Category Archives: Saxoctopus

Tracks played on the Ambrosia Rasputin show…

Earlier today (Sunday 30th September) I was a guest on Ivor Kallin’s Ambrosia Rasputin Show on Resonance FM. It was a lot of fun chatting to Ivor and playing some tracks by friends and collaborators as well as some of my own, so I thought I’d post links here to the music I played. You can find the relevant albums on Bandcamp by clicking through on the embeds below. The whole show is available to listen to on Mixcloud, and also features two duo improvisations from Ivor (on viola) and me (on baritone sax) live in the studio.

We opened with a couple of my own pieces:

Then I played ‘Bone Machine’ by the Pixies! A classic track that I don’t need to link to here…

Next up was some Entropi:

And then some Article XI:

Some Birchall/Cheetham/Webster/Willberg:

And a track from the new album by Tom Ward and Adam Fairhall, the first release on Madwort Records:

To round things off I played Dee Byrne’s composition for Saxoctopus:

Big thanks to Ivor for inviting me! It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday lunchtime.

Saxoctopus album

In exciting news, the Saxoctopus album is coming out on July 20th! It’s a recording from our gig at the Vortex last December, and will be released by Colin Webster’s label Raw Tonk Records. Featuring compositions by the majority of the members, lots of group improvisation and some *ahem* experimental recorder playing…

Shoaling, Saxoctopus and trio gig

Right then. After a flurry of Quadraceratops activity for LJF, it’s time to put the alto sax back in its case and get the baritone out for the rest of the year! Here’s what the end of 2014 looks like for me…

Ripsaw Catfish: Shoaling tour

Anton and I kicked off our collaborative tour last week, in the form of a totally off-the-hook encounter with Corey Mwamba, Dave Kane and Joshua Blackmore at LUME. We had a great time playing with them and it was a combination of people I’d love to get together again. We have high hopes for the rest of the Shoaling tour now. The dates and the shoals are:

29th November – Open Circuit, Parish Rooms, Ulverston. With Shaun Blezard.

30th November – Blank Canvas, Liverpool. With Mark Hanslip and Johnny Hunter.

13th December – Cafe Bar Marzano’s, Norwich. With Chris Dowding’s brass ensemble ‘Brass Monkeys’.

17th December – The Scope, Brighton. With The Static Memories.

Saxoctopus returns…

In between Shoaling dates, the eight-saxophone monster Saxoctopus is rearing its head for two gigs. We’re playing at the last ‘LUME Presents’ gig of the year at the Vortex, on Sunday 7th December in a double bill with the excellent Alphabets (Hannah Marshall, Nick Malcolm and Lauren Kinsella). Then on Tuesday 9th December we head to Derby to play at Corey Mwamba’s new series ‘The Family Album’. This will be fun….

Trio with Olie Brice and Corey Mwamba

With the octopus safely back in its tank (?), I’ll head directly to Daniel Thompson’s Foley Street concert series for the second meeting of the trio with Corey and Olie. The first one was very enjoyable indeed, so it will be really nice to do it again!

Hope to see you out there somewhere…

Eb sax quartet for ‘new dark art’

Last week I spent a very enjoyable day playing through Corey Mwamba’s new work ‘new dark art’ as part of a special Eb sax quartet we put together. The lineup was a Madwort/Saxoctopus hybrid: Chris Williams and Tom Ward on altos, with Colin Webster and me on baritones. Corey was documenting the session as it forms part of his MRes in composition, so here’s a video:

We’re looking forward to more activity with this music and the quartet!

Saxoctopus emerges at The Vortex

Last night saw the debut appearance of a new ensemble I’m involved in: the Saxoctopus! An all-saxophone octet, the band started life as a joke (hard to believe I know) when eight sax players turned up at a LUME gig. After some banter on social networks, one thing led to another, and before we knew what was happening we had been offered a gig. We’ll be putting together the full set ready to play later this year, but last night at the Vortex Jazz Club we got the chance to try things out by guesting with Trio Riot on the first night of their UK tour.

Needless to say, it was a total blast! Our cameo was at the end of the night, after two fantastic sets from Wolf Suit and our hosts Trio Riot.  The octopus comprises of Colin Webster, Rachel Musson, Tom Ward, Dee Byrne, Julie Kjaer, Sam Andreae, Mette Rasmussen and me. On drums was Trio Riot’s David Meier.

I look forward to doing more with this band! A couple of photos were salvaged from the sax onslaught by Tom…

saxoctorehearsalThe rehearsal: Sam goes through the music with us while Colin checks for urgent messages on his phone.

saxoctopusThe gig! (photo by @mike__sands)