Another gig for the duo of Graham Dunning and me is coming up this month, at the squelchily-named TREAD INTO MULCH series, run by Paul Margree. The gig is happening at Hundred Years Gallery on Friday 26th May; we’re sharing the bill with two solo sets from Paul (as Ivy Nostrum) and John Macedo. I’m really enjoying the way the duo is developing, and looking forward to another outing!
The early part of this year so far has brought a few new things for me, and one of them is an exciting new role as leader of City University Experimental Ensemble (CUEE). I’m running the student group for this Spring term, exploring group improvisation alongside Sharon Gal’s Études. This deck of cards is a ‘set of scores and propositions’ for performance, and is full of provocations, instructions, statements and suggestions (not to mention beautiful colours) that are forming a basis for us to create some new music together.
The first time I worked with CUEE was as a guest artist in 2016, shortly after it was set up by my long-time collaborator Tullis Rennie. The ensemble performed my pieces Off-World and March Of The Egos (I can’t remember who that title refers to…) at IKLECTIK, and the recording was released on vinyl by multi.modal. CUEE have returned to the venue many times since then, and this year’s end of term concert is happening there, at IKLECTIK, on Wednesday 12th April. It should be a great evening of brand new improvised music, alongside the City University Field Recording Ensemble – and you can now reserve a free place at the concert.
I haven’t been online very much recently as project work is taking up most of my time, but I’m jumping back on today as I have two nice gigs coming up this weekend!
Firstly on Friday 17th February at Lewisham Arthouse it’s the first outing of Creatures of Tooth. This is a brand new duo project with Tom Ward on clarinets and me on live electronics! Doors are 7.30pm, it’s £5 on the door and byob, and we’re sharing the bill with LOFE…
Then the next night, Saturday 18th February, BRÅK is back at waterintobeer with a great lineup. I’m on electronics again, this time in a duo with Bill Thompson – the second gig of this collaboration. My plan is to plan lyra-8 synth only, and Bill will bring his new laptop setup.
Looking forward to both of these!
Graham has put together this video of our set at IKLECTIK last week. It was great to play together and we’re already making more plans….
A new season of BRÅK is upon us once again! This month I’ll be collaborating with Khabat Abas (cello) for the first time, on baritone. In February it’s the return of my long-running duo with Benedict Taylor, but we’re going to try it out with me on live electronics. And then I’ll be taking the electronics back there again for the April gig, with Graham Dunning. Should be a nice cluster of gigs: lots of lovely guests. Join us in the shop…
2023 is here and my first gig of the year is a duo set with Graham Dunning. It will be our inaugural gig together, and I’ll be on electronics (despite the saxophone hand on the flyer).The gig is being organised by Phil Durrant, and you can read more about it on the IKLECTIK venue website. Should be a really nice evening…
December is upon us, and having just finished a big project (of which more later), it already feels like my 2022 is over – but in fact I have a few nice gigs in London this month. A quick rundown…
Sunday 4 December – with Christoph Gallio, Dominic Lash and Andrew Lisle at Hundred Years Gallery
Swiss saxophonist Christoph Gallio has spent a chunk of time based in London this year, and I was very happy to be asked to join him for this afternoon set at the gallery. With a heavyweight Lash/Lisle rhythm section! More info on the HYG website.
Friday 9 December – new live electronics duo with Bill Thompson at LUME
Also at HYG is the last LUME gig of 2022, next Friday. My set will be the debut performance of a new live electronics collaboration with sound artist Bill Thompson. I’ve just added a Lyra-8 analogue synthesiser to my live electronics setup (see above – the huge one), and this will be the first time I’ve taken it out on a gig. Bill and I had a great session together earlier this week so I’m looking forward to playing again.
Saturday 10 December – Jason Yarde benefit gig, Cafe Oto and The Vortex
Fantastic saxophone player Jason Yarde is recovering from a stroke. For this benefit gig, Orphy Robinson has assembled a cast of characters from across the London improv scene for an afternoon improvised music relay. Players will move between Cafe Oto and The Vortex in freeform ensembles. More info and link soon…
Saturday 17 December – BRÅK Christmas Special with Charles Hayward
My last gig of the year is the BRÅK festive special. We’ll be at waterintobeer for a festive night of improv, and my duo partner is formidable drummer Charles Hayward! Tom will be joined by Sam Andreae, and Matt Cargill of Sly & The Family Drone with play a duo set with Colin. It promises to be a special night!
