Re-issue of one of the earliest Confront releases, the trio of trumpeter Matt Davis, violinist Phil Durrant and cellist Mark Wastell performing subtle and sophisticated free improvisation at St. Michael's and All Angels church, Chiswick, London in 2000.
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Sample The Album:
Matthew Davis-trumpet
Phil Durrant-violin
Mark Wastell-violincello
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Label: Confront
Catalog ID: ccs 24
Squidco Product Code: 18593
Format: CDR
Condition: New
Released: 2014
Country: Great Britain
Packaging: CD in a tin case
Recorded by Tim Fletcher at St. Michaels & all angels, London, August 2000.
"Re-issue of one of the earliest Confront releases, originally available in an edition of 50 in 2001.
The All Angels concert series ran between 1999 and 2001. Co-curated by Rhodri Davies and myself, we wanted to find an environment that was acoustically articulate enough to present our own quickly developing style of music. Rhodri found the perfectly beautiful Norman Shaw designed church, close to his then home, in Chiswick, West London. Once our base was established, there was a swift upward trajectory in our confidence to push forward with our own material.
All Angels enabled us to experiment with new combinations and groupings of musicians of our own choosing - some of which remain active to this day; The Sealed Knot, CRANC and Rhodri's duo with John Butcher all made their debut concerts within it's thick stone walls.
One such grouping was the trio represented on this recording; it's debut concert. I'd first met Matt Davis as long ago as 1996, at a London Musicians Collective workshop led by Eddie Prevost, and we'd subsequently played together in numerous formations. Phil Durrant and I had been playing together as a duo, in Assumed Possibilities (with Chris Burn and Rhodri) and the Chris Burn Ensemble, since 1997/8.
Matt was visiting from an extended stay as an english teacher in Barcelona (to where he soon returned) and I decided to stage a welcome home concert to help persuade him to stay in London (it didn't work!). Phil was an obviously compatible choice.
The music we played that night clearly stated something new in our individual and shared vocabularies and includes that very special ingredient, that unidentifiable, exhilarating feeling of wonder at creating something beyond your known capabilities.
Although the trio wasn't exactly over-subscribed with offers, this concert was the springboard for further explorations together and it definitely felt like a working outfit, notably a shared London concert with visiting Japanese musicians Taku Unami, Masafumi Ezaki and Masahiko Okura, followed by a series of rehearsals in the basement of Sound 323 record shop which oversaw our transformation from acoustic to electronic instruments and which led to an offer from Jon Abbey and the eventual recording sessions that resulted in our release 'open' for Erstwhile Records."-Mark Wastell
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Matthew Davis "Matt Davis (born in London in 1970) is an artist working in sound, music and performance living in Bristol. In studying visual art an interest in strategic photography and process based work led Matt to the world of improvised and experimental music and sound art. Attending Community Music in 1995 and completing John Steven's Search and Reflect course, amongst others, he made several connections in the improvised music scene such as with Mark Wastell, Angharad Davies and Rhodri Davies. In 1999 he relocated to Barcelona, joined the IBA collective and 'L'Orquestra IBA' as well as working with the dance company La Sospechosa - a collaboration which lasted many years. On returning to London in 2002 he curated a series of events entitled FIELD designed to unite improvised music and dance. These events, with the support of the Chisenhale Dance Space Artist's Program, eventually became a live-art project investigating notions of space and performance, and were particularly influenced by the work of geographer Doreen Massey who collaborated on the project. He has performed extensively throughout the UK and Europe, as well as touring Japan with Broken Consort in 2003. From 2008-2012 he joined the ensemble Zeitkratzer, and in 2009 moved to Cornwall, where he was a member of the SoN collective and the trio Emlow. He now lives in Bristol." ^ Hide Bio for Matthew Davis • Show Bio for Phil Durrant "Phil Durrant. Born 1957; software synth/sampler, live electronics and acoustic violin. Phil Durrant studied classical violin and piano at the London College Of Music. Since 1977 he has been a freelance musician, improviser and composer. He has performed at festivals all over Europe, U.S.A and Canada and has had his music broadcast on radio and television in many countries. Current electronic projects include Ticklish, Secret Measures (with John Butcher), Lunge (with Gail Brand, Pat Thomas and Mark Sanders) and the international electronic orchestra, Mimeo. He also plays violin in Assumed Possibilities (with Chris Burn, Rhodri Davies and Mark Wastell), "Beinhaltung", a trio with Radu Malfatti and Thomas Lehn another trio with Berlin musicians, Burkhard Beins and Ignaz Schick, and the string quartet Quatuor Accorde, with Tony Wren, Charlotte Hug and Mark Wastell. Durrant has also played in the very influential trio with John Butcher and John Russell, as well as the Chris Burn Ensemble. During his career he has played with many creative and important musicians, including: Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Grooverider, Shut up and Dance, John Zorn, Phil Minton, and Tom Cora. He has also been awarded various Arts Council grants to research and develop his use of electronics. Two current duo projects - at early 2001 - were: Durrant, violin and software synth/sampler with Wade Matthews, bass clarinet, alto flute; and Durrant software synth/sampler with Mark Sanders drums and sequenced samples. Phil Durrant has also been collaborating and composing music for a wide variety of choreographers. These include PLastic chill, In the face of a stranger and Deja deux with Maxine Doyle; Salome, Concrete and On stage with Susanne Thomas; Partial site, near view and Delay for five with Gill Clarke; Future perfekt with Ana Sanchez-Colberg; and Borderlander and Home zone with Sophia Lycouris. Salome, Concrete and Partial site, near view were site-specific and involved speaker systems in a number of different rooms. He recently wrote the music for a new play by Nick Sutton called Home movies." ^ Hide Bio for Phil Durrant • Show Bio for Mark Wastell "Mark Wastell Born 1968; cello. Much of Mark Wastell's relationship with his chosen instrument is concentrated on the tactile, textural and sonic possibilities of both violoncello and bow. He is increasingly interested in working with extreme elements drawn from frequency, timbre and pitch. His early activity was consciously and subconsciously influenced by a variety of improvising musicians including John Stevens, Barry Guy, Phil Durrant and John Russell. Subsequent exposure to contemporary composers lead to a greater understanding and appreciation of the works written for strings by Feldman, Cage, Nono, Lachenmann and Sciarrino. The use of live electronics and music concrete by Tudor, Parmegiani, Xenakis and others was another important early influence. Wastell's current instrumental material primarily focuses on using abstract principles of space and texture - encompassing elements of new London silence, pro-instrument minimalism, new complexity and electro-acoustics. Because of the very nature of his chosen instrument, he tends to favour 'chamber' style ensembles and is a member of a number of regular groups: Mark Wastell has also performed with many other leading musicians including John Zorn, Keith Rowe, Peter Kowald, Hugh Davies, Roger Turner, Veryan Weston, Lol Coxhill, Mark Sanders, Axel Dorner, Hans Koch, Phil Minton, Max Eastley and Steve Beresford. As a soloist he has played at the Micro-classical Festival (London 1996), LMC Festival (London 2000) and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (2000). He has travelled extensively with various groups, performing on tour and at festivals in the USA, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Greece. Other work includes the launch in 1996 of his own record label, Confront Recordings. Wastell is also joint co-ordinator of the concert venue All Angels, together with Rhodri Davies." ^ Hide Bio for Mark Wastell
9/4/2024
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9/4/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
• Derek Bailey's Company - with, for example, Will Gaines, Simon H. Fell and Rhodri Davies
• Evan Parker's String Project, with Peter Cusack, Hugh Davies, Rhodri Davies, Phil Durrant, John Edwards, Kaffe Matthews, Marcio Mattos, John Russell
• Assumed possibilities, with Chris Burn, Rhodri Davies and Phil Durrant
• The Sealed Knot, with Burkhard Beins and Rhodri Davies
• Necessaire with Alessandro Bosetti, Ignaz Schick and Burkhard Beins
• IST with Simon Fell and Rhodri Davies
• Quatuor Accorde with Tony Wren, Phil Durrant and Charlotte Hug
• Broken Concort, a duo with Rhodri Davies
9/4/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Untitled 29:01
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Trio Recordings
lowercase, reductionist, micro-improv, sound improv, onkyo sound
Trio Recordings
Search for other titles on the label:
Confront.
