{"id":95,"date":"2012-02-25T22:25:48","date_gmt":"2012-02-25T22:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madwort.co.uk\/?page_id=95"},"modified":"2020-04-25T21:40:43","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T21:40:43","slug":"madwort-sax-quartet","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/?page_id=95","title":{"rendered":"Madwort Sax Quartet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1006017932\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless><a href=\"http:\/\/madwortsaxophonequartet.bandcamp.com\/album\/live-at-hundred-years-gallery\">Live at Hundred Years Gallery by Madwort Saxophone Quartet<\/a><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/DSC_0377_tweaked_2_1500px.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/DSC_0377_tweaked_2_1500px-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Madwort Sax Qrt 2016-04\" width=\"625\" height=\"417\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-698\" srcset=\"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/DSC_0377_tweaked_2_1500px-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/DSC_0377_tweaked_2_1500px-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/DSC_0377_tweaked_2_1500px-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/DSC_0377_tweaked_2_1500px-624x416.jpg 624w, https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/DSC_0377_tweaked_2_1500px.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Left-to-right: Andrew Woolf (tenor sax); Tom Ward (alto sax); Cath Roberts (bari sax); and Chris Williams (sop &#038; alto sax).<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Madwort Sax Quartet brings together four diverse improvising saxophonists from across the UK scene. Led by Tom Ward and playing his original compositions, the project\u2019s influences include numerology and the movement of the planet earth through space, Steve Coleman, pioneering saxophone quartet ROVA, Tim Berne, and transcriptions of bird song. Their 2017 debut album &#8220;Live at Hundred Years Gallery&#8221; (<a href=\"http:\/\/shop.efpirecords.com\">efpi records<\/a>) was well received by critics. \u201cCutting-edge contemporary music, but it\u2019s unexpectedly engaging emotionally, and deeply rooted in imaginative composition\u201d wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/2017\/mar\/02\/madwort-saxophone-quartet-live-at-hundred-years-gallery-review-deeply-rooted-in-imaginative-composition\">John Fordham in The Guardian<\/a>. Stewart Smith in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thewire.co.uk\/\">WIRE<\/a> magazine described it as \u201ca distinctive response to the knotty compositional language of Coleman and Berne.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The quartet played to a sold-out <a href=\"http:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/blog\/2015\/07\/28\/madwort-saxophone-quartet-mjf-2015\/\">Portico Library at Manchester Jazz Festival<\/a> 2015, and recorded their debut album live in Spring 2016 at a packed Hundred Years Gallery in London, documenting Tom\u2019s music and capturing the infectious energy of a live gig. To accompany the album release they toured the UK, with gigs including Jazz North East in Newcastle, Out Front in Derby, Plink Plonk in Norwich and more. <\/p>\n<p>The four players regularly appear in other musical contexts. Alto player and leader Tom Ward\u2019s &#8216;bubbling licks and dabs of bass clarinet&#8217; (The Wire) featured on the <a href=\"https:\/\/rawtonkrecords.bandcamp.com\/\">Raw Tonk Records<\/a> 2016 release <a href=\"https:\/\/rawtonkrecords.bandcamp.com\/album\/ashes\">\u2018Ashes\u2019 by Ma\/ti\/om<\/a> (with bassist Tim Fairhall and percussionist Matilda Rolfsson). He leads <a href=\"http:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/bands\/madworts-menagerie\/\">Madwort\u2019s Menagerie<\/a>, an improvising chamber group which performed on the Barbican Freestage at the 2015 EFG London Jazz Festival, and co-leads a quartet with \u2018Imaginary Delta\u2019 pianist <a href=\"http:\/\/www.adamfairhall.co.uk\">Adam Fairhall<\/a>. Along with his own projects, Tom plays with a variety of other groups including Overground Collective and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.quadraceratops.co.uk\">Quadraceratops<\/a> (\u201cgarrulous, belligerent tenor blowing\u201d &#8211; The Jazz Mann). He was also a member of Dave O\u2019Brien\u2019s Peter Whittingham Award winning sextet <a href=\"http:\/\/www.porpoisecorpus.co.uk\">Porpoise Corpus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Alto player Chris Williams is perhaps best known as a member of Mercury-nominated powerhouse <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ledbib.com\">Led Bib<\/a>: \u2018Rarely have two saxes, keyboards, bass and drums sounded so dangerous yet so compelling.\u2019 (the Guardian). He plays in many other groups including Metamorphic, Stolen Project and <a href=\"http:\/\/letspin.bandcamp.com\/album\/let-go\">Let Spin<\/a>, the formidable \u2018prog-jazz supergroup\u2019 (Jazzwise) with Ruth Goller, Moss Freed and Finlay Panter.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/andrewwoolf.co.uk\/\">Andrew Woolf<\/a> was praised for his \u201c\u2026 warm-toned mellifluous tenor saxophone&#8221; (London Jazz News) and \u201ceffortless fluency\u201d (The Jazz Mann) on the debut release by Andrew Button\u2019s quartet <a href=\"http:\/\/www.andrewbuttonguitar.co.uk\/the-button-band\/\">The Button Band<\/a>. An accomplished clarinettist, he has a strong interest in Brazillian choro music, which he explores with a range of ensembles including his duo project <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/choromatiz\/\">Choro Matiz<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Baritone player Cath Roberts\u2019 quintet Sloth Racket released its debut album \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/slothracket.bandcamp.com\/album\/triptych\">Triptych<\/a>\u2019 in Spring 2016 (\u2018an agreeably spicy goulash of free improvisation, grumpy riffs and bluesy themes\u2019 &#8211; The Quietus), and in Autumn 2016 she was commissioned to write a new suite for large ensemble as headline artist at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lancasterjazz.com\/festival-2016.html\">Lancaster Jazz<\/a>. She is half of <a href=\"https:\/\/ripsawcatfish.bandcamp.com\">Ripsaw Catfish<\/a>, a long-running duo with guitarist <a href=\"http:\/\/www.antonhunter.com\">Anton Hunter<\/a>, and her contemporary jazz septet <a href=\"http:\/\/www.quadraceratops.co.uk\">Quadraceratops<\/a> released an album on <a href=\"http:\/\/shop.efpirecords.com\">Efpi Records<\/a> in 2014 (\u2018one to watch\u2019 &#8211; The Guardian). When not performing Cath is active as co-founder of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lumemusic.co.uk\">LUME<\/a>, the platform for original\/improvised music that she runs with <a href=\"https:\/\/deebyrnemusic.com\">Dee Byrne<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Since its formation in 2011, Madwort Sax Quartet has performed regularly around the UK, to enthusiastic audiences (\u201ca significantly distinctive musical proposition\u201d &#8211; London Jazz News). In 2017 they will embark upon their first UK tour to support the album release on Efpi Records.<\/p>\n<p>For the latest news &amp; recordings of this group, go to the <a title=\"Sax Quartet Category\" href=\"http:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/blog\/category\/madwort-bands\/sax-qrt\/\">Sax Quartet News Category<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Live at Hundred Years Gallery by Madwort Saxophone Quartet Left-to-right: Andrew Woolf (tenor sax); Tom Ward (alto sax); Cath Roberts (bari sax); and Chris Williams (sop &#038; alto sax). Madwort Sax Quartet brings together four diverse improvising saxophonists from across the UK scene. Led by Tom Ward and playing his original compositions, the project\u2019s influences&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/?page_id=95\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Madwort Sax Quartet<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":32,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-95","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":71,"href":"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1485,"href":"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95\/revisions\/1485"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madwort.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}