Both Hands Free were all session players working around the Manchester studios in the 1970s who got together while backing Tony Christie on a now-forgotten live LP. The jazz fusion style of the band evolved from a love of Weather Report combined with the frustrations of playing commercial material on a daily basis, and the band fine-tuned their chops at a popular Sunday residency at the Cavalcade club in the trendy Manchester suburb of Didsbury. There they were spotted by Rick Kemp, bass player in Steeleye Span. Kemp and Span drummer Nigel Pegrum put up the cash to record the LP with two days at Fairview in 1976 and 1,000 copies were pressed. Drummer Dave Hassel recalls that the chemistry between the band members was sublime and the LP sold well, but the band soon folded due to their many other individual professional engagements at the time. Both Hassel and keyboard player Ritchie Close subsequently worked often with Span vocalist Maddy Prior, while bassist Pete Glennon and sax player Phil Chapman worked extensively as MDs and session men. After accidentally drumming on the St Winfred's School Choir chart-topper "There's No One Quite Like Grandma", Dave Hassel began a close association with Factory Records producer Martin Hannett that saw him feature on, amongst many other things, the Bummed LP by the Happy Mondays. Today Hassel's band undertakes Latin-styled covers of Manchester favourites and on the more serious side is involved with the Royal Academy of Music in Manchester and has written a number of drumming manuals.
Credits
Bass – Pete Glennon (2)
Drums – Dave Hassel
Keyboards – Ritchie Close
Producer – Rick Kemp
Saxophone – Phil Chapman (2)
http://www.discogs.com/Both-Hands-Free-Both-Hands-Free/release/2901518