 | Butcher, John / Luigi Marino / Mark Wastell Parallel Streams (Confront) |
| An impressive live performance at Exploratorium Berlin in 2024 as part of the international symposium Musicians' Perspectives on Improvisation, which explores the practices, ideas, visions and theories of improvising musicians, from the trio of John Butcher on saxophones, Luigi Marino on cymbals, zarb, zarb e zurkhaneh, feedback devices and Mark Wastell on percussion. | |
 | Durrant, Phil / Daniel Thompson Live / Studio (Bead) |
| The improvising string duo of stalwart London improvisers, Daniel Thompson on acoustic guitar and Phil Durrant on the octave mandola, are heard in two settings of texturally rich, intricate interactions, first at Cafe OTO in 2022 for an extended improvisation, then at Cable Street Studios two months later for six succint, impressively diverse dialogs. | |
 | Oceans Of Silver & Blood Acetate [CD EP] (Confront) |
| Reissuing their limited 2014 release on Joachim Nordwall Editions, the Oceans Of Silver & Blood duo of Joachim Nordwall on analog synthesizer, effects & tape and percussionist Mark Wastell on tam tam and timpani present two pieces, the first an environmental work underpinned by subtle percussion, the second a richly resonating work of threatening warmth. | |
 | Consorts Distinctions (Spoonhunt) |
| Composer Dominic Lash's Consort ensemble explores the possibilities of combining sustained-tone music, guided & free improvisation, and the relationship between acoustic and amplified sound, heard in this evolving, extended concert at Café Oto on Lash's 40th birthday, in a unique mix of acoustic & electronic instruments that even includes an amplified kitchen sink! | |
 | IST (Davies / Fell / Wastell) + John Butcher / Phil Durrant A More Attractive Way [5 CD BOX SET + 20 page booklet] (Confront) |
| A comprehensive album of live performances from IST (Rhodri Davies: harp, preparations; Simon H. Fell: double bass, preparations; Mark Wastell: violoncello, preparations) between 1996 and 2000, beginning with their concert at Club Orange in London and including concerts in London, Billericay, Norwich and Cambridge, with a 20 page booklet of photos and text from the band & collaborators. | |
 | Sealed Knot, The (Beins / Davies / Wastell) Twenty (Confront) |
| After twenty years playing together, the Sealed Knot trio of Burkhard Beins on amplified percussion, Rhodri Davies on amplified lap harp, and Mark Wastell on dual 32 past tam tams, gongs & nepalese singing bowls, performed live at Cafe OTO to record this beautifully captured, contemplative concert of tone, texture and ringing sound, like a 20-year dream reflected. | |
 | Grady, Spencer / Fermata Ark / Mark Wastell Thus : Excerpts From A Smaller Work (Confront) |
| UK sound artist Fermata Ark, aka Harry Smith, composed this work from improvisations recorded by Mark Wastell performing on cello, double bass and harmonium, and Spencer Grady performing on 5-string banjo, ebow, violin bow and brass slide, creating an extended work of immersive and mesmerizing textures and tones, sounds rising and falling in sublime and passionate ways. | |
 | Virtual Company (Fell / Wastell / Bailey / Gaines) Virtual Company (Confront) |
| IST, configured as the duo of double bassist Simon H. Fell and cellist/percussionist Mark Wastell, performing a virtual quartet at London's Cafe OTO, using using pre-recorded fragments of solo work from late guitarist Derek Bailey and tap dancer Will Gaines, combined with sections of silence of unforeseeable length, and then combined with the live musicians; amazing. | |
 | Cooper, Mike / Mark Wastell Sound Mirrors (Confront) |
| Lapsteel guitarist and electronic artist Mike Cooper and percussionist Mark Wastell, employing a paiste 32" tam tam and a shruti box, pay homage to the large acoustic sound mirrors used in Britain from 1916 to 1930 as an early form or radar, each of their detailed improvisation referencing one of the locations on the British south and northeast coasts. | |
 | Trio Sowari Third Issue (Mikroton Recordings) |
| Only their 3rd album since 2005, the trio of Phil Durrant (modular and software synthesizers), Bertrand Denzler (tenor saxophone) and Burkhard Beins (percussion and objects) went into the studio in Berlin to record four tracks that bring the distinct skills of each player into focus while accentuating the tremendous concentration and interplay each brings, a real achievement. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri / David Sylvian / Mark Wastell There Is No Love (Confront) |
| Confront initiates their new Core Series with the text piece "There Is No Love" with David Sylvian on voice, vocal treatments and electronics, Rhodri Davies on harp, vibraphone and radio, and Mark Wastel on tam tam and percussion, a sophisticated spoken word piece of shadowy atmosphere and innuendo, leveraging approaches from experimental, improvised and composed music. | |
 | Collusion Duo (Nick Smith / Mark Wastell) Refraction (Confront) |
| Violinist and percussionist Nick Smith, having access to St. Mary's Church at Great Baddow for music performance and rehearsals, made his first use of the space in 1996 in a duo with Mark Wastell on violincello, preparations and percussion, where they used the acoustics of the church to enhance their detailed and absorbing improvisations. | |
| Ist (Davies / Fell / Wastell) Consequences (of Time and Place) (Confront) | |
