Supply Demand & Curve -

Supply Demand & Curve were an Irish progressive/jazz-rock group active in Dublin from 1970 through an August 1978 Project Arts Centre engagement. The group developed from Jazz Therapy and issued the 1976 self-titled album on Mulligan. Early drummer Roger Doyle pursued electroacoustic composition, while bassist Brian Masterson later established Windmill Lane Studios.

Members: Jolyon Jackson (keyboards, cello, recorder, melodica, vocals), Brian Masterson (bass, vocals), Paddy Finney (guitar, vocals, whistle), Roger Doyle (drums), Rosemarie Taylor (keyboards, vocals), Greg Boland (guitar, vocals), Paul McAteer (drums, percussion)

Background

Supply Demand & Curve formed in Dublin in 1970 when keyboardist–cellist Jolyon Jackson and bassist Brian Masterson continued their Jazz Therapy partnership with guitarist–singer Paddy Finney. Jackson was born on September 3, 1948, in Malaya to Irish father Patrick Jackson and singer Charmian Jenkinson. He attended Salisbury Cathedral School and Bradfield College, then studied arts and music at Trinity College Dublin. Masterson played alongside Jackson and drummer Roger Doyle in the 1969 Jazz Therapy lineup.

Supply Demand & Curve held a weekly engagement at the Project Arts Centre and worked folk clubs across Dublin. The group appeared at Trinity College’s Human Need Week concert in February 1971 and the Rock in the Hollow event at Blackrock Park that August. RTÉ filmed the trio with Finney for one of at least two television appearances.

In January 1972, the group premiered Jackson’s 20-minute rock operetta “Fred and Mary” at the American Embassy in Dublin, then repeated the work for the Trinity College Arts Society at the Examination Hall. Doyle joined the group in summer 1972, several months before the Enniskerry rehearsals. The musicians gathered at a cottage in Enniskerry over Christmas, where Masterson recorded the sessions.

The four-piece toured Canada in March 1973 and supported Gay & Terry Woods on the duo’s Irish dates. Keyboardist–singer Rosemarie Taylor and Nigel Rolfe also joined at points across the fluid pre-album period. The recording lineup settled around Jackson, Masterson, guitarist Greg Boland, and drummer Paul McAteer.

Supply Demand & Curve

Supply Demand & Curve released their self-titled album album in 1976 on Mulligan.

Jackson expands his keyboard–cello role with recorder, tin whistle, melodica, and vocals. Rosemarie Taylor sings and plays piano on “To Know To-Night” and Wurlitzer on “Cat on the Keys.” Michael Ward replaces McAteer on drums for “When You’re By Yourself.” Jackson wrote ten selections; Boland wrote “Lunar Sea.”

“When You’re By Yourself” shifts from gentle singing to a more urgent delivery before an overblown flute solo. “Corea Guidance” surges through forceful ensemble passages. “To Know To-Night” softens beneath a delicate female lead and light male backing parts.

“Lunar Sea” opens with a bagpipe-like melodica phrase before a brief fill introduces a broader ensemble. “November the Third” settles on a piano lead, with bass touches and later guitar support. “Ooh Gilbert!” veers from nimble ensemble work into comic singing and nonsense text. “Freckle” drifts through a slow, subdued passage. “Cat on the Keys” threads nimble runs through tight interplay. “Precious Time” begins with choral unison before an ensemble entry darkens the later section.

A1. “Changeling” (6:14)
A2. “When You’re By Yourself” (6:20)
A3. “Corea Guidance” (3:47)
A4. “To Know To-Night” (3:04)
A5. “Samuel” (5:25)

B1. “Lunar Sea” (2:04)
B2. “November the Third” (4:09)
B3. “Ooh Gilbert!” (5:03)
B4. “Freckle” (3:04)
B5. “Cat on the Keys” (4:25)
B6. “Precious Time” (4:28)

Supply Demand & Curve recorded the album in intermittent sessions spread across several years. Bassist Brian Masterson produced and engineered the album ahead of 1977 titles by Midnight Well and ex-Tír na nÓg singer/guitarist Sonny Condell, both recorded with Supply personnel. In 1978, Masterson opened Dublin’s Windmill Lane Studios.

Stephen Hollinshead designed the sleeve. Small gold lettering sits above angular cream forms scattered from a box against a black field. Trevor Lee photographed the group for the rear panel.

Peace Party Records included Boland’s “Lunar Sea” on the 1976 four-artist EP 7… With Love.

Paisley Press reissued the album in Germany on CD in 2018 as the PP 139 edition.

Postlude

Supply Demand & Curve remained active through an August 1978 appearance at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre. They played on the 1977 ID Records release Taylormaid by singer Rosemarie Taylor, a participant in The Great Saturday Night Swindle.

Jackson subsequently recorded Hidden Ground with fiddler Paddy Glackin and contributed to albums by The Chieftains and Scullion. He also composed for theatre and television before his death from Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age thirty-seven.

Doyle released Oizzo No in 1975 and later co-founded Operating Theatre with actress Olwen Fouéré. His electroacoustic work followed studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Institute of Sonology in Utrecht. He also studied at the Finnish Radio Experimental Music Studio.

McAteer joined Stagalee with Boland, who subsequently recorded with Scullion and Moving Hearts, then developed a long session career before he died at age sixty-three.

Discography: