Category Archives: bass

1st November: Tom Taylor/Rob Luft and Cath Roberts/Seth Bennett/Andrew Lisle at The Vortex

For our November Vortex gig, we welcome a duo and a trio to the stage, for a night of improvised music.

Cath Roberts/Seth Bennett/Andrew Lisle

The first meeting of a new improvising trio. Andrew Lisle is known for being one of the drummers in heavyweight Leeds anarcho-sextet Shatner’s Bassoon, and as a prolific improviser working with a multitude of musicians on the free scene: Colin Webster, Alex Ward, Daniel Thompson, Tom Wheatley and more. Seth Bennett leads his own ensembles Nut Club and En Bas Quartet, as well as being involved in many other projects across musical styles including Fragments Trio, Metamorphic and The Horse Loom. Seth and Cath play together as a duo, as well as in Word of Moth and Cath’s quintet Sloth Racket. Cath also leads Quadraceratops, a septet, and has a duo with guitarist Anton Hunter, Ripsaw Catfish.

Cath Roberts baritone saxophone

Seth Bennett bass

Andrew Lisle drums

Tom Taylor/Rob Luft

This duo featuring Tom Taylor and Rob Luft is a recent collaboration borne out of a mutual love of improvised music. The music draws attention to the many common features of the two instruments, and mixes high-intensity improvisation with more tender and reflective textures.

Tom Taylor piano

Rob Luft guitar

As usual it’s doors 7.30pm, with the music starting at 8pm. Tickets are £10. See you there!

Vortex Jazz Club, 11 Gillett Square, London, N16 8JH.

Poster by Cath Roberts.

4th October: Andre Canniere at ‘LUME Presents…’

For our October gig at the Vortex, we are pleased to welcome the fantastic trumpet player and LUME On Tour survivor Andre Canniere!

Andre Canniere is an acclaimed trumpet player, composer and educator. Originally from rural Pennsylvania (USA), he spent the first five years of his career in New York City where he worked with artists such as Maria Schneider, Bjorkestra, Kate McGarry, Ingrid Jensen, Donny McCaslin and Darcy James Argue. He has toured widely throughout the United States and Europe with performances at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Birdland, the London Jazz Festival, The Hague Jazz Festival and the Rochester International Jazz Festival.

Since his arrival in the UK, Canniere’s profile has been steadily rising, both as a solo artist and a collaborator. Coalescence (defined as “the union of diverse things into one body or form”) is his second release for Whirlwind Recordings and follows the critically acclaimed debut Forward Space, which Jazzwise Magazine hailed as “one of the best recordings in a long time” and included in their ‘Albums of the Year’ list.

Tonight Canniere presents his exciting new band, performing new music inspired by the poetry of Charles Bukowski and Rainer Maria Rilke.

Andre Canniere trumpet
Brigitte Beraha voice
Tori Freestone tenor saxophone
John Turville piano
Dave Manington bass
Tim Giles drums

As usual it’s doors 7.30pm for an 8pm start. Tickets are £10. See you there!

9th July: LUME is 2! Birthday gig at Hundred Years Gallery

This week we’re decamping to Hundred Years Gallery once more, for a special gig to celebrate our second birthday! We have assembled a nebulous ensemble of musicians – from the London jazz/improvised music scene and beyond – to take part in a series of improvised performances. Who plays in each set will be determined using our dice and hat method, inspired by the long-running Manchester night The Noise Upstairs.

Musicians confirmed so far…

Seth Bennett
Adam Fairhall
Colin Webster
Hannah Marshall
Corey Mwamba
Joe Wright
Johnny Hunter
Martin Pyne
Olie Brice
Tom Ward
James Opstad
Andrew Lisle
Ed Riches
Tom Taylor
Dee Byrne
Cath Roberts

…with others possibly to be announced! (Although we might leave it there because we want everyone to play…)

Live At LUME

The evening will also function as the launch of our ‘Live At LUME’ fundraiser compilation; an album of live performances recorded at LUME gigs, donated by a bunch of our favourite musicians. This is available as a download, plus we’ve also produced special CD editions with hand-printed sleeves. All proceeds go towards our running costs for the next year of LUME gigs. Grab your copy on here or at the gig!

Entry is, as usual, one Bank of England note of your choice. Doors 7.30pm, music 8pm. We’d love to see you there as we mark two years of LUME activity. Bring your friends!

Hundred Years Gallery is just around the corner from Hoxton station at 13 Pearson Street, E2 8JD.

2nd July: Noel Taylor/Lawrence Casserley/Guillaume Viltard & Daniel Thompson

Our July gigs open with this double bill of improvised music: a fantastic trio put together by Noel Taylor, and a solo set from Daniel Thompson. As usual it’s doors at 8pm, with the music starting around 8.30pm. Entry is one Bank of England note of your choice.

Noel Taylor/Lawrence Casserley/Guillaume Viltard

Noel Taylor sent us this scene-setting paragraph on the trio…

“Electronics wizard Lawrence Casserley is something of a phantom, a ghost musician, a mute who can only speak through the voices of others. He has no sound of his own, but, like a parasite feeding on its host, uses the analogue input from the clarinet of Noel Taylor and the contrabass of Guillaume Viltard to function as triggers for his electronic re-shaping. Their sounds become bounced back to them mangled, distorted, re-imagined: producing weirdly spectral reflections of their playing. It is a musical circuit diagram, a feedback loop of potentially infinite regression. It presents to them conflicting impulses, in which the immediate past struggles with the immediacy of the present. The process creates a music of shifting hierarchies in which puppet and puppet master constantly swap places, but which can nevertheless discover a formal and crystalline coherence. ”

Noel Taylor clarinets

Lawrence Casserley electronics

Guillaume Viltard bass

Daniel Thompson

Daniel is a prolific improviser, extremely active on the London free scene, and organises the monthly Foley Street improvised music concert series at the King and Queen pub in the West End. Originally from Norfolk and largely self-taught on the guitar, Daniel moved to London in 2006 and studied with the guitarist and Mopomoso co-founder John Russell. He has performed/collaborated with numerous improvisers including Neil Metcalfe, Adam Bohman, Terry Day, Simon Rose, Ricardo Tejero, Steve Noble, Alex Ward, Phil Durrant, Kay Grant, Benedict Taylor, Roland Ramanan, Mark Sanders, Anton Mobin, Tom Jackson, Javier Carmona and Julie Kjaer amongst many others. We’re very much looking forward to hearing him play a solo guitar set for us this week.

This promises to be a fantastic evening: see you at Long White Cloud!

18th June: Alex Munk Quartet

Guitar-led original compositions this week from an exciting new band!

The Alex Munk Quartet combines mammoth riffs with explosive improvisation, embracing the frenzied rhythmic patchworks of Tigran Hamasyan and the visceral roar of Wayne Krantz. Thick, sonorous basslines merge with pounding drums and luscious soundscapes to hypnotic effect. There are triumphant themes, knotty hooks, pearly pools of sound reminiscent of Bill Frisell. And the whole lot is shot through with Munk’s love for the melodic directness of blues and rock.

‘Alex Munk is very much a musician to watch, his patient, motivic solos displaying a striking character and maturity.’ – Dan Paton, Music OMH

Alex Munk guitar
Matt Robinson fender rhodes/keyboards
Conor Chaplin electric bass
Dave Hamblett drums

11th June: Shatner’s Bassoon

They’re back! Leeds’ finest iconoclastic sextet return to Long White Cloud on their UK tour. When they told us they were coming through London promoting their new album, we couldn’t resist inviting them back. Come with us on a joyous journey into musical chaos, as the band unleash their violent cocktail of Zornish style collisions and freewheeling improv, negotiating a path from the beautiful to the sinister, humorous and surreal. An essential gig…make sure you get here early!

Michael Bardon bass/electronics
Ollie Dover sax/clarinet
Joost Hendrickx drums/electronics
Andrew Lisle drums
Johnny Richards keys/electronics
Craig Scott guitar/electronics

Double LUME week: Rowland Sutherland Double Trio & LUME On Tour Entropi album launch!

This week is the last double LUME week of the season and it’s going to be a good one! We’ve got a fantastic improvising ensemble at Long White Cloud, and the London leg of LUME On Tour at the Vortex. The Vortex gig is also Dee’s Entropi album launch!

4th June @ Long White Cloud: Rowland Sutherland Double Trio

This week at Long White Cloud we welcome back internationally-acclaimed flautist Rowland Sutherland, with a different take on his double trio format. The ensemble features six top improvising flute players from the London scene and explores the combination of Western and non-Western flutes. After the Saxoctopus gig last year, this is the largest one-instrument group we’ve had at LUME, and it should make for an evening of fascinating textures and soundworlds. Join us for this celebration of the flute in its many forms!

Rowland Sutherland concert flute, alto flute
Julie Kjaer concert flute
Neil Metcalfe wooden concert flute

Jan Hendrickse non-Western flutes
Hyelim Kim taegum/Korean flute
Clive Bell shakuhachi/Japanese flute

7th June @ ‘LUME Presents…’, Vortex Jazz Club: Entropi ‘New Era’ album launch & Quadraceratops

The ‘LUME Presents’ season finale, with performances from ensembles led by LUME organisers Cath Roberts and Dee Byrne. Tonight is not only the London date of ‘LUME On Tour’, but also the launch gig for Entropi’s debut album ‘New Era’.

Entropi

Dee Byrne formed Entropi while studying at Trinity College of Music in 2011, and since then they have fast become a name to watch on the UK contemporary jazz scene, regularly performing in London and beyond. Playing Dee’s original material with plenty of space for improvisation, the quintet take their listeners on an exploration of the musical cosmos. Their debut album ‘New Era’ was released on 1st June on the F- IRE Presents label.

‘Hard hitting…searing solos…other-worldly…Entropi’s debut album should be well worth hearing’ (The Jazz Mann, 2014 live review)

Dee Byrne alto saxophone/compositions
Andre Canniere trumpet
Rebecca Nash keyboards
Olie Brice bass
Matt Fisher drums

Quadraceratops

Led by Cath Roberts as a vehicle for her compositions, Quadraceratops released their eponymous debut album in October 2014 on Efpi Records. The release attracted an enthusiastic reception from the jazz blogosphere and national press alike, with John Fordham in the Guardian describing them as ‘an exciting genre-juggling outfit…one to watch’. The band have been playing together since 2011, appearing regularly in London and occasionally Manchester (home of Efpi), with a live recording broadcast on the BBC’s ‘Jazz On 3’ programme in December 2014.

Cath Roberts alto saxophone/compositions
Nick Walters trumpet
Tom Ward tenor saxophone
Magnus Dearness trombone
Dave O’Brien keyboards
Jason Simpson bass
Olly Blackman drums

We’d love to see you at this last gig of the season – come down and celebrate Dee’s album release!

21st May: Olie Brice Quartet

***LAST MINUTE VENUE CHANGE: Tonight’s gig will now be at Hundred Years Gallery, 13 Pearson Street, E2 8JD. Doors 7.30pm, music 8pm.***

This week we welcome back Olie Brice and his fantastic quartet. Olie has appeared at LUME in all sorts of groups, including solo, and this band played for us back in 2013 at our first venue Hundred Crows Rising. Olie is one of the most in-demand and versatile bass players on the UK jazz/improv scene.

The Olie Brice Quartet features Olie on double bass, George Crowley on tenor sax, Alex Bonney on trumpet and Jeff Williams on drums. They play Olie’s original composiitons combining his love of swing and melody with a strong sense of freedom and experimentation. Olie Brice recently released his debut album as a leader, ‘Immune to Clockwork’. The album has received excellent reviews and the group was picked as one of the 5 new bands of 2014 by El Intruso Iinternational Poll of Jazz critics.

“One of the most interesting and satisfying bands on the current UK scene” – Richard Williams

Alex Bonney cornet/trumpet

George Crowley tenor sax

Olie Brice bass

Jeff Williams drums

7th May: chemistry beats electricity

An extremely high-calibre collective of improvisers will be descending on Long White Cloud this week and we can’t wait! chemistry beats electricity will play improvised sets in various combinations, so expect an evening of sonic exploration from some of the most renowned musicians on the UK scene.

Caroline Kraabel saxophone

Cleveland Watkiss voice/electronics

John Edwards double bass

Mark Sanders percussion

16th April: Sloth Racket & Alex Ward

A new project from half of LUME this week, as Cath brings a new ensemble she was invited to put together for Gateshead International Jazz Festival last weekend. They share the bill tonight with the excellent Alex Ward playing a solo set…

Alex Ward

Alex Ward is a highly-acclaimed composer, improviser, and performing musician. His involvement in freely improvised music dates back to 1986, when he met the guitarist Derek Bailey. As an improviser, he was initially principally a clarinettist (sometimes also playing alto sax), but since 2000 he has also been active as an improvising guitarist. On both instruments, his longest-standing collaborations in this field have been with the drummer Steve Noble. Much of his writing and performing has been done with Dead Days Beyond Help, a duo with drummer Jem Doulton. He also currently leads a number of bands including Predicate, Forebrace, The Alex Ward Quintet/Sextet, and Alex Ward & The Dead Ends.

Sloth Racket

For this new project, saxophonist/composer Cath Roberts assembles four of the most exciting improvisers on the UK scene. Tenor player Sam Andreae is known for his collaborations with Scandinavian musicians in the exceptional and critically-acclaimed Trio Riot and Silence Blossoms, as well as countless other projects including a recent sound art installation at Manchester’s Penthouse with David Birchall. Anton Hunter was recently commissioned by Manchester Jazz Festival to write a new suite of music ‘Article 11’, in addition to leading his own trio, playing in Beats And Pieces Big Band and co-running experimental/jazz/improv label Efpi Records. Seth Bennett is a prolific bassist, leading his own trio Nut Club as well as playing in Martin Archer’s Engine Room Favourites, Laura Cole’s Metamorphic, and the Grew Quartet among many others. Johnny Hunter has recently toured the UK with his quartet and appears regularly in all kinds of settings, from Nat Birchall’s spiritual jazz group to dub reggae band Skamel. The group will play a new set of music by Cath, using it as a jumping-off point for freely improvised group explorations.

Sam Andreae – tenor sax
Cath Roberts – baritone sax
Anton Hunter – guitar
Seth Bennett – bass
Johnny Hunter – drums