| ist (The Improvising String Trio) of Rhodri Davies (harp), Simon H. Fell (bass) and Mark Wastell (violincello) performing at The Natural Music Club in London, 1997, using unorthodox techniques in indeterminate systems and free improvisation for fascinating results. | |
 | Chang / Davies / Drouin / Durrant / Patterson / Tilbury Variable Formations (Another Timbre) |
| A live recording at Cafe Oto in 2013 from this sextet in an extended and dynamic piece in which the musicians develop material they had presented in small groups in the first half of the concert, mixing improvised and prepared elements. | |
 | Sealed Knot, The (Beins / Davies / Wastell) and we disappear (Another Timbre) |
| For a decade this trio has created some of the most interesting electroacoustic improvisation, captured in a 38 minute performance at the Ear We Are Festival in Biel, Switzerland, 2007. | |
 | Various Artists That Mysterious Forest Below London Bridge (Matchless) |
| A live presentation at the Shunt Lounge, London Bridge in November of 2006, including an AMM duo of John Tilbury and Eddie Prevost. | |
| Durrant, Phil / Daniel Thompson Live / Studio (Bead) |
| The improvising string duo of stalwart London improvisers, Daniel Thompson on acoustic guitar and Phil Durrant on the octave mandola, are heard in two settings of texturally rich, intricate interactions, first at Cafe OTO in 2022 for an extended improvisation, then at Cable Street Studios two months later for six succint, impressively diverse dialogs. | |
 | Wastell, Mark Pre-Existing Commitments (Hundred Years Gallery) |
| During cellist and Confront label-leader Mark Wastell's 2022 residency at the East London Hundred Years Gallery he recorded four solo recordings, using his acutely creative approach to the strings in unique ways for each recording, which he then layered in the studio without edits to create this wildly and often psychedelically stochastic orchestral work. | |
 | Nicols, Maggie / Matilda Rolfsson / Mark Wastell Semiotic Drift (Confront) |
| Extending the duo of British improvisers, legendary vocalist and leader of London's The Gathering, Maggie Nicols, also performing on taps and percussion, and Confront label-leader, percussionist Mark Wastell performing on cymbals and frame drum, with Swedish percussionist Matilda Rolfsson on bass drum, captured in a captivating concert at All Ears in Oslo in 2023. | |
 | Jones / Lash / Wastel Meditating With The Father, Son, And Holy Ghost (Confront) |
| An interpretation and reimagining of the opening track of Coltrane's Meditations, from the UK trio of Ed Jones on tenor & soprano saxophones, Dominic Lash on double bass and Mark Wastell on tam tam, gongs, cymbal & percussion, performed live at Cafe OTO in London in 2023, transforming the original recording's density into a slowly opening, evolving work of beauty. | |
 | Wastell, Mark Cello-intern Solos (Confront) |
| Beginning in February 2022 on the 1st Saturday of the month Mark Wastell would bring his cello to the Hundred Years Gallery in London with the grace of gallery owners Graham MacKeachan and Montse Gallego and play, not as a performance, not as a rehearsal, just to play and record his improvisations as he expands his reach on the instrument, heard here in 17 fascinating excerpts. | |
 | Bang, Jan / David Toop / Mark Wastell Compound Full Of Bones, Translucent Thousands (Confront) |
| An extended improvisation interweaving acoustic and electronic instruments in a beautifully coherent evolution of mysterious and approachable sources, from the trio of Jan Bang, David Toop and Mark Wastell, combining tam tams, gongs, flutes, lapsteel, live sampling, gongs, brushes, elastic, paper and more to captivate the curious listener. | |
 | Frequency Disasters (Beresford / Magaletti / Martino) Frequency Disasters (Confront) |
| Pianist & improviser Steve Beresford performing on prepared piano, toys & electronic, percussionist Valentina Magaletti and bass player Pierpaolo Martino are heard in this cataclysmically interesting album based around Beresford's compositions, each piece a vignette that merges elements of free improv, rock, sound & avant structures in inventive and compelling ways. | |
 | Seen, The For Sake Of Joy Of Study Of Oneself Together (Confront) |
| Inspired by a work by John Stevens from 1991, Mark Wastell developed this work merging narration and improvisation by transcribing the text from Steven's performance, preseanted here by an electroacoustic ensemble including Phil Durrant, Dominic Lash, Bertrand Denzler, Jennifer Allum &c, yielding an enveloping and fascinatingly mysterious piece presented in two versions. | |
 | Durrant, Phil / Emil Karlsen Grain (Noumenon) |
| A wonderfully assertive acoustic dialog between London improviser Phil Durrant on mandolin and octave mandolin, and Norwegian percussionist living in Leeds, UK, Emil Karlsen, the two focusing on a quick flow of ideas that ebb and flow naturally, each complementing the other in tightly defined interactions, creating a consistent sound of rapid texture and impetus. | |
 | Eastley, Max / Fergus Kelly / Mark Wastell The Map Is Not The Territory (Confront) |
| The 8th release on Confront's Core series of factory-pressed CDs brings together improvisers Max Eastley, Fergus Kelly and Mark Wastell, employing electroacoustic devices, invented instruments, metal percussion, a piano frame and tam tam to create a rich and mysterious sound world, darkly hopeful emanations in a nighttime traversal across unknown lands. | |
