Biography of Ken Hyder

Drummer Ken Hyder left his Dundee, Scotland home during the summer of 1970 headed for the London jazz scene, where he quickly found himself replacing Robert Wyatt on the vacated throne of Mal Dean's Amazing Band. Study with John Stevens led to his playing with numerous different cutting-edge musicians at John's Little Theater Club, which was the center of new music in the 1970's. Soon Hyder founded his own band, Talisker, focusing on spontaneously improvised music and traditional Scottish folk music, with both aesthetics being mutually informed. The instrumentation driven by Ken was unique: paired double bass and paired reeds (alto, tenor, clarinets) with voices and whistles.