extempore

And whenever he performed during the show - including an extempore rap performance while inhaling helium from a balloon - fans would celebrate on social media for days.

It was his ability to speak extempore with an eloquence and inventiveness unrivaled in 17th-century Paris.

On stage, James could stretch I’d Rather Go Blind out to 10 minutes of extempore soul-bearing, but the simple, concise studio original is pretty much perfect.

Tracks called things like Trippin’ Out and Flower Society were constructed from a remarkably out-there patchwork of extempore keyboards, electronics from Moog synth pioneer Bernie Krause and Blaine cutting loose in a free improvised style that occasionally revealed his jazz roots – he had played with Count Basie – and certainly wouldn’t have been allowed at a Phil Spector session.

In the evenings there might be a gathering in the hearth-room of one or another of the low, tree-surrounded houses; there was conversation, and beer, and there might be music, the vigorous music of Karhide, melodically simple but rhythmically complex, always played extempore.