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The Nice were an English progressive rock band from the 1960s, known for their blend of rock, jazz and classical music. Their debut album, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack was released in 1967 to immediate acclaim. It is often considered the first progressive rock album. The Nice are also a forerunner of the much more widely known Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

The Nice consisted initially of keyboardist Keith Emerson, bassist/vocalist Lee Jackson, drummer Brian Davison, and guitarist David O'List, more commonly known as "Davy".^[1] The band took their name from Steve Marriot's slang term for being high, a term he used in the song "Here Come the Nice". Marriot originally wanted to give the name to a band he was producing, called The Little People. Andrew Loog Oldham took it upon himself to rename The Little People Apostolic Intervention, and dubbed the Emerson, Jackson, Davison, O'List group "The Nice". Emerson's autobiography Pictures of an Exhibitionist suggests that the name originated with a suggestion from P. P. Arnold.^[1] The reference to "being high" is not mentioned, instead a routine by hipster/comic Lord Buckley is quoted.

The band was formed in October 1967 by Andrew Loog Oldham with soul singer P. P. Arnold,^[1] a performer who reached a higher level of popularity in the UK than her native US. After performing with Arnold through the summer, The Nice soon gained a reputation of their own. In August, former Mark Leeman Five and Habits drummer Davison replaced Arnold's original drummer, Ian Hague.^[2] The first album by The Nice was recorded throughout the autumn of 1967, and in October of that year they recorded their first session for John Peel's Top Gear. Early work tended toward the psychedelia but more ambitious elements soon came to the fore. The classical and jazz influences manifested themselves both in short quotes from Janacek (Sinfonietta) and in more elaborate renderings of Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo a la Turk" which The Nice called simply "Rondo", changing the meter from the original 9/8 to 4/4 in the process.

For their second single, The Nice created an arrangement of Leonard Bernstein's "America" which Emerson described as the first ever instrumental protest song. It not only uses the Bernstein piece (from West Side Story) but also includes fragments of Dvořák's New World Symphony. The single concludes with a child (who, according to Emerson's biography, is P. P. Arnold's three-year old son) speaking the lines "America is pregnant with promises and anticipation, but is murdered by the hand of the inevitable." The new arrangement was released under the title "America (Second Amendment)" as a pointed reference to the US Bill of Rights provision for the bearing of arms. In July 1968, the British music magazine, NME, reported that the band had asked their record label, Immediate Records, to withdraw a controversial poster advertising the single. It pictured the group members with small boys on their knees, with superimposed images of the faces of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King on the children's heads. The band's spokesperson said "Several record stores have refused to stock our current single .... the Nice feel if the posters are issued in America they will do considerable harm".^[3]

O'List was fired for chronic tardiness and his bizarre behavior during the recording of their second album.^[1] The Nice briefly considered looking for a replacement but, (according to sources such as MOJO magazine) they followed the example set by 1-2-3 (later Clouds), and decided to continue as a rock organ trio. With O'List gone, Emerson's control over the band's direction became greater, resulting in more complex music. The absence of a guitar in the band and Emerson's redefining of the role of keyboard instruments in rock set The Nice apart from so many of its contemporaries.

The earlier work of French pianist Jacques Loussier and the more-or-less contemporary Charles Lloyd Quartet (featuring Keith Jarrett) can be seen as influences. Loussier took classical works, notably by Bach, and arranged them for jazz piano trio. The Charles Lloyd band was bridging the jazz and rock spheres and Jarrett's performances (which included playing inside the piano) received much attention. The Nice performed two pieces from the Lloyd repertoire: "Sombrero Sam" and "Sorcery". Part of the musical approach of The Nice was transferring the innovations of these jazz artists into an electric medium, one that was influenced by The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and The Beatles. Another influence was Bob Dylan, whose songs were common currency at the time and The Nice interpreted several.

The band's second LP Ars Longa Vita Brevis featured an arrangement of the Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite by Jean Sibelius and the album's second side was a suite which included an arrangement of a movement from J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. The group used an orchestra for the first time on some parts of the suite.

