MadwortThis was so nice – great music & lovely people.
“The three horn section of John Martin (tenor), Chris Williams (alto) and Tom Ward (bass clarinet) were tight and punchy in scored ensemble passages, and unfailingly imaginative when seizing their improvisational opportunities”
“as much a community as a band”
This was really fun (and a little bit of a roast)!
Yazz Ahmed and the Ahmed Family Hafla Band on stage at the Royal Bath Hotel now! #bmthjazzfest #bournemouth pic.twitter.com/9GYWmfZpKo
— Jazz Festival (@BournemouthJazz) April 23, 2016
Had a blast travelling around gigging in Germany-Poland-Czech-Austria-Germany with Beats & Pieces Big Band! A real pleasure to play at some great venues including Porgy & Bess in Vienna and the Bb in Berlin.
A couple of gigs that got missed:
The return of the hat jam, where improvisers submit to the will of a die and a hat full of names!
An enjoyable sunday afternoon big band gig depping on bari sax & bass clarinet & getting properly stuck into the LJO’s charts.
And some that are still to come:
Paulo Duarte’s big band roars in the Salisbury Pub on Green Lanes, with special guests Dave O’Brien & Jason Simpson aka the Quadraceratops rhythm section!
A brand new collaborative quartet featuring myself alongside master improvisers Adam Fairhall (piano), Olie Brice (double bass) and Andrew Lisle (drums).
Back at the Vortex again with the LJO!
I’m depping again on baritone sax with Beats & Pieces for their trip to Germany, Austria and possibly some other surrounding countries. Hopefully I will be able to renew my passport before I have to catch the ferry…
We’re recording the first MSQ album at this very hip basement venue in Hoxton, presented by LUME.
I’ll be depping on bass clarinet playing some of Yazz’s lovely Arabic-influenced music. And maybe we’ll see the sea…! More details at Bournemouth Jazz Festival‘s website.
Had a nice time playing with the Philip Clouts Quartet at the Birmingham Symphony Hall:
Wonderful world music influenced compositions by @philipclouts quartet @THSHBirmingham #jazz #brum pic.twitter.com/649azrCSkd
— Jazzlines THSH (@jazzlinesTHSH) November 13, 2015
And later in the month #4Jazz festival in Coventry was good:
Looking cool at soundcheck for Philip Clouts Quartet earlier today @JazzUK_org #4JazzFestival @themadwort pic.twitter.com/SEbZnpDPTn
— Dee Byrne (@deebyrnesax) November 28, 2015
In an unexpected turn of events, I had the pleasure of depping with Beats & Pieces Big Band at Scarborough Jazz Festival yesterday. There’s even photographic evidence!
@beatsnpieces at @scarboroughjazz #FullOn pic.twitter.com/5miBk87g2e
— John Quinn (@Billiephons) September 27, 2015
It’s been a busy old time here at Madwort HQ, recent exciting activities have included:
This gig was amazing, the band played the **** out of my tunes, and a really appreciative audience.
Lovely gig tonight at St Paul's Sessions with @themadwort's Menagerie! @chrisjdowding pic.twitter.com/7JE3ovBBHL
— Dee Byrne (@deebyrnesax) March 13, 2015
#Article11 #rehearsing #lotsofbarsrestformeatthemoment @HunterAnton @FamilyAlbumDBY pic.twitter.com/9GT1SvqXI7
— Cath Roberts (@cathrobots) March 25, 2015
For the first time in many years, I cracked out a big band arrangement for Paulo Duarte’s Overground Collective which we played at the Others in April. I’d forgotten quite what it’s like standing in front of such a massive powerhouse of musicians all going for it & such a privilege to have musicians of such calibre playing my music… Might have to do some more of it…
We also did another two gigs – Derby & London – playing Corey Mwamba’s New Dark Art with the Eb Sax Quartet (myself & Chris Williams on alto sax, Cath Roberts & Colin Webster on bari sax). The gigs were a bit different but equally great!
Eb sax quartet sounding amazing! pic.twitter.com/gxUBR2FnWs
— LUME (@lumemusiclondon) May 14, 2015
I was also very pleased to get involved with Rodrigo Constanzo’s Improvisation Analytics project in a programming capacity. This was a fun JavaScript front-end project built using dimplejs, d3, regression-js, JQuery & waveform-data.js & Rod was a pleasure to work with. You can interact with a live analysis of Rod’s improvisation Everything. Everything at once. Once. (1a).
Oooh, just emerged from the vaults – video of the Overground Collective at LUME at the Vortex from August 2014!
A few nice concerts in the coming months:
This band’s first gig was at Jazz at the Salisbury way back in Sept 2012, I think the acoustic really suits this line-up so it should be a great gig.
A return to LUME for Ti/om featuring Tim Fairhall on double bass and myself on bass clarinet, this time possibly with a special guest.
Part of a series of gigs Chris Dowding is putting on at St Paul’s church near Marylebone, I’m really excited to progress the menagerie band & compositions here and not at all phased that it’s on Friday the 13th… Oooo-eerrrr….
I’ll be substituting for the amazing Simon Prince in Anton Hunter’s large ensemble project Article XI.
A brand-new trio project for 2015, featuring Sam Andreae on tenor saxophone, Richard Knight on no-input mixer & myself on alto saxophone, this unique line-up provides a fascinating palette for improvisation.
Another new trio featuring Matilda Rolfsson playing a unique bass drum & percussion setup, alongside Tim Fairhall on double bass & myself on bass clarinet/flute. This group builds on and extends the sonic palette that Tim & I have been working on as Ti/om.
It’s been a busy but fun couple of months! The recent highlight was probably playing at the Clore Ballroom as part of the London Jazz Festival with Cath Roberts’ Quadraceratops, recorded for broadcast on Jazz on 3. Here I am at the gig fiddling with my reed…:
@LondonJazzFest @quadraceratops on stage now Jazz In The Round pic.twitter.com/FSuqokWuhQ
— Jez Nelson (@jeznelson) November 23, 2014
Also really fun was travelling around Scotland with Philip Clouts (brief LondonJazz review) – nice to play with Tim Fairhall in the traditional roles that our respective instruments take & also to explore some (small bits of) wilderness:
And also engineering/taking photos for the Deemer recording session:
