Brian Gulland

Having earned a degree from London’s Royal College of Music, Brian Gulland arrived in the rock arena of the early 1970s already fluent on bassoon and on period instruments such as the krumhorn, his particular passion being medieval and Renaissance repertoire, especially early church music. Previously he had performed with London Pro Musica and Musica Reservata; at the college he encountered another student, Richard Harvey, who shared those antiquarian tastes, and together with guitarist Graeme Taylor they assembled the ensemble that would become Gryphon.

The band began as a folk-rock outfit devoted to authentic timbres and instruments of earlier centuries, yet soon embraced a progressive-rock direction that earned it an American tour supporting Yes. Gulland’s bassoon and both the standard and bass krumhorn anchored the group’s distinctive texture, while he also contributed vocals and occasional keyboard parts. After Gryphon disbanded in the late 1970s he concentrated on scoring commercials, television programs, and feature films, supplemented by session engagements and a stint with the French folk-rock ensemble Malicorne. Now resident in North Wales, he maintains his own mobile facility, Gullwing, and has appeared with the New Scorpion Band.