The Squid's Ear Magazine


Ward / Hill / Lash / Sanders: Predicate (FMR)

Alex Ward developed this band to confront the issue of combining composition with improvisation, using free jazz as a touchstone for pieces allowing stylistically unbounded playing, here with an incredible set of players.
 

Price: $14.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Alex Ward-electric guitar

Tim Hill-alto saxophone, baritone saxophone

Dominic Lash-doublebass

Mark Sanders-drums


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 649849982407

Label: FMR
Catalog ID: FMR 318-0811
Squidco Product Code: 15569

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2011
Country: Great Britain
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded on September 22nd, 2010 by Ash Gardner at House Of Strange Studios.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The pieces on this CD were written between October 2009 and March 2010 specifically for this group, which played its first show in February 2010. Even though the majority of my available recordings are of free improvisation, the challenge of composing for improvising musicians and/or creating music where composed and improvised elements coexist interdependently has long been one of my foremost concerns — but it's only recently that I've felt ready to put together a working band for this purpose and make the results public. I have always believed that for such a combination of methodologies to be worthwhile, any composed material should be as strongly characterised as the improvising. Otherwise, the incorporation of composition would signify nothing more than a reluctance for the music to be fully improvised, a capitulation to the notion of improvisation as insufficient to generate music by itself — which, as one might suspect from my prior history (and in particular the key role of Derek Bailey in my musical development), I do not believe to any extent. Therefore, I had first to learn how (and why) to compose music that aspired to stand on its own merits, before addressing the specific issue of composing for improvisers. This was a lengthy process, moving through several phases, principally:

1) several years of collaborative work with Benjamin Hervé, mainly in the rock band Camp Blackfoot (represented on the 1999 album "Critical Seed vs. The Spartan Society");

2) a period of songwriting, represented by the 2005 album "Hapless Days" and subsequent work with the band Alex Ward & The Dead Ends — which, while in some ways constituting a diversion from the technical/aesthetic considerations involved in writing instrumental music, clarified for me how I perceive material and could incorporate psychological/ emotional resonances in a compositional context; and

3) the writing of through-composed instrumental structures for a duo line-up of guitar and drums, which became the basis for the repertoire of the band Dead Days Beyond Help (formed late 2006). These pieces were collected on the album "Access Denied!" (released 2009).

Dead Days Beyond Help marks the point where I felt I'd reached a level of clarity and sureness in my approach to composition, and in its initial stage also represented a summary of everything I'd been working on up to that point, incorporating as it does in its live performances songs, free improvisation and the aforementioned through-composed instrumental pieces. In mid-2009 however, DDBH underwent a transformation, shifting towards a fully collaborative method of composition, and now the material for the band is written jointly by myself and drummer Jem Doulton. At that point, I started to feel it was time to establish some new compositional outlets, firstly to provide a vehicle for the solo composing I was no longer doing for DDBH, secondly to test whether my new-found confidence in writing music could extend to other formats and instrumentations, and thirdly to confront at last the issue of combining composition with improvisation (DDBH deals in both, but very seldom together in any given piece). Predicate is the first band to be formed with these aims> in mind.

In putting together Predicate and assessing how composition and improvisation might interact in the band's music, I was guided initially by a conception of my own performance role. Having found myself playing more and more guitar over the preceding few years, both with DDBH and in the improvising trio N.E.W. (with Steve Noble and John Edwards), I felt that some aspects of how I approach the instrument might be interestingly applied in a more linear and less stylistically volatile context than either of those bands tend towards. This idea informed both the compositions I would write for the group and my choice of instrumentation — one which offers a clear delineation of rhythm section (double bass and drums) and lead instrument (saxophone), allowing the guitar to sit in between. This certain traditionalism of format, combined with a willingness for the music to gravitate towards a high level of propulsive energy and intensity, has led me on occasion to refer to Predicate as my "free-jazz" group — but this is really no more than a fairly abstract aesthetic touchstone, and while there may be less moment-to-moment dislocation than in much of the music I've been involved in previously, the group's improvisations have tended to be equally stylistically unbounded, to my great satisfaction.