Perhaps as a foil for the highbrow aspects of their music, the stage performances were bold and violent, with Emerson incorporating feedback and distortion. He manhandled his Hammond L-100 organ, wrestling it and attacking it with daggers (which he used to hold down keys and sustain notes during these escapades). This was inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Billy Ritchie of Clouds, and Don Shinn, an English organist who played alongside Rod Stewart in The Soul Agents, as well as earlier figures such as pianist Jerry Lee Lewis. Motörhead frontman Lemmy was a roadie for The Nice in their early days, and gave Emerson the knife that he used to sustain organ keys.

Writing in the Los Angeles Times (January 4, 1970), Don Heckman pointed out this dichotomy.

"One might assume, in the face of such a visual display, that the Nice is a mediocre group that compensates for musical failings with a pop-rock version of the theater of violence. Far from it. The Nice is as musically proficient a group as one will hear anywhere on the pop scene. Their most attractive quality is the genuine spirit of improvisational invention and surging jazz rhythm which permeates their work [...]"

During the long and wildly popular tour that followed the release of their second album, the group spawned controversy when Emerson burned an American flag onstage during a performance of "America". Emerson burnt the American stars and stripes during the band’s appearance at charity event “Come Back Africa” at London’s Royal Albert Hall, on 26 June 1968, provoking a big controversy. and a "lifetime ban". The Nice were banned from ever playing the Royal Albert Hall again, (but Keith Emerson played again at the venue, 24 years later, with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, in October 1992).

The Nice were on the bill at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival.^[4]

The third album, titled Nice in the UK and Everything As Nice As Mother Makes It in the US, featured one side recorded live on their American tour and one side of studio material.

The pinnacle of the band's artistic success was probably the Five Bridges suite, commissioned for the Newcastle Arts Festival, which was premiered with a full orchestra conducted by Joseph Eger on 10 October 1969 (the recorded version is from 17 October in Croydon's Fairfield Hall). The title refers to the city's five bridges spanning the River Tyne (two more have since been built).

The Nice provided instrumental backing for the track "Hell's Angels" on Roy Harper's 1970 album Flat Baroque and Berserk.

One of the final appearances by the group was in collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Zubin Mehta. This was broadcast in March 1970 on American television as part of the "Switched-On Symphony" program. Following standard television procedure of the day, The Nice's contribution (a version of "America") was recorded ahead of time and the band mimed for the cameras.

By 1970, Emerson and the other band members were frustrated with their lack of mainstream success and they soon broke up. They played their last concert on 30 March 1970 in Berlin, Germany (Sportpalast). Emerson formed a band with Greg Lake (of King Crimson) and Carl Palmer (of Atomic Rooster) — Emerson, Lake & Palmer.^[5]

A posthumous Nice release Elegy included different versions of already familiar tracks, two being studio versions and two live from the 1969 U.S. tour.

Lee Jackson formed Jackson Heights which released five albums between 1970 and 1973. Brian Davison formed "Every Which Way" which released an album in 1970. Both Jackson and Davison formed Refugee with Patrick Moraz in 1974, but Moraz later joined Yes to replace Rick Wakeman.

After over three decades, The Nice reformed in 2002 for a series of concerts. A three-CD set Vivacitas was released, with the third CD being an interview with Keith Emerson.^[6] The band featured Dave Kilminster on guitar.

Davison died on 15 April 2008 in Horns Cross, Devon from a brain tumour. He was 65 years old.^[7]

O'List has recently re-emerged to play again in England, and a substantial amount of information can be found on his website. He has re-embraced the Nice's musical heritage with a new group of musicians and recordings.

• Keith Emerson: Organ, piano, vocals — (born 2 November 1944, Todmorden, Yorkshire)
• Keith "Lee" Jackson: Bass, guitar, vocals — (born 8 January 1943, Newcastle upon Tyne)
• David "Davy" O'List: Guitar, vocals (1967–68) — (born 13 December 1948, Chiswick, London)
• Brian "Blinky" Davison: Drums, percussion — (born 25 May 1942, Leicester, Leicestershire - died 15 April 2008)

• The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack (Immediate, 1967)
• Ars Longa Vita Brevis (Immediate, 1968)
• Nice (aka Everything As Nice As Mother Makes It) (Immediate, 1969)
• Five Bridges (Charisma, 1970)
• Elegy (Charisma, 1971)
• America - The BBC Sessions (Receiver, 1996)
• The Swedish Radio Sessions (late 1967) (Sanctuary, 2001)
• BBC Sessions (Sanctuary, 2002)
• Vivacitas (Sanctuary, 2004)
• Live At The Fillmore East December 1969 (Virgin, 2009)^[1]

Everything As Nice As Mother Makes It is the US version of Nice after Immediate's distribution changed from Columbia to Capitol. Nice had been initially released in the US with a slightly longer version of Rondo 69 not available on the UK or on the Capitol distributed US versions. The first US version of Nice was briefly reissued in 1973 by Columbia Special Products. Both Five Bridges and Elegy were released in the US by Mercury and in Germany by Phillips. Both albums were reissued as a two record set in both the US and Germany in 1972 as Keith Emerson and The Nice (see compilations). On the U.S. reissues of Five Bridges from the 1980s, "One of Those People" features a noticeably different mono mix in place of the stereo mix on the original issue.

• The Best of The Nice (EMI/Immediate, 1971)
• Keith Emerson with The Nice (Mercury, 1972)
• In Memoriam (Immediate, 1973)
• Autumn '67 - Spring '68 (Charisma, 1972, UK), released as Autumn to Spring (Charisma, 1973, USA)
• Hang On To A Dream (EMIDisc, 1974)
• The Immediate Years (2-LP set) (Sire, 1975)
• Amoeni Redivivi (NEMS/Immediate, 1976)
• Greatest Hits (NEMS/Immediate, 1977)
• Greatest Hits (Big Time, 1988)
• The Immediate Years (3-CD Boxed Set) (Charly, 1995)
• Here Come The Nice - The Immediate Anthology (3-CD Boxed Set) (Castle Communications, 2002)^[1]
• Charisma Disturbance (2-LP set) (Charisma 1973, UK), track 3 - Intermezzo "Karelia Suite", catalogue no. TSS1

Keith Emerson with The Nice was reissued on CD in 1990 as a single disc, eliminating "Country Pie/Brandenburg Conc.#6" and "One of Those People" from Five Bridges and "Pathetique" from Elegy. The Immediate Collection contains all three albums and all the singles originally released by Immediate records along with several unreleased recordings. Some of the compilations listed (namely Autumn to Spring, Hang On to a Dream and In Memoriam) feature slightly different mixes than originally released on the albums. Due to Immediate Records' dissolution in 1970, the recordings of The Nice (along with other artists on the Immediate label) were leased out to many record companies, resulting in a high number of compilation albums (many of which are not listed here) with different packaging, but similar track listings.

• "The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack" / "Azrial (Angel of Death)" (Immediate IM 059, November 1967)
• "America" / "The Diamond Hard Blue Apples of the Moon" (Immediate IM 068, June 21, 1968)
• "Brandenburger" / "Happy Freuds" (Immediate IM 072, November 8, 1968)
• "Diary of an Empty Day" / "Hang On to a Dream" (Immediate, 1969)
• "Country Pie" / "One Of Those People" (Charisma, 1969)^[1]

The singles listed here are the original releases. Many of the singles were re-released throughout the 1970s with different B-sides.

• Hanson, Martyn (2002). Hang On To A Dream - The Story Of The Nice. Helter Skelter. ISBN 978-1900924436. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Emerson, Keith (2003). Pictures of an Exhibitionist. Blake Publishing. ISBN 1904034799. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

• Rock Reviews
• Keith Emerson Web site
• Davy O'List Web site
• David O'List - Interview on The Marquee Club