By 1975,
Rupert Hine was already beginning to gain credibility as a producer and session musician, but he had also released two of that era's most cryptic solo albums in
Pick Up a Bone and
Unfinished Picture. The latter in particular demonstrated that
Hine had few peers when it came to shaping elaborate instrumental textures and atmospheres without departing from a song-based format. Most listeners' overriding feeling on hearing them, however, was one of perplexity, and sales were correspondingly minuscule. But throughout his career,
Hine has shown himself perfectly willing to rein in his more experimental tendencies for the sake of shifting a few more units. In the '80s, for instance, he largely subsumed the complexities of his three solo albums for Island beneath the hard and shiny surface of his faux band,
Thinkman. And that's pretty much what he did in 1975 when he formed
Quantum Jump, which is not to say that the band represented a blatant bid for chart success -- far from it. But in stark contrast to the somewhat austere
Unfinished Picture,
Quantum Jump's first album wasn't afraid to get funky.
The band formed after
Hine became a regular visitor to a countryside studio owned by drummer
Trevor Morais. The two became the nucleus of
Quantum Jump and were soon joined by bassist
John G. Perry, recently a member of
Caravan and a regular contributor to
Hine's solo work and his early productions of albums by
Kevin Ayers and
Yvonne Elliman. Auditions for a guitarist followed, during which
Andy Summers was among those passed over, but the job eventually went to the Washington, D.C.-born
Mark Warner. The final ingredient was provided by lyricist
David MacIver, with whom
Hine had made his first recordings in 1966 as Rupert & David. One song, however ("Starbright Park"), had lyrics by Jeanette Obstoj, marking the beginning of a working relationship that continued long after
Quantum Jump's demise, and which would one day find them writing for
Tina Turner.
Inspired by
Warner's formidable technique and by their love of
the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the bandmembers wanted to see if it were possible to combine jazz-rock arrangements with a pop sensibility. Things looked promising when their first single -- the untypically whimsical "The Lone Ranger" (which hinted that the Masked Man had a crush on Tonto) -- became a minor hit in the U.K. The album, though, steadfastly refused to follow suit, and for the band's follow-up,
Barracuda, a more polished style closer in spirit to progressive rock was adopted. Needless to say, 1976 was not the year to be launching a new prog rock band, and
Quantum Jump folded soon after.
–
Christopher Evans, Rovi