Biography
The Soft Machine was formed in 1966 by Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals), Daevid Allen (guitar) and Mike Ratledge (keyboards). Allen, Wyatt and future bassist Hugh Hopper had played in the Daevid Allen Trio, occasionally accompanied by Ratledge. Wyatt, Ayers and Hopper had played in a band called the Wilde Flowers, which included future members of another Canterbury band, Caravan.
This first Soft Machine line-up became involved in the early UK underground, featuring prominently at the UFO Club, and recorded the group's first single, as well as some demo sessions that were released several years later. They also played in Holland, Germany and on the French Riviera. In 1967, upon their return from a performance in France, Allen (an Australian) was denied re-entry to the United Kingdom, so the group continued as a trio.
In early 1968, eventual The Police guitarist Andy Summers joined the group for some live shows, but left shortly after. Later in 1968 they toured the USA, opening for the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Beginnings: from psychedelic pioneers to post-Ayers jazz fusioneers
After differences over the group's musical direction, Wyatt left (or was fired from, saxophonist Alan Wakeman, and violinist Ric Sanders. Their 1978 performances and record (titled Alive and Well, ironically) were the last for Soft Machine as a working band. The Soft Machine name was used for the 1981 record Land of Cockayne (with Jack Bruce and, again, Allan Holdsworth, plus Dick Morrissey on tenor sax), and for a few live shows in 1984, but these featured Jenkins and Marshall with groups assembled just for those performances.

The post-Wyatt era
Since 1988, a wealth of live recordings of Soft Machine have been issued on CD, with recording quality ranging from poor to excellent.
In 2002, four former Soft Machine members - Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall and Allan Holdsworth - toured and recorded under the name Soft Works (initially called Soft Ware). In 2005, with John Etheridge replacing Holdsworth, they toured and recorded as Soft Machine Legacy, three albums of theirs have been released: Live in Zaandam (2005), the studio album Soft Machine Legacy (2006) and Live at the New Morning (2006). On their tour in summer 2006, Theo Travis (formerly of Gong and The Tangent) replaced Elton Dean, who died in February 2006. Both of these groups performed some pieces from the original Soft Machine repertoire as well as newer material.

The Soft Machine legacy
Graham Bennett's Soft Machine biography, Soft Machine: Out-Bloody-Rageous, was published in September 2005. In 2006 the book won an Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections.

Soft Machine biography

The album on which Jenkins first played with Soft Machine, Six, won first place in the Melody Maker British Jazz Album of the Year award in 1973.
Soft Machine was voted best small group in the Melody Maker jazz poll of 1974. Awards

Albums

Love Makes Sweet Music/Feelin', Reelin', Squeelin' mono (Polydor UK, 1968)
Joy Of A Toy/Why Are We Sleeping mono (ABC Probe USA, 1968)
Soft Space Parts 1 & 2 (Harvest UK, 1978)