Gary Boyle -

Gary Boyle (born Nov. 24, 1941) is a English-Indian guitarist who emerged in Brian Auger & the Trinity. Between 1971 and 1975, he played on albums by Mike Westbrook, Keith Tippett, Ann Odell, Lynsey De Paul, and Stomu Yamash’ta‘s East Wind. Concurrently, he formed the jazz-rock band Isotope, which cut three 1974–76 albums on Gull Records. He went solo with the 1977 Gull release The Dancer and made three further albums between 1978 and 1986.

Background

Gary Winston Boyle was born Nov. 24, 1941, in Patna, Bihar, British India. His father drove trains for the Indian railways and later became an engineer with the General Post Office in London. His mother sang with a dance band at social-club functions, while two uncles played guitar. The family relocated to England in 1948 and settled in South London after an initial stay in Fulham.

Uncle Chick gave Boyle his first guitar lessons in the mid-1950s, and Boyle started playing at a neighborhood youth club after seeing Lonnie Donegan and Chris Barber on television. Boyle trained as a draughtsman at a civil-engineering firm while playing weekend London clubs. He joined Brian Bentley & the Kingsmen in 1962 and spent that Christmas season at Hamburg clubs along the Reeperbahn. Boyle and the remaining musicians became the Five Embers in early 1963, and Chris Blackwell hired the group in March 1964 as road band for Millie Small.

From August 1965, Boyle toured the UK and Europe with The Echoes, the road band for Dusty Springfield. In 1966, when Eric Burdon drafted guitarist Vic Briggs into the new Animals lineup, Briggs recommended Boyle as his replacement in Brian Auger & The Trinity. Boyle played guitar on the 1967 Trinity album Open, then left after an Italian tour to study jazz for two years at Leeds College of Music under bassist Peter Ind. He briefly joined Eclection in spring 1969 and returned to Trinity for the sessions that produced Befour.

Boyle played on 1971 albums by Mike Westbrook (Metropolis), the Keith Tippett Group (Dedicated to You, But You Weren’t Listening), and Paul Jones (Crucifix in a Horseshoe). Boyle followed in 1972 with Norma Winstone on Edge of Time and Python Lee Jackson on In a Broken Dream. He launched Isotope in June 1972 with bassist Jeff Clyne, keyboardist Brian Miller, and drummer Nigel Morris. Stomu Yamash’ta also brought Boyle and Morris into East Wind for the 1973 album Freedom Is Frightening.

Isotope signed with Gull for their May 1974 self-titled debut album. Soon after, Clyne and Miller formed the offshoot Turning Point. Boyle retained Morris with bassist Hugh Hopper and keyboardist Laurence Scott for the 1975 second Isotope album, Illusion. Boyle used the nameplate for one further album, Deep End, recorded with bassist Dan K. Brown and keyboardists Zoe Kronberger and Frank Roberts. Isotope disbanded amid management problems and the collapse of British Lion Music. Boyle accepted a British Lion Films offer for a solo album on Gull and entered Morgan Studios in October 1976 with producer Robin Lumley for The Dancer.

Discography: