Gigspanner

Gigspanner is a trio led by Peter Knight, the fiddler long associated with Steeleye Span. The group forms around Knight’s interest in combining traditional music with improvisation and free improvisation, drawing on the range of styles he develops through his wider career.

Formation and purpose

Gigspanner begins as a local project for Knight, based in Hastings, to play the music he is interested in away from his work with Steeleye Span. It develops from that local setting into a group that tours nationally.

Members

The trio includes Peter Knight on fiddle, Roger Flack on guitar and Vincent Salzfaas on Afro-percussion.

Flack, a Hastings musician, comes from a background that includes piano and drums before becoming mainly known as a rock guitarist. He is also a founder member of the Celtic folk-rock band The Tabs, which includes fiddle player Garry Blakeley of Feast of Fiddles and Band of Two.

Salzfaas studies in Senegal and works internationally as a touring musician. He also runs workshops in schools and festivals to support the development of African drumming.

Musical style

The group works with traditional tunes, but it is not limited to a straight folk approach. Knight’s background includes folk-rock, Irish traditional music and free improvisation, and those elements shape the trio’s sound. Flack’s playing adds a restrained, improvising sensitivity, while Salzfaas brings African rhythmic techniques into the arrangements.

Peter Knight’s background

Knight’s name is closely linked with Steeleye Span, but his musical identity extends beyond folk. He wins a place at the Royal Academy of Music in London at an early age, leaves at 16, and is drawn to the Irish music scene in London during the 1960s. He is influenced at first by the fiddle players Michael Coleman and Michael Gorman, and performs in folk clubs with guitarist Bob Johnson before joining Steeleye Span on Ashley Hutchings’ invitation.

A later encounter with saxophonist Trevor Watts introduces him to free improvisation. Knight regards his work with Watts, including the bands Moiré Music and The Drum Orchestra, as among his most formative experiences, and he continues to use improvisation as a key part of his music-making.

Release and activity

Gigspanner releases its debut CD, Lipreading the Poet, in November 2008 and goes on to appear on a national touring circuit.