//
Australian Art Orchestra hcmf// ‘Fresh Water – Salt Water’ project in Melbourne and Huddersfield
Over the last few months I’ve had the privilege of being involved in a pretty amazing international collaborative project with the Australian Art Orchestra. Co-produced by AAO and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Fresh Water – Salt Water is a new work centred around the music of Yolŋu songmen Daniel and David Wilfred, with guest UK artists Mandhira De Saram and myself along with AAO musicians Martin Ng, Helen Svoboda, Aviva Endean and Peter Knight. In early November Mandhira and I travelled to Melbourne, where the ensemble worked together to devise the new music. We then performed the piece at Melbourne Recital Centre (above), before recovening in the UK later in the month to present it at Bates Mill in Huddersfield for hcmf//. It’s been an incredible and very creatively stimulating experience! There’s a lot to process. I loved working with everyone and hope it can lead to more collaboration in the future. In the mean time you can read more about the project and the artists on the AAO website.
After some time off in August, I’ve got a relatively busy Autumn coming up – starting with a cluster of gigs this month.
Saturday 3rd September: solo electronics set at Mercury Over Maps
I’ve been invited by Bill Thompson to play at his series Mercury Over Maps at Hundred Years Gallery. I haven’t played a solo set for a few months, so it will be nice to get back into that headspace – especially with electronics which are very new to me. I’m hoping to bring the whole set of mini synths, sampler and possibly a new addition, and I’m joining some great artists on the bill too – it should be a very nice evening.
Thursday 8th September: Spinningwork album launch at Listen! Cambridge
The quartet of Johnny Hunter, Olie Brice, Tom Ward and me has an album coming out on the Newcastle label New Jazz And Improvised Music Recordings on Friday 9th, so we’re celebrating the release with an album launch in Cambridge the night before! Graham and Carol at Listen! are big supporters of all of us, so it’s the perfect place to do it. You can buy tickets for the gig over on their website.
Friday 9th September: duo with Sam Andreae at Hundred Years Gallery
To end the week I’m back in London for a duo set with Sam – our first in a few months! This is part of a double bill concert organised by Phil Durrant, with the other set by Phil and John Bissett. Sam and I will be bringing – and potentially expanding – our tabletop objects/electronics setup from the ‘Miaow Argument’ tape.
Saturday 10th/Sunday 11th September: Lancaster Jazz Festival
Over the weekend I’m up in Lancaster, playing duo sets at 2pm on both days! Saturday is with Dee Byrne, adding electronics to our two saxophone duo project, and then on Sunday Anton Hunter and I will play a Ripsaw Catfish set. Both gigs at at The Storey, and you can find more info on the festival website.
Tuesday 13th September: Olie Brice Octet album launch at Cafe Oto
Last year I was very happy to be invited to play on Olie’s large ensemble session, and this Cafe Oto date is the launch of that recording, part of a double album ‘Fire Hills’. You can grab tickets for the gig over on the Cafe Oto website. The band is packed full of really great players!
Saturday 24th September: duo with Blanca Regina at BRÅK
My last gig of the month is back in my local haunt waterintobeer for another BRÅK, playing with Blanca Regina for the first time. Also on the bill are guests Caroline Kraabel (playing with Tom Ward) and Sarah Gail Brand (playing with Colin Webster).
Looking forward to getting stuck into this playing after some time away from the instrument(s). See you out there…
A quick post to make you aware of the just-announced Sloth Racket album launch at Cafe Oto on 10th October! Tickets are on sale now for this special night – our first gig at Oto – where we’ll celebrate the release of our next album. The as-yet-untitled album is currently in progress and I’m very happy with the direction it’s going…
(Also pleased with the new collage-y image above that I put together for this gig!)
It’s been five years (!) since the release of the second Ripsaw Catfish album Namazu, so Anton and I are pretty excited that our third one will be coming out later this month! Recorded last September in Manchester, then mixed and mastered by Alex Bonney, Carapace sees us add my electronics to the mix and take the duo in a new direction. We’re very happy that it will be released on Raw Tonk again too. You can pre-order the album from Friday 10th June and it’s out on Friday 24th June. My flyer for this features Colin Webster’s awesome linocut album artwork, which will appear on the sleeves in hand-printed form.
To coincide with the release we’re going out on a mini-tour, with three live dates in the UK:
18th June – BRÅK @ waterintobeer, Brockley, London | 19:00, £5 or more
We’re launching the album in the beer shop! It seemed fitting considering that the label boss and 50% of the band are involved in running the gig. Info about BRÅK is on our website, and you can find out how to get to the shop on the wib site.
26th June – Soundhunt @ Thrive, Cambridge | 19:00, £5
Another new series here run by Dominic Lash and N.O Moore, who we’ll be sharing the bill with. The gig is happening at Thrive, a great vegan cafe within walking distance of the station. More venue info on the Thrive site.
19th July – Chance Meeting @ NIAMOS, Hulme, Manchester | 19:30, £9/£6 unwaged
In our other home city we’ll be playing at this brand new night, sharing the bill with THRAA. All the info you need can be found on the Chance Meeting site, where you can also follow a link to buy tickets for the gig.
Looking forward to getting out there with this band again!
