When you think of Pink Floyd, you might envision their instrumental jams, fantastical lyrics, colorful light shows, and other elements of their early psychedelic music.
Or perhaps you think of the layered guitars, lush keyboards, sound effects, and thought-provoking lyrics of their later albums. What you might not associate with Pink Floyd is jazz. Yet, throughout their career, Pink Floyd’s music was heavily influenced by jazz.
Roger “Syd” Barrett, Pink Floyd’s original co-founder and primary songwriter, grew up in Cambridge, immersed in classical music, thanks to his father’s passion for it. He discovered jazz on his own through one of his favorite albums, Jimmy Smith’s Back to the Chicken Shack. His nickname, Syd, was inspired by a jazz bassist named Sid “the Beat” Barrett. When Syd moved to London, he delved into jazz albums like Yusef Lateef’s Eastern Sounds and John Coltrane’s self-titled album. Barrett even named his cat ‘Tunji’ after a track on that album. He also explored free jazz through albums like Sun Ra’s The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, which influenced the long improvisations and fluid tonality of the psychedelic jams he wrote with Pink Floyd.
While Barrett enjoyed listening to jazz, only one member of Pink Floyd had actually played jazz – keyboardist Richard Wright. Wright was the only member with formal music training, having studied composition and music theory at the Eric Gilder School of Music. He taught himself trumpet, saxophone, and guitar, but ultimately focused on the piano. Later, he studied at the London School of Music.
Wright’s formal music training and love of jazz perfectly complemented Barrett’s more experimental inclinations. Together, they listened to modern classical music and musique concrète, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage, and incorporated those influences into Pink Floyd’s music.
In 1968, Barrett was replaced by singer and guitarist David Gilmour. Although Gilmour’s background was in rhythm and blues, he quickly picked up on the jazz chords and progressions that Wright infused into Floyd’s music.
A great example of how Gilmour and Wright infused jazz into a simple chord progression can be found in the song “Breathe” from Pink Floyd’s classic album The Dark Side of the Moon. In his latest video, Scott Freiman CultureSonar’s favorite musicologist explores the jazz influence in “Breathe.”
-The CS Team
Photo: Fair use image of Dark Side of the Moon
Great video and explanation. But my ear is telling me that the chord first played at 0:48 is an E major, not an E minor.
You are indeed correct, Les. My finger must have slipped! Thanks for catching this. I’ll upload a new video soon. – Scott