Malcolm pops into my mind quite often. Sadly we lost touch to the extent that I didn't know he was ill and only discovered he was no longer with us. He and I were close friends during our university days and for some time after.

We played together as a duet from time to time and for a few years I was a member of what became an experimental folk band. We divided the audience on one occasion at the South Yorkshire Folk Festival with encores and cries of derision in just about equal measure. He was the hopper of songs and tunes that fed the bands repertoire.

The band occasionally would play a game when searching for new material: we would dream up increasing implausible storylines and Malc would pluck out a piece of music that came close to it in subject matter.

And I too feel sad that I can't reminisce with him. We did many things. He twice took on huge mural projects – one covering a huge wall in Sheffield University students' union; the other in a night club(!?). On both occasions Malcolm's perfectionism left him unable to finish the job alone and he asked me to assist him. I was flattered because Malc was not inclined to trust others to maintain his same obsession with detail.

He is truly a loss but there are many people who remember him. I was quite overwhelmed to see that when i discovered he had died.