The Squid's Ear Magazine


Russell, John: Analekta (Emanem)


 

Price: $16.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 5.00 units

Sample The Album:


product information:

Personnel:



John Russell-guitar

Steve Beresford-electronics

Garry Todd-tenor sax

Henry Lowther-trumpet

Chefa Alonso-soprano sax, percussion

Nicole Legros, Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg-voices

Stefan Keune-alto saxophone

Philipp Wachsmann-violin

Ashley Wales-piano

Ivor Kallin-doublebass

Javier Carmona-percussion


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




UPC: 5030243413829

Label: Emanem
Catalog ID: 4138
Squidco Product Code: 8013

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2007
Country: Great Britain
Packaging: Jewel Tray
Digital concert recordings made in London by Tim Fletcher and Sebastian Lexer. Track 1 recorded 2006 March 19; Track 2 recorded 2004 November 21; Track 3 recorded 2006 June 18; Track 4 recorded 2006 April 30

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"John Russell has been running the Mopomoso series of concerts since the mid-1980s, initially with the help of Chris Burn. The concerts take place on the third Sunday of every month at the Red Rose, which is between Finsbury Park and Holloway in the inner suburbs of north London. The usual format is to have three groups (commonly duos, trios or soloists) per concert, with the final group being a duo with Russell. The three duos on this compilation come from such occasions - there are several more that will hopefully be released in due course.

This is the second duo performance with Garry Todd to be published - a 1975 duo appeared on the long deleted Incus LP called TEATIME. Todd has not appeared in public very often over the years, but he has kept up his playing standard, as can be heard on this recent reunion.

Henry Lowther has been active, mainly as a jazz trumpeter, since around 1960, but has been involved in free projects from time to time. Over the last few years he has performed several duets with Russell - an apparently unlikely duo that works well together.

Chefa Alonso has been living in London for the last couple of years and making herself felt on both soprano saxophone and her home-made percussion kit. This was the first time that she and the guitarist performed a duet.

Every so often, Russell also puts together one-off larger groups under the name Quaqua. The last track on this CD is the nine-piece Quaqua he put together for the 2006 FREEDOM OF THE CITY festival. In choosing the musicians, he decided on an orchestration, and then used the musicians who were both available and potentially compatible. This theoretically unlikely group improvised some magnificent music together, showing that his vision was right."-Martin Davidson, from the liner notes


Artist Biographies

"John Russell got his first guitar in 1965 while living in Kent and began to play in and around London from 1971 onwards. An early involvement with the emerging free improvisation scene (from 1972) followed, seeing him play in such places as The Little Theatre Club, Ronnie Scott's, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Musicians' Co-Op and the London Musicians' Collective. From 1974 his work extended into teaching, broadcasts (radio and television) and touring in the United Kingdom and, ever extensively, in other countries around the world . He has played with many of the world's leading improvisers and his work can be heard on over 50 CDs and albums. In 1981, he founded QUAQUA, a large bank of improvisers put together in different combinations for specific projects and, in 1991, he started MOPOMOSO which has become the UK's longest running concert series featuring mainly improvised music."

-John Russell Website (http://www.john-russell.co.uk/biography/)
3/13/2024

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

"Steve Beresford (born 1950) is a British musician who graduated from the University of York. He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, electronics, trumpet, euphonium, bass guitar and a wide variety of toy instruments, such as the toy piano. He has also played a wide range of music. He is probably best known for free improvisation, but has also written music for film and television and has been involved with a number of pop music groups.

Beresford played in Derek Bailey's Company events and in the groups Alterations with David Toop, Terry Day and Peter Cusack, and the Three Pullovers with Nigel Coombes and Roger Smith. He was also a member with Gavin Bryars and Brian Eno of the Portsmouth Sinfonia.

Beresford has continued to play free improvisation with a number of prominent musicians, including Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, and Han Bennink. He has collaborated extensively with Swiss-American artist/musician Christian Marclay and is an active member of the long-standing London Improvisers Orchestra.

From 2010 he performed various pieces by John Cage, including Indeterminacy with Tania Chen and comedian Stewart Lee, and a performance with Ilan Volkov at The BBC Proms 2012 at The Royal Albert Hall in London.

He has also worked with a number of popular musicians, including Ray Davis, The Slits, Frank Chickens, Ted Milton and The Flying Lizards. In 2015 he performed a duoproject with the upcoming Norwegian singer Natalie Sandtorv at the Blow Out! festival in Oslo, Norway.

