The Squid's Ear Magazine


Brotzmann / Adasiewicz / Edwards / Noble: Mental Shake (Otoroku)

A return to the group that kick-started Otoroku - the veteran German reedsman and free jazz pioneer Peter Brotzmann with the long-running London bass/drums partnership of John Edwards and Steve Noble, recording at the last set of a two-day residency at Cafe OTO in 2013.
 

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Personnel:



Peter Brotzmann-alto sax, tenor sax, b-flat, taragato

Jason Adasiewicz-vibraphone

John Edwards-doublebass

Steve Noble-drums

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UPC: 5060394810031

Label: Otoroku
Catalog ID: ROKU 010CD
Squidco Product Code: 19081

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2014
Country: Great Britain
Packaging: Cardstock gatefold foldover
Recorded live at Cafe Oto in London on August 12, 2013 by James Dunn.
Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Artist Biographies

"Jason Adasiewicz was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1977, but raised in Crystal Lake, Illinois. He studied jazz drums at DePaul University for three years. He only eased into the vibraphone after leaving school, playing it in the indie-rock scene around Chicago with bands like Pinetop Seven and the singer-songwriter Edith Frost.

In the early 2000s he began his collaboration with cornetist Josh Berman and drummer Mike Reed. Since then he was worked in the Chicago jazz and improvisation scene with multiple bands, including Rob Mazurek's Starlicker and Exploding Star Orchestra, Mike Reed's Loose Assembly, Josh Berman and His Gang, Nicole Mitchell's Ice Crystal, James Falzone's Klang and Ken Vandermark's Topology and Audio One.

Adasiewicz formed his Chicago-based jazz quintet, Rolldown, in 2004, while living in Madison. In 2008 he founded the trio Sun Rooms, with Nate McBride and Mike Reed."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Adasiewicz)
7/15/2026

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

"After taking up the bass, around 1987, John Edwards co-formed The Pointy Birds who went on to win awards for their music for The Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs dance troupes. The group appeared at festivals in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Moers, Leverkusen, Copenhagen. Around 1990, Edwards played his first gigs with London improvisers such as Roger Turner, Lol Coxhill, Maggie Nicols, Phil Minton.

Between 1990 and 1995 Edwards was a member of three touring groups simultaneously: B-Shops For The Poor, The Honkies and GOD. During this period he also became an increasingly regular player on the London improvised music scene and performed his first solo gigs; he composed and performed music theatre with the bass and cello duo The Great Explorers, street-busked a lot and appeared at many more festivals in Germany, Estonia, France, Italy, Czech, etc.

Since 1995 John Edwards has become a "mainstay" of the London scene, playing with just about everybody, an activity that has seen him clocking up between 150 and 200 gigs a year. He has become regular player with Evan Parker, in many groupings, and with Tony Bevan, Veryan Weston, and Elton Dean, often in collaboration with Mark Sanders on percussion. He has become a more frequent player on the European (and festival) scene, appearing at Taktlos, Ulrichsburg, Nickelsdorf, Budapest, New Zealand and in the USA. He continues to work on solo performances."

-EFI (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/medwards.html)
7/15/2026

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

"Steve Noble is London's leading drummer, a fearless and constantly inventive improviser whose super-precise, ultra-propulsive and hyper-detailed playing has galvanized encounters with Derek Bailey, Matthew Shipp, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Stephen O'Malley, Joe McPhee, Alex Ward, Rhodri Davies and many, many more.

In the early eighties, Noble played with the Nigerian master drummer Elkan Ogunde, Rip Rig and Panic, Brion Gysin and the Bow Gamelan Ensemble, before going on to work with the pianist Alex Maguire and with Derek Bailey (including Company Weeks 1987, 89 and 90). He was featured in the Bailey's excellent TV series on Improvisation for Channel 4 based on his book 'Improvisation; its nature and practise'. He has toured and performed throughout Europe, Africa and America and currently leads the groups N.E.W (with John Edwards and Alex Ward) and DECOY (with John Edwards and Alexander Hawkins)."

-https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/artists/steve-noble/ (Cafe Oto Website)
7/15/2026

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


Track Listing:
Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Jazz
Peter Brotzmann
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Quartet Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Otoroku.


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