Supersister formed in the late 1960s at a grammar school in The Hague. On albums such as
Present From Nancy (1970) and
Pudding And Yesterday (1972), this quartet put complex prog and jazz rock into perspective with humor that referred both to
Frank Zappa and primal Dutch buffoonery. It made Supersister popular in the Netherlands and brought them to the Kralingen Pop Festival in 1970, among others.
Many first-time fans subsequently found Iskander (1973) too serious. Keyboardist and vocalist Robert Jan Stips and bassist Ron van Eck wanted to take a more ambitious and conceptual approach for this fourth album, against the wishes of drummer Marco Vrolijk and flautist Sacha van Geest, who consequently quit. But with gifted drummer Herman van Boeyen (later the man behind Vitesse) and the purified American reed player and jazz musician Charlie Mariano as replacements, Supersister grew into a rock-solid jazz-rock band of international stature. The result Iskander (a concept album about Alexander the Great) is somewhere between Canterbury and Arabia in sound, with Mariano playing the exotic nathasuaram in addition to saxophone. Stips was never a great singer (which he compensated mostly with buffoonery) but by now singing almost in a whisper, he enhances the mysterious atmosphere. With the misunderstood Iskander, Supersister effortlessly joins the best European jazz-rock prog bands of the early 1970s like Soft Machine, Magma and Embryo. (MR)more
