The Polite Force (band)

The Polite Force was a British progressive rock / jazz fusion musical group, active from 1976 to 1978 in the Canterbury scene. The name comes from the 1971 Egg album of the same name.

The band was formed by Mark Hewins (guitar), Max Metto (sax), Graham Flight (bass) and Vince Clarke (drums) after about two years of recording sessions for an album by longtime Caravan keyboardist Dave Sinclair which remained unreleased until it was published in 1993 under the title Moon Over Man. For about one year, Sinclair was also a Polite Force member.

Together with various guest musicians, among them Richard Sinclair, Geoff Richardson, Richard Coughlan and Jan Schelhaas of Caravan, Andrew Latimer and Andy Ward of Camel, and reedsman Tony Coe, The Polite Force performed frequently. They also recorded demos that stayed unreleased until, in 1997, Voiceprint Records released some of them on the CD Polite Force: Canterbury Knights.

"Calyx, the Canterbury Website" describes the music: "The music is very much in the mould of late-period Soft Machine, with Dave Sinclair playing cool and complex jazz piano, while Mark Hewins' guitar work shows why he later went on to play alongside Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean in various projects and bands (including Soft Heap and Mashu) as well as being a founding member of Richard Sinclair's Caravan Of Dreams."

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