Which brings me to the members of the group... After everything I might say about my ideas and aims, the character and quality of the music ultimately depends on the players, and in that regard I could not have been more fortunate. I thought long and hard about which musicians would be right for this band — and yet once I'd arrived at the final decision of who to ask, it seemed so perfect that there could have been no other choices, and I'm enormously grateful that they all agreed to be involved. If one composes to have one's intentions realised, one works with improvisers to find oneself in areas that go beyond anything one could have intended — and Tim, Mark and Dominic are the type of musicians who can fulfill both of those wishes at once. I've known Tim Hill for close to twenty years, and owe an enormous amount of my understanding of how to combine composition and improvisation to my experiences in various of his own groups. As a saxophonist, he has the rare ability to play simultaneously with emotion and momentum — that distinctive combination of attack and poignancy that characterises my very favourite jazz soloists. Besides his power and inventiveness as a bassist, Dominic Lash embodies for me the best qualities of a new generation of improvising musicians — an informed understanding of a huge range of technical and instrumental possibilities, a sense of one's connectedness to tradition(s) being potentially strengthening rather than deadening, and an ability to cater to the musical demands of any given situation without suppressing his own personality or instincts in the process. And Mark Sanders is a man whose résumé speaks for the astonishing scope of his musical conception and ability: from any species of metrical groove, through the multi-directional all-time/no-time of freejazz, to pure textural exploration of the kit's sonic potential, he has not only mastered all the above but made them his own — and also possesses a readiness to engage with notated music unusual in someone with such a breadth of improvisational resource. It has been a joy and an inspiration playing with these musicians and experiencing the ways they have been able to transform the material I brought to the group, and my heartfelt thanks go to all of them.

It is my hope to write many more pieces for this quartet, and to work with it for much time to come. We hope you enjoy this first instalment of our music."-Alex Ward, April 2011.


Artist Biographies

"Alex Ward was born in 1974. He is a composer, improviser, and performing musician. His primary instruments are clarinet and guitar, and he has also performed in public and on recordings on alto sax, piano/keyboards, bass guitar, and as a vocalist. He was based in Oxford from 1992-2000, and since then has lived in London.

His involvement in freely improvised music dates back to 1986, when he met the guitarist Derek Bailey. As an improviser, he was initially principally a clarinettist (sometimes also playing alto sax), but since 2000 he has also been active as an improvising guitarist. On both instruments, hIs longest-standing collaborations in this field have been with the drummer Steve Noble.

From 1993 to 2001, most of his activity as a composer took place in collaboration with Benjamin Hervé, mainly in the context of the rock band Camp Blackfoot. From 2002-2005, his writing was mostly done solo, and was primarily focused on songs. Since 2006, he has been heavily involved in both solo and collaborative composition, predominantly (though not exclusively) of instrumental music. Much of his writing and performing during this time has been done with Dead Days Beyond Help, a duo with drummer Jem Doulton. He also currently leads a number of bands including Predicate, Forebrace, The Alex Ward Quintet/Sextet, and Alex Ward & The Dead Ends.

He has been a member of many other groups including ensembles led by Eugene Chadbourne, Simon H. Fell and Duck Baker, and has also done various work as a session musician and in collaboration with other media. Since 2005, he has co-run the label Copepod Records with composer/performer Luke Barlow. He does the recording, mixing and/or mastering of most of his own music, and for many of the groups he plays in."

-Sites.Google.com (https://sites.google.com/site/alexwardmusician/biography)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

Tim Hill is a British Jazz Saxophonist, known for the groups Consorts, Continental Drift, and Meltdown.

-Discogs (https://www.discogs.com/artist/616981-Tim-Hill-4)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Born Cambridge, England, in January 1980; played bass guitar since 1994; studied with Hugh Boyd and Pascha Milner and at Basstech (London) with Rob Burns, Terry Gregory and others. Played double bass since 2001; basically self taught, with grateful thanks to Simon H. Fell. First class BA in English Literature from Oxford University (2002). Received MA Composition from Oxford Brookes University in 2003, having studied with Paul Whitty, Ray Lee and others. Received PhD from Brunel University in 2010, having studied the work of Derek Bailey, Helmut Lachenmann and JH Prynne and been supervised by Richard Barrett and John Croft."

-Dominic Lash Website (http://dominiclash.blogspot.com/p/dominic-lash_5.html)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Mark Sanders has played with many renowned musicians including Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey, Henry Grimes, Roswell Rudd, Peter Brotzmann, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Jah Wobble, Sidsel Endresen , Charles Gayle, Peter Evans and William Parker. He works with John Edwards in a duo and with groups including Evan Parker, `Foils` with Frank Paul Schubert and Matthius Muller and groups with Veryan Weston, John Tilbury, Agusti Fernandez and Mathew Shipp. Mark works in a regular improvising duo with John Butcher and also performing John`s composition `Tarab Cuts` which has played festivals in Rio de Janiero, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Glasgow, Bristol and London. In a trio with cellist Okkyung Lee, John and Mark have played in Belgium, France, England and Scotland. He also has a longstanding duo with Sarah Gail Brand which has featured on the BBC`s `The Stuart Lee Show`and in the film `Taking the dog for a Walk`.

He has performed solo for a Christian Marclay exhibition at The White Cube Gallery in London, Evan Parker`s festival`Unwhitstable` in Wroclaw, Poland for `Solos Festival` The 100 Years Gallery London, an improvised music series in Derby and Cafe Oto in London. Working with Christian Marclay in his `Everyday` piece for film and live music, he has performed in Aldeburgh, Ruhr Trienalle, Vienna Bienalle, Holland festival and London`s QEH and has also collaborated with him playing for the film `Screenplay`in London and Lisbon. In situations using composition in one form or another Mark works in various projects including `13 Vices` with Brian Irvine/Jennifer Walshe, Alex Hawkins Ensemble featuring Peter Evans, Simon Fell Ensembe, groups with Hasse Poulsen and Luc Ex , Sarah Sarhandi`s `Both Universe`, Elaine Mitchener`s `Sweet Tooth` and has played in the groups of Shabaka Hutchings including`Sons of Kemet` Conceptual Artist Sam Belinfante collaborated with Mark in his piece `On the One Hand, and the Other` in two exhibitions at Camden Arts Centre, London For Conceptual artist Henrik Hakensen`s film `The End` he has performed as an improvising soloist with orchestras conductedd by Jessica Cottis, playing the music of John Coxon in Glasgow, Sydney and Monte Carlo As a guest with New York`s ICE Ensemble he has performed John Zorn`s `The Tempest` in London and at Huddersfield New Music Festival.

Mark also works in the groups of Paul Dunmall including Deep Whole Trio with Paul Rogers, in duo and `Frisque Concordance` with Georg Graewe , and the ensembles of Mikolaj Trzaska, Uwe Oberg and Peter Jaquemyn. He has performed in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Morrocco, South Africa, Australia, Mozambique and Turkey, playing at many major festivals including Nickelsdorf, Riga, Ulrichsburg, Glastonbury, Womad, Vancouver, Isle of Wight, Roskilde, Berlin Jazz days, FMP, Mulhouse, Luz, Minniapolis, Banlieue Bleues, Son D`hiver and Hurta Cordel."

-Mark Sanders Website (http://www.marksanders.me.uk/biography.html)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. The Denied 5:12

2. Courtesy Class 9:01

3. Stub 8:58

4. Happy New Year 6:48

5. Forecast 14:49

6. Candidates 7:23

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Free Improvisation
FMR Records
Quartet Recordings
Instant Rewards

Search for other titles on the label:
FMR.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Dunmall, Paul / Jon Irabagon / Mark Sanders / Jim Bashford
The Rain Sessions
(FMR)
Dedicated to Cecil Taylor and taking advantage of NY saxophonist Irabagon's UK visit, this album presents four drum duets "time two", as two tenor saxophonists--Paul Dunmall and Jon Irabagon--meet two lyrical drummers--Mark Sanders and Jim Bashford--following Dunmall long-standing interest in drum and sax duets, the results this ebullient and remarkable album.
Moon, The
Good And Evil
(577 Records)
The studio debut of drummer Federico Ughi and electric guitarist Adam Caine's project The Moon, a touring band crossing jazz based free improvisation with rock elements in free-flowing and driving music highlight the technical and melodic skills of both players.
Dunmall / Wooster / Sanders / Mapp
The Iceberg Quartet
(FMR)
A new quartet recording at The Lamp Tavern in Birmingham, 2011, interactive free jazz from saxophonist Paul Dunmall, trumpeter Sam Wooster, drummer Mark Sanders, and bassist Chris Mapp.
Maroney, Denman / Dominic Lash
All Strung Out
(Kadima)
Double bass and hyperpiano meet in a transatlantic collaboration between pianist Denman Maroney and bassist Dominc Lash, a combination of exhilarating technique and invention from two remarkable players.
Dunmall / Gibbs / Rogers / Sanders
Kithara
(FMR)
Quartet recordings from the Victoria Room in Bristol, 2010, from the remarkable grouping of Paul Dunmall on tenor sax, Phil Gibbs on guitar, Paul Rogers on 7-string bass, and Mark Sanders on drums.
Convergence Quartet, The
Live In Oxford
(FMR)
The Convergence Quartet (Taylor Ho Bynum, Harris Eisenstadt, Alexander Hawkins and Dominic Lash) in their first FMR CD performing inspired modern jazz live in Oxford.
Remote Viewers, The
To The North
(Remote Viewers)
Dave Petts' Remote Viewers, now a septet of 4 saxophonists, marimba, bassist John Edwards and drummer Mark Sanders, in 7 pieces blending rock and improvisational aesthetics in seductive ways.
Dunmall / Sanders / Edwards
Mind Out
(FMR)
The trio of saxophonist Paul Dunmall, drummer Mark Sanders, and guitarist Barry Edwards performing live at the University of West England in the fall of 2007.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Metal Chaos Ensemble
Basilisk
(Evil Clown)
Formed in 2015 by reedist and multi-instrumentalist David Peck and percussionist Yuri Zbitnov to explore chaotic rhythms on metallic instruments, using the now extended arsenal of exotic percussive instruments the collective has amassed, in a 2-part album with Mike Gruen on electric bass creating a power trio of unusual rhythmic intention.
Leap of Faith
Potential and Actual Infinities
(Evil Clown)
For this performance the Leap of Faith trio of PEK on clarinets, saxophones, double reeds & flutes, Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, and Yuri Zbitnov on drums & percussion was joined by Jim Warshauer (reeds) and Eric Dahlman (trumpet, overtone voice) to perform two improvisations, including a long work featuring transformations across highly varied sonorities.
Leap of Faith
Nucleosynthesis
(Evil Clown)
A core trio setting for Boston's framework improvising Leap of Faith with David Peck (PEK) on clarinets, saxophone and assorted winds, Yuri Zbitnoff on drums & percussion, and Glynis Lomon on cellos and percussion, along with "2 gongs, a ton of Tibetan bowls and bells, various orchestral castanets, various seed pod and other wood rattles, and other small things".
Leap of Faith
First Principles
(Evil Clown)
Performed by a core set of 7 players who frequent the Boston-area Evil Clown collective, this subgroup from the Leap of Faith Orchestra is caught live at Third Life Studios in Somerville, MA, in a drummer-less setting of rhythm from PEK's arsenal of percussive devices and instruments, for a diverse & extended work of transformations across highly varied sonorities.
Charles, Xavier / Eric Normand
Avis Aux Reacteurs
(Inexhaustible Editions)
Recorded live at Silence Sounds in Guelph Canada, the duo of Xavier Charles on clarinet and Eric Normand on electric bass & objects eschew idiom in favor of their unique natural language on their instruments, applying patient development of truly idiosyncratic and fascinating command through a single extended work punctuated in seven diverse passages.
Holy Quintet, The (Change / Drouin / Lash / Lazardiou / Ryan)
Borough
(Mikroton Recordings)
The meeting of Johnny Chang (viola), Jamie Drouin (suitcase modular synth), Dominic Lash (double bass), Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga(zither, and David Ryan (bass clarinet) recording at Bourough welsh Congregational Chapel, in London in 2013, recorded by Another Timbre label leader Simon Reynell, for a unique merging of disparate approaches to ea-improv.
Miguel, Sei
(Five) Stories Untold
(Clean Feed)
A collection of "stories untold" with varying line-ups, from a duo with Fala Mariam to a sextet with Mariam, Nuno Torres, Rodrigo Amado, Jose Bruno Parrinha & Paulo Curado, including the participation of other musicians like Carlos Santos, Hernani Faustino, Luis Desirat & Moz Carrapa.
BARK!
Fume of Sighs
(psi)
The third CD by the trio of Rex Casswell (electric guitar), Phillip Marks (percussion) and Paul Obermayer (samples), creating beautiful jagged, sharp edged textures propelled by some of their tightest, strangest, most powerful rhythmic designs yet.
Ensemble SuperMusique
Bruit court-circuit
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Jean Derome, Joane Hetu, Danielle Palardy Roger, Alexandre St-Onge and Martin Tetreault each composed works for this stellar group of nine Montreal-based musique actuelle players, a startling and wonderful release of style, approach and concept.
Ducret, Marc
Tower, Vol. 4
(Ayler)
Marc Ducret's Tower series continues, skipping a beat as we jump from Vol 2. to Vol. 4, in this live solo acoustic guitar release from his 2012 Baltic tour, where he reassembles and builds bridges to offer a new vision of the Tower's cycle.
Barno, Niklas / Joel Grip / Didier Lasserre
Can't Stop Snusing
(Ayler)
The Snus trio of Niklas Barno (trumpet), Joel Grip (bass) and Didier Lasserre (drums) return for their second album, an addictive mix of free jazz and free improv, subtle to skronking music of great beauty and power.
RED Trio + Nate Wooley
Stem
(Clean Feed)
NY trumpeter Nate Wooley and Portugal's Red Trio (Rodrigo Pinheiro, Hernani Faustino & Gabriel Ferrandini), recorded after their live performance at the 2010 Clean Feed Festival in NYC; powerful and thought-provoking modern improvisation.
Toral, Rafael / Davu Seru
Live in Minneapolis
(Clean Feed)
Rafael Toral's Space Program, post-free jazz electronic music, is made manifest in this duo between the electronicist and drummer Davu Seru, performing live in Minneapolis during Toral's 2011 tour of the US.
Kullhammar / Zetterberg / Aalberg
Basement Sessions Vol.1
(Clean Feed)
Following the traditions of the saxophone trio, tenor & baritone player Jonas Kullhammar releases this studio album of irrepressible compositions performed with bassist Tobjorn Zetterberg and drummer Espen Aalberg.
Mcphee, Joe / Ingebrigt Haker Flaten
Brooklyn DNA
(Clean Feed)
A project about the rich jazz history of Brooklyn, NY, recorded in that burrough by NY saxophonist Joe McPhee & bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, referencing Putnam Central, The Blue Coronet, Sonny Rollins, and Brooklyn itself.
Lehman, Steve Trio, feat. Matt Brewer and Damion Reid
Dialect Fluorescent
(Pi Recordings)
With his new trio with bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Damion Reid, saxophonist Lehman combines his own original compositions with a full program of works by jazz legends like John Coltrane and Jackie McLean.
Bondi / d'incise / Rodrigues / Chagas / Torres / Moimeme
Brume
(Creative Sources)
Extended improvisations using a mix of acoustic and electric instruments from the sextet of Ernesto Rodrigues, d'incise, Cyril Bondi, Abdul Moiemem, Eduardo Chagas, and Nuno Torres.
AYCH (Jim Hobbs, Mary Halvorson, Taylor Ho Bynum)
As The Crow Flies
(Relative Pitch)
From NY and Boston the Aych group (pronounce as "H", a letter shared by all 3's names) presents three improvisers representing some of the best of the new breed of modern jazz based players in a trio without bass and drums.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC