music/computers/etc
We had a wonderful time playing the new Menagerie charts to a packed & receptive Vortex audience!
First ever performance of @themadwort‘s menagerie happening now @vortexjazz! pic.twitter.com/vwLcyuGUk2
— LUME (@lumemusiclondon) August 3, 2014
Also, Alya Al-Sultani was there who reviewed the gig for LondonJazz. She said:
A rare London date for the sax quartet!
The London launch party for the Quadraceratops album!
Last week I was very fortunate to be part of a quartet of saxophones interpreting Corey Mwamba’s MRes project “New Dark Art”, alongside Chris Williams, Colin Webster & Cath Roberts. Corey videoed the day’s workshop as part of his study, and you can watch the day’s final performances here:
I’m very excited to be debuting my latest project at the Vortex on Sunday Aug 3rd as part of the new LUME at the Vortex season.
“After a momentary glimpse in a misfiring big band rehearsal, Tom Ward has been bugged by an overheard snippet of a weird quartet comprising bass clarinet, flute, trumpet and trombone. Transmogrifying some of his compositions for sax quartet, hybridising this with his free improv duo Ti/om and finally balancing woodwind, brass and strings with the addition of a cello, Tom is proud to present Madwort’s Menagerie. Featuring some incredible improvising musicians with a full spectrum of credits ranging from the London Improvisers Orchestra through Brass Mask, the Overground Collective, Quadraceratops and The Imaginary Delta to Sinfonia Cymru and the London Tango Orchestra.”
Tom Ward – bass clarinet, flute, composition
Julie Kjaer – flute, alto flute
Alex Bonney – trumpet
Magnus Dearness – trombone
Adam Spiers – cello
Tim Fairhall – double bass
The first outing of a brand new line-up comprising flute, cornet, trombone, bass clarinet, cello & double bass! More details to follow…
A varied month of music – a few gigs in the west country with the Philip Clouts quartet, an unexpected last-minute call to play bass clarinet in a rehearsal for the e17 large ensemble which turned out to be a video shoot(!), playing cuban songs with a voice/alto sax/congas trio, playing with Chris Dowding at John Hegley’s night at the Betsey Trotwood and going to see lots of gigs – the highlight of which was clearly Loose Tubes at Ronnie Scott’s, but Louis Moholo-Moholo at Cafe Oto wasn’t far behind!
Some recordings of us playing at LUME & at home:
Two lovely Ti/om gigs this week, we’re both looking forward to doing a studio recording of the duo in a couple of days time. In the meantime, here are a couple of photos and a soundcloud of the Lume gig:
Lovely first set by Ti/om @themadwort pic.twitter.com/ZK9Um1QmjN — LUME (@lumemusiclondon) April 24, 2014
The Saxoctopus / Sax Squid was sounding great last night! Now feeling very inspired to write some music for the ensemble’s debut gig this winter… Featuring Sam Andreae, Mette Rasmussen, Rachel Musson, Colin Webster, Julie Kjaer, Dee Byrne, Cath Roberts and myself! Photo by @mike__sands
There hasn’t been much news on Ti/om recently, but we’ve been hard at work in the rehearsal room. We’re currently sounding something like this…