Born on 12 January 1948 in London, England, Etheridge took up the guitar as a self-taught player while still at school. After attending Essex University he joined several jazz-rock ensembles active in the capital during the early 1970s, among them Darryl Way’s Wolf. In 1975 he stepped into Allan Holdsworth’s role in Soft Machine and remained until the group’s first dissolution at the close of the decade. Between 1978 and 1981 he performed alongside Stéphane Grappelli, demonstrating comparable dexterity on acoustic guitar to the electric work he had done earlier. During those same years he co-founded the jazz-fusion outfit 2nd Vision alongside former Albion Band member Ric Sanders. In 1982 he presented solo recitals in Australia and crossed the United States with bassist Brian Torff, after which he rejoined the reactivated Soft Machine for concerts and recordings.
From the middle of the 1980s onward Etheridge collaborated with an extensive roster of jazz artists that included Gordon Beck, John Marshall, Andy Summers, Pat Metheny, Herb Ellis, Didier Lockwood, Barney Kessel and Dick Heckstall-Smith. Additional partnerships involved Danny Thompson, Yehudi Menuhin, Nigel Kennedy and classical guitarist John Williams. Among the ensembles he has led are a quartet devoted to Grappelli’s repertoire and the eight-piece Zappatistas, which interprets the music of Frank Zappa. His solo acoustic recordings have also proved rewarding; on the 2004 release I Didn’t Know he delivered nuanced interpretations of “God Bless The Child” and “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.” Etheridge continues to conduct guitar workshops at further-education colleges. His latest undertaking is Soft Machine Legacy, first alongside Elton Dean until the saxophonist’s death in 2006 and thereafter with Theo Travis, together with Hugh Hopper and John Marshall. A player of exceptional technical command, Etheridge deploys guitar effects to telling advantage within his improvisations.
