through the band produced Dive Deep. The Eastern improvised “Dive Deep” and “Twilight Zone” harken to the similar sounding Sweet Smoke or Marsupilami. After five albums Quintessence disbanded with Shiva & Dev forming Kala while Raja Ram found success with The Infinity Project. Quintessence was a prayer in sound, an integral part for those that had one hand in Jesus while spiking for the truth.Crispian Mills’ Kula Shaker revived their style years later.