Basil Kirchin

Basil Kirchin (August 8, 1927 - June 18, 2005) was a British drummer and composer. His career included playing drums in his father's big band at the age of 13, through scoring films, to experimenting with the manipulation of recorded sounds. His debut was at the Paramount, Tottenham Court Road in London in 1940 where he played drums in a dance band led by his father Ivor. After the war, Kirchin played with Harry Roy and Ted Heath but returned to work with his father in The Kirchin Band in 1951, performing with the likes of Billy Eckstein and Sarah Vaughan. The band recorded for Decca and Parlophone (the latter being produced by George Martin). Kirchin was able to record the bands' live performances. In the late 1950's Kirchin went to India and spent five months in the Ramakrishna Temple in West Bengal. He then moved to Sydney but as his possessions were lost in the move, including his recordings of The Kirchin Band. In 1961 he returned to Britain and worked with Keith Herd. He also produced material for the De Wolfe library alongside session musicians like Jimmy Page and Mick Ronson. In 1967 the Arts Council awarded him a grant to purchase a Nagra tape recorder which he used to collect ambient sounds, animal noises at London Zoo and the voices of autistic children. His experimentations were partly financed by composing film music for the likes of Catch Us If You Can (1965), The Shuttered Room (1967), I Start Counting (1969), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and The Mutations (1974). His experimental pieces were released on two albums both called World Within Worlds. The first was issued in 1971 as Worlds Within Worlds which included 'Part I - Intergration 2' and 'Part II - The Human Element'. The second was issued in 1974 as Worlds Within Worlds which included 'Part III - Emergence' and 'Part IV - Evolution'. He continued to compose throughout his life.