He was awarded a Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists in 2012. He is a senior lecturer on the Commercial Music course at University of Westminster.

Beresford's music and his teachings have inspired the musical community in the UK for over a decade. British songwriter and performer Katy Carr cites Steve Beresford's lectures on musical themes associated with Free improvisation, Experimental music, John Cage, musique concrète, Diamanda Galás and The Slits as a source of initial inspiration with regards to the creation of her debut album, Screwing Lies released in 2001."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Beresford)
3/13/2024

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

"Henry Lowther was born in Leicester, England, in 1941. His first musical experiences were through his father, who gave him cornet tuition, and with the local Salvation Army band. In his teenage years he developed an interest in classical music and studied violin, eventually entering the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 18 to study with the highly respected violinist Manoug Parikian. Shortly after this Henry became interested in jazz after listening to Indian music and, after being inspired by hearing a recording of Sonny Rollins, resumed brass playing on trumpet.

During the sixties Henry was one of the first musicians on the British jazz scene to experiment with total free improvisation, notably with the famous Cream bassist, Jack Bruce, and with Lyn Dobson and John Hiseman. He was a member of the original and seminal Mike Westbrook band (which included Mike Osborne and John Surman) and also in 1967 Henry joined the John Dankworth Orchestra, the beginning of an association that was to last almost 45 years. This was the band that recorded the now legendary Kenny Wheeler album, "Windmill Tilter", and also Dankworth's Million Dollar Collection which also featured Henry playing violin. In the sixties Henry worked on the rock scene with Manfred Mann and John Mayall, and also with Keef Hartley, with whom he appeared at the famous and legendary Woodstock festival in 1969.

Over the last 50 years Henry's work on the British jazz scene reads like a "Who's Who". He has played regularly with, amongst many others, Gordon Beck, Michael Garrick, Graham Collier, Mike Gibbs, Pete King, Loose Tubes, John Surman, John Taylor, Stan Tracey and Kenny Wheeler.

Over the years Henry has toured widely with various artists and bands in Europe, Canada, India, Japan, Finland, the former Soviet Union, Bermuda, Kuwait and the USA. Tours in recent years have included those with the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, John Harle, Rolling Stones's drummer Charlie Watts and His Tentet, the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, the New York Composers Orchestra, the Hamburg NDR band and Hermeto Pascoal. He is one of only two or three players in the world to have had the honour of playing lead trumpet with both Gil Evans and George Russell. In 2000 Henry took part in the "Schuller at 75" concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with the distinguished composer Gunther Schuller and the London Sinfonietta.

Henry's musical breadth is confirmed by his frequent engagements as a classical player with major symphony orchestras and ensembles, including the London Brass Virtuosi, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, Germany's Ensemble Moderne and the Matrix Ensemble. Until its demise Henry was for five years the solo flugelhorn player with the strings of the BBC Radio Orchestra, and as a session musician has recorded with Bing Crosby, George Harrison, Elton John, Henry Mancini, Paul McCartney, Van Morrison, Sir Simon Rattle, Nelson Riddle and Talk Talk, amongst many others.

Jazz albums Henry has played on in recent years include those with Mark Lockheart, Colin Towns' Mask Orchestra, Stan Sulzmann, John Surman's Brass Project, three Kenny Wheeler albums including the highly influential Music for Large and Small Ensembles, and three albums with Jim Mullen and the Great Wee Band including The Sound of Music which was named by four critics as their choice for CD of the Year in 2010.

Henry worked regularly for nearly 45 years playing in many of Sir John Dankworth bands and projects and it was in 2009, whilst playing in duo format with the amazing percussionist and drummer Paul Clarvis in the Stables Theatre, Wavendon, that John played in public for the very last time "sitting in".

In 1996, along with his great friend the great bass player Dave Green, Henry formed his own band Still Waters to enable him to pursue his increasing interest in composition. In 1997 Still Waters recorded an album, "ID", on the Village Life label, to much critical acclaim. Although most of Henry's compositional activity has been directed towards small band jazz as vehicles for improvisation, he has, in the last few years tried to devote more time to larger compositions.

Among these are "Bredon Hill", written for the BBC, a piece commissioned by the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra and "Diversees", a brass quintet commissioned by Chaconne Brass, a recording of which can be found by on their CD, "We Are Not Alone". Henry has also had two commissions for performances by the London Brass Virtuosi (LBV) - one by Rikskonserter, the Swedish State Arts Agency, and the other, "Sticks and Tones", by the Jemina Festival in Spain. This was first performed by Henry and Paul Clarvis, along with the LBV, in 2001.

