For me the highlight of the informative documentary (BBC iPlayer till mid September 2024) about the 1969 Woodstock festival was the briefest of appearances of the Keef Hartley Band. Legend has it that, on being informed that there was no immediate financial award for being included in the filming and recording of their performance, their manager declined to give permission for the use of such material. As other performers had their careers boosted to international stardom by their inclusion in the subsequent film and album the Keef Hartley Band returned to relative obscurity and inevitable demise.

But it seems to me to also mark the demise of an era when one would listen to, and enjoy/appreciate, anything and everything. The first couple of Keef Hartley Band records were well known and enjoyed amongst our teenage cohort. They were a kind of quirky rock and/or jazz thing. It did not matter what it was. But as the 60s rolled into the 70s the marketing people sub-divided everything into a genre to make it easier to sell to a specific demographic - whilst hoping for an elusive “crossover” that sold to multiple audiences. 🤷‍♂️

For example in a 1969 concert the youthful Led Zeppelin were supported by the aging Woody Herman Big Band - which featured a young Bruce Fowler who would join Frank Zappa a few years later. Of course the later Mothers were never as good as the original pre 1969 Mothers.

The Keef Hartley Band’s Woodstock performance would eventually appear on the 2019 38 CD set Woodstock – Back to the Garden: The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive.