Category Archives: magic

20th May @ Hundred Years Gallery: Richard Scott’s Lightning Ensemble & Sam Andreae solo

This month we return to Hundred Year’s Gallery to host a fantastic touring double bill of improvised music. It’s great to have Sam Andreae back at LUME after his appearance last year with Rodrigo Constanzo, and more recently of course as part of Sloth Racket. Doors are 8pm, music 8.30pm, and tickets are available in advance from the Luminous Bandcamp site.

Hundred Years Gallery, 13 Pearson Street, E2 8JD. Nearest station: Hoxton overground.

Richard Scott’s Lightning Ensemble

The Lighting Ensemble is Richard Scott’s UK-based hyper-interactive free improvising group with longtime collaborators Phillip Marks and David Birchall. Intricate, intimate, dynamic, molecular and often explosive music.

The ensemble focuses on a highly interactive, conversational post-free jazz form of free music that Scott calls ‘molecular improvisation’, influenced by disciplines originally pioneered by John Stevens and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. Scott’s approach to electronics is fast and visceral and the group’s sound reflects his interest in speed, intensity and collective musical communication.

The Lightning Ensemble itself has been in existence for five years but the individual players in the group have a much longer history of playing together. Scott and Marks have been working together for over two decades in groups such as Grew Trio and Bark! Marks and Birchall, separated in age by 30 years, nonetheless discovered their absolutely compatible natural musical affinity over the past five years via the improvising scene in the north of England. In 2016 there are 3 new albums prepared for release: one is the trio alone, one featuring Sam Andreae on saxophone and one with Jon Rose on violin.

lightning

Sam Andreae

Sam’s music explores ideas of stasis through chaos, concrete gestures vs abstraction, subversion of learned behaviours/actions, extremes of attack or sustain and spontaneity. All the audible possibilities of the saxophone are approached with a concept of sound equality – one language formed from many contrasting parts – informed by playing with many percussion and electronic musicians and driven by a desire to blend with these instruments in order to form a cohesive ensemble sound. His composition work focuses on exploiting behavioural/interaction based elements through sound and gesture, these ideas also mix into his improvised performances. However deeply thought out a concert or work might be, Sam believes keeping a lightness and fragility in any performance situation is essential in order to achieve an engaging and truly spontaneous musical experience.

“Andreae delves into an impressive vocabulary of skilfully controlled overtones, rapid keypad flutters and fragile harmonics, glistening like filaments held up to the light” 

– Daniel Spicer, The Wire (2015)

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8th May @ The Vortex: Sloth Racket (album launch) & ELDA

A double bill of touring bands this month, as Cath Roberts launches her Sloth Racket album ‘Triptych’ and Andrew Woodhead brings his improvising trio ELDA from Birmingham.

Sloth Racket

Sloth Racket is a quintet of UK improvisers led by baritone saxophonist Cath Roberts, with Anton Hunter (Beats & Pieces Big Band, Article XI) on guitar, Sam Andreae (Trio Riot, Silence Blossoms) on tenor saxophone, Seth Bennett (Metamorphic, En Bas Quartet) on bass and Johnny Hunter (Nat Birchall, Johnny Hunter Quartet) on drums. The group play Cath’s compositions, in the form of frameworks for improvisation: combining composed fragments with graphic notation to explore the balance between freedom and structure. In November 2015 they gathered to record at Limefield Studio in Manchester with John Ellis (Cinematic Orchestra) engineering. The resulting session, on a cold and rainy evening fuelled by coffee and pizza, produced three substantial tracks that range across musical territories from fiery free jazz, to minimal improv textures, to deep grooves. The album ‘Triptych’ is released in May 2016 on the Luminous label.

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

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ELDA

Andrew Woodhead’s latest project ELDA is a collaboration with Norwegian vocalist Kari Eskild Havenstrøm (Trondheim Voices, Kristoffer Lo) and trumpeter Aaron Diaz (The Destroyers, Sid Peacock), mixing acoustic sounds with live electronics and soundscapes. Andrew and Kari met on a musical exchange between Trondheim and Birmingham at the 2013 Cheltenham Jazz Festival, and formed this trio with Aaron to continue their collaboration and explore their shared musical interests.

Andrew Woodhead keyboard/electronics
Aaron Diaz trumpet/electronics
Kari Eskild Havenstrøm vocals/FX

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16th April @ Hundred Years Gallery: Madwort Sax Quartet (live album recording)

We’re very happy to welcome Madwort Sax Quartet to Hundred Years Gallery for an important event in the group’s life: the making of their debut album. This gig will be recorded by Alex Bonney for a future release. Having played a sold-out gig at Manchester Jazz Festival in the summer – ably assisted at the last minute by LUME’s own Dee Byrne – the quartet are now back on home turf for this special performance.

Playing Tom Ward’s compositions, the band explores irregular grooves and unusual harmonies inspired by mathematics and numerology, framed by the intuitive expressionism of free improvisation. This is a challenging line-up that allows for beautifully blended harmonies, intricate polyrhythms and abrasive dissonances. Inspirations include the movement of the planet earth through space, Steve Coleman, pioneering saxophone quartet Rova, Tim Berne, and transcriptions of bird song.

“The group’s sychronisation, the engaging, rounded brass sound and the impressive ease with which the four musicians blended to dish out a significantly distinctive musical proposition” – LondonJazzNews.com

Tom Ward alto sax/compositions
Chris Williams alto/soprano sax
Andy Woolf tenor sax
Cath Roberts bari sax

Hundred Years Gallery, 13 Pearson Street, E2 8JD. Doors 8pm, music 8.30pm. One Bank of England note. Tickets are available in advance from the Luminous Bandcamp site.

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3rd April @ The Vortex: Dave Kane Quartet & Corey Mwamba/Cath Roberts/Olie Brice

We have a great double bill for you this month: free improvisation and original music from two fantastic UK bands! As usual at The Vortex it’s doors at 7.30pm, with the music starting around 8pm. Advance tickets are £8 from the Vortex website, or it’s £10 on the door.

Dave Kane Quartet

The quartet will be playing music from their forthcoming album, to be released on Two Rivers Records later this year. Dave says:

‘This music is my own personal reflection and dedication to the jazz lineage, all of the music that I have listened to and the music that has influenced me the most.  Each track on the record is a dedication to a composer/person that has influenced me greatly throughout my career. There are tracks dedicated to the following people: Charles Mingus, John Zorn, Hamid Drake, Eric Dolphy and Henry Threadgill. For me “The jazz lineage” means the records that are in my collection… my own personal lineage to the tradition, and my resulting music as a composer influenced and shaped by the music. Most people think of the jazz tradition as jazz standards, etc. This is not what I do, or what I am interested in. I have always listened to more adventurous composers & musicians who always pushed the music forward. This is what I have achieved with my new record. Although this music is still on the contemporary/avant garde side of jazz… I would say it is some of the most accessible music I have ever written.’

Dave Kane double bass

James Allsopp saxophones, clarinet

Alex Bonney cornet/trumpet

Joost Hendrickx drums

Dave Kane photo

Corey Mwamba/Cath Roberts/Olie Brice

An improvising trio of vibraphone, baritone sax and bass, this group first played together in 2014 and brings together three musicians active on the UK jazz and improvised music scene. Olie Brice leads his own quartet as well as playing in numerous other collaborations including a trio with Toby Delius and Mark Sanders; BABs with Alex Bonney and James Allsopp; Nick Malcolm Quartet; Loz Speyer’s Inner Space Music; and Alex Ward Quintet/Sextet. Cath Roberts leads two groups playing her compositions, Sloth Racket and Quadraceratops, as well as writing and improvising new music with guitarist Anton Hunter as Ripsaw Catfish. She is a member of the Madwort Sax Quartet, Anton Hunter’s Article XI, the eight-piece improvising saxophone group Saxoctopus and the collaborative quartet Word Of Moth. Corey Mwamba leads his own trio, Yana, and is involved in a variety of other groups including Sonsale; duos with Rachel Musson, Orphy Robinson and Robert Mitchell; Martin Archer’s large ensemble Engine Room Favourites; and Nat Birchall’s quintet. He is recognised as a highly creative improviser and composer working across a wide range of jazz and contemporary music, as well as a programmer of forward-looking music in his home city of Derby.

Corey Mwamba vibraphone

Cath Roberts baritone saxophone

Olie Brice bass

corey olie mashup b&w

17th December @ Hundred Years Gallery: The Hat Speaks!

For our last gig of 2015 we return to Hundred Years Gallery in Hoxton, for the second edition of our dice-and-hat improvised music night. We held the first one in July to celebrate our second birthday, and it was so much fun we decided to do it again. As before, a nebulous ensemble of UK improvisers will gather to make spontaneous music together. This time the list looks like this:

Alison Blunt
Alex Bonney
Dee Byrne
Tim Fairhall
Tom Greenhalgh
Anton Hunter
Andrew Lisle
Percy Pursglove
Martin Pyne
Tullis Rennie
Ed Riches
Cath Roberts
Tom Ward
Colin Webster

….plus new additions Seth Bennett and Tori Handsley!

Taking inspiration from long-running Manchester night The Noise Upstairs (founded by Anton Hunter and Tullis Rennie no less), we will put all the players’ names into a hat, throw the dice to determine how many musicians will play, and then draw out the names. The result is lots of mini- sets from often completely new combinations of people! Some groups from last time have decided to carry on playing together too: Tom Ward and Adam Fairhall are now collaborating on a new quartet for 2016 after their hat encounter in the Summer!

Do join us for this last gig of the year – it’s been a blast, so let’s see it off in style! Entry, as usual, is one Bank of England note of your choice. Doors 7.30pm, first roll of the dice 8pm.

Hundred Years Gallery, 13 Pearson Street, London E2 8JD.

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LUME at EFG London Jazz Festival 2015

For this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival, LUME is curating an afternoon of music on the Barbican freestage on Saturday 14th November.  Join us on a voyage of contemporary sounds! As the stage name suggests, it’s free entry, so just come down to the Barbican foyer and settle in for the ride…

12 noon: Corey Mwamba & Rachel Musson

Spontaneous, living music in-the-moment from two of the UK’s finest improvisers.

Corey Mwamba vibraphone
Rachel Musson tenor saxophone

Corey Mwamba and Rachel Musson

12.30pm: Colin Webster & Andrew Lisle

Fiery, free-wheeling sax and drums duo from DIY improv/noise label Raw Tonk Records.
Colin Webster saxophones
Andrew Lisle drums

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2pm: Entropi

Space jazz quintet led by Dee Byrne, currently making waves with their debut album ‘New Era’. Juggling order and chaos, composition and improvisation, they take listeners on an exploration of the musical cosmos.

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

Entropi

3pm: Sloth Racket

Brand new group formed for Gateshead Jazz Festival 2015 by Cath Roberts. Improvisers from Manchester, Leeds, Macclesfield and London navigate a set of experimental graphic scores, using them as a jumping-off point for freely improvised group explorations.

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

sloths-group-shot-2

6pm: Madwort’s Menagerie

Intricate compositions and delicate textures from Tom Ward’s chamber jazz sextet, with a diverse collection of instruments played by high-calibre improvisers from across the London creative music scene.

Tom Ward bass clarinet, composition
Julie Kjaer flute, alto flute
Alex Bonney  trumpet
Magnus Dearness trombone
Adam Spiers cello
Tim Fairhall double bass

Madwort's Menagerie

 

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

sethcathlisle

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

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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.

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Poster by Cath Roberts.

23rd July: Inner Space Music

For our last gig of the season we welcome trumpeter and composer Loz Speyer and his group Inner Space Music. Join us for a night of new composition and improvisation before the Lumefish goes on holiday for a well-earned break! Music starts at 8.30pm. Entry: One Bank of England note of your choice.

Inner Space Music

In the footsteps of the likes of Ellington, Mingus and Ornette Coleman, Inner Space Music takes improvisation into new territory, and frames it within a set of strongly melodic tunes with references going back into jazz history. Compositions such as Rocket Science and From A to B to Infinity play around with a combination of fast, slow and free time, as a flexible framework for improvising, exploring the fine line between structure and freedom that is a central theme in the jazz tradition.

Loz Speyer trumpet, flugelhorn

Chris Biscoe alto sax, alto clarinet

Rachel Musson tenor/soprano sax

Olie Brice double bass

Gary Willcox drums

‘There was something utterly warm and personal about this gig, and very moving. Though the leader’s trumpet was often to the fore, his role seemed as much to create situations that forced the band to think on their feet or to stitch together fragments of a tune with frantic signalling as the moment dictated…’ – Mike Collins, Jazzyblogman

Loz Speyer photo

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.

LUME-is-2-poster-for-web

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!

Live at LUME cover

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.

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

shatnersposter