In 2010 Henry was invited to Singapore to take part in Brass Explosion. As well as other activities there he was invited to write for and play in concert with one of Britain's leading brass bands, the Desford Colliery Band. In 2014 he returned to Singapore with the UK Jazz Masters and again in 2015.

In 2015 Henry was invited by Birmingham Jazz to curate the Jewellery Quarter Festival. In this role he played in a number of different bands as well as with Still Waters.

Currently Henry writes for and plays in the London Jazz Orchestra, gigs with Still Waters and the Great Wee Band and also performs free improvised music in trio format with violinist Satuko Fukada and guitarist John Russell. The great jazz composer and conductor Scott Stroman often invites Henry to participate in many of his choral projects and also with Scott, Henry has played the solo role a number of times in performances of all of the Miles Davis and Gil Evans incomparable albums, Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain. This year, 2017, Henry played on two major tours. First with the Julian Siegal Jazz Orchestra and then with the distinguished composer Mike Gibbs. Henry, in fact, played on Mike Gibbs's first ever gig as a leader at Lancaster University in 1969 and has been a regular member of his bands in England ever since.

In 2011 Henry was awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Academy of Music and last year, 2017, he was nominated for a Parliamentary Jazz Award in the category Services to Jazz."

-Henry Lowther Website (http://www.henrylowther.com/biography/)
3/13/2024

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

"Stefan Keune: Born in Oberhausen, Germany, 1965

From 1982, Stefan Keune studied privately with various teachers starting on the tenor saxophone. He was attracted to free improvised music from the beginning while using classical techniques from contemporary music as the basis of his playing. Keune began playing in local groups from 1985 (with Martin Blume amongst others) and since then he has intensively dedicated himself to the different kinds of improvised music. In 1990 he established contacts, first of all with Paul Lytton, then also with Dietmar Diesner, Matthias Bauer and others. In 1991, together with Lytton and bass player Hans Schneider he founded the "Stefan Keune Trio", and in 1992, the CD Loft was released. This was followed by an intense chamber-music-like phase of work, for example in a quartet with Paul Lovens, John Russell and Hans Schneider. He has played in close association with British free improvisors such as Roger Turner, Phil Durrant, John Butcher and others as well as with the other European improvisors such as Mats Gustafsson, Raymond Strid, Radu Malfatti and Peter Kowald. Recent groupings include a duo with John Russell, a duo with Paul Lovens, a trio with Dominic Lash and Steve Noble, a trio with Georg Wolf and Jörg Fischer, a quartet with Hans-Peter Hiby, Raoul van der Weide and Martin Blume and also one of the seminal groups within German free improvisation, XPACT (with Erhard Hirt, Hans Schneider and Paul Lytton)."

-Stefan Keune Website (https://stefankeune.com/)
3/13/2024

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

"Philipp Wachsmann. Born Uganda, 1944; violin, viola and electronics.

In the CD booklet to Gushwachs, John Corbett notes that Phillip Wachsmann came to free improvisation from a predominantly classical background, particularly via the contemporary experiments of "indeterminacy, graphic and prose-based scores, conceptualism and electroacoustics, listening to Webern, Partch, Ives, Berio and Varèse, reading 'Die Reihe' and interrogating the rhythmic, harmonic and melodic preoccupations of Western art music. Starting in 1969, Wachsmann was a member of Yggdrasil, an ensemble performing works by Cage, Cardew, Feldman, Ashley and others and in this group he used contact mikes on the violin and made his own electronic instruments, ring modulators and routing devices. Ironically, his studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris (1969-1970) pushed him hard in the direction of free music. He recalls: 'Despite her neoclassical orientation, her insistence that composition is about the imagination of performance and its realisation, the live moment, and her stunning ability to make this happen was a powerful influence on me, steering towards 'performance' and therefore 'improvisation'.'"

Wachsmann moved from Yggdrasil to Chamberpot - recorded on Bead 2 - and shortly thereafter appeared on Tony Oxley's influential February papers, forward looking in the virtual 'industrial' orientation of some of the tracks, years before this became an accepted genre; the two musicians have continued to work together, in various groupings but notably in the percussionist's Celebration Orchestra. Philipp Wachsmann has also performed and/or recorded with: Derek Bailey's Company, e.g. on the recording Epiphanies; Georg Graewe; Barry Guy; Iskra 1903; King Übü Orchestrü; London Jazz Composers' Orchestra; Evan Parker, particularly as part of the Evan Parker Electronic Project; Quintet Moderne; Fred Van Hove's ML DD 4; Rüdiger Carl's COWWS (now CPWWS) Quintet; and Lines, with Martin Blume, Jim Denley, Axel Dörner and Marcio Mattos. He also plays as a solo musician.

Phillip Wachsmann also administers Bead Records."

-EFI: European Free Improv (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mwachs.html)
3/13/2024

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

"Ashley Wales is a British composer and record producer, one half of Spring Heel Jack with John Coxon and an integral part of Bruise with Tony Bevan. He put on and hosted the monthly 'back in your town' concerts at the Red Rose in North London which saw the likes of John Tchicai, Other Dimensions in Music, Matthew Shipp, Han Bennink and many others playing with local improvising musicians. Ashley uses a wide range of sources to make music with including live sampling, electronics and acoustic instruments."

-Cafe Oto (https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/artists/ashley-wales/)
3/13/2024

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

"Javier Carmona is a drummer and percussionist from Madrid (now settled in Barcelona after seven years in London), Javier is very active in the European free improvisation scene and has performed with musicians such as John Tchicai, Evan Parker, Carlos Zingaro and John Russell, among many others.

Member of several formations, Javier also collaborates with dancers Rosa Aledo and Saija Lehtola in Kicking Louise & Co., a dance company that has presented work in France, Cyprus, Spain and England.

Organizer of FIL Malaga, a festival of free improvised music including performances and workshops, Javier has also led student workshops about free improvisation in Newport University (with Kamil Korolczuk), Westminster University (with Sakoto Fukuda) and Huddersfield University (with Ingrid Laubrock and Olie Brice).

Co-founder alongside graphic designer and electronics player Kamil Korolczuk of Oso Records, a netlabel of free downloadable music focused on releasing various types of experimental music."

-Javier Carmona Website (https://carmonajavier.wordpress.com/about/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. The Bite 17:46

2. Blart 18:17

3. Chamarileros 17:44

4. So It Goes 24:04

Related Categories of Interest:

EMANEM & psi
Improvised Music
European Improv, Free Jazz & Related
April 2007
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Free Improvisation
Instant Rewards

Search for other titles on the label:
Emanem.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Circuit (Seagroat / Chatzigiannis / Taylor / Hutchinson / Medley / Wachsmann)
Cell
(FMR)
UK percussionist and electronic artist Trevor Taylor's Circuit project in an extended electroacoustic version with Jon Seagroat on reeds & electronics, Tim Chatzigiannis on computer & electronics, Mathew Hutchinson on piano, Paul Medley on reeds, and Philipp Wachsmann on violin & electronics, in carefully controlled and sublimely detailed improvisation.
Keune, Stefan
Sunday Sundaes
(Creative Sources)
Solo improvisation from Stefen Keune performing on sopranino and alto saxophones, intense playing that focuses on hard-blowing and extreme performance, wringing a singularly desperate yet astute language from the horn.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Ducret, Marc
Tower, vol. 2
(Ayler)
The 2nd volume of guitarist Ducret's Tower project, an incredible quartet with saxophonist Tim Berne, violinist Dominique Pifarly and drummer Tom Rainey, complex and exultant, intertwining improv.
Lee / Evans / Beresford
Check For Monsters
(Emanem)
Cellist Lee organized this trio with Evans on trumpets and Beresford on piano for a mini-tour; this CD showcases music from concerts in NY and Philadelphia.
Butcher, John
The Geometry of Sentiment
(Emanem)
Sonic experiments and solo improvisations on tenor and soprano with 2 pieces using amplified feedback, and 1 piece dedicated to Derek Bailey.
Forsyth, Chris / Wooley, Nate
The Duchess of Oysterville
(Creative Sources)
Butcher / Durrant / Lovens /Malfatti / Russell
News From The Shed
(Emanem)
New Winds ( Rothenberg / Robertson / Dick)
Potion
(Les Disques Victo)
Fujii, Satoko / Tatsuya Yoshida
Toh-Kichi
(Les Disques Victo)
Goldstein, Malcolm / John Heward / Rainer Wiens
Chants caches
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
The trio of Rainer Wiens, John Heward, and composer/ improviser Malcolm Goldstein on guitar, drums, and violin respectively, in their first album.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC