Monthly Archives: July 2014

Not long until ‘LUME Presents…’ at the Vortex!

Our ‘LUME Presents…’ series at the Vortex kicks off on August 3rd with a double bill of Overground Collective and Madwort’s Menagerie. It’s all very exciting and advance tickets are available now from the Vortex website! Here’s some background on the two bands…

Overground Collective

Paulo Dias Duarte is an award-winning Portuguese composer, based in London since
2003. Paulo’s compositions mix styles and frame musical clichés in very unusual way,
guiding audiences through rarely-visited musical fields. The Overground Collective is
an unorthodox big band composed of some of the wildest improvisers on the London
jazz scene. The combination of Paulo’s music and these improvisers makes each
concert a unique experience….as you can see from this video!

Guitar/composition – Paulo Dias Duarte

Alto saxophone/soprano/flute – Chris Williams
Alto saxophone/flute/piccolo – Julie Kjaer
Tenor saxophone – Rachel Musson
Tenor saxophone – Dan Mays
Bass clarinet – Tom Ward
Baritone saxophone – Joseph Stout

Trumpet – Noel Langley
Trumpet – Yazmeen Ahmed
Trumpet – Andre Canniere
Trumpet – Henry Spencer

Trombone – Paul Taylor
Trombone – Ed Reiband
Trombone – Raph Clarkson
Bass Trombone – Olivir Haylett
Tuba – Ben Kelly

Bass – Ben Bastin
Keyboards – Danny Keane
Drums – Jon Scott

Madwort’s Menagerie
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

We hope you’ll agree it’s going to be a fantastic night of new music. Join us as we venture into a new chapter of LUME with these amazing musicians!

Artwork by the ever-awesome Peter Beatty…

24th July: Sarah Gail Brand and Mark Sanders

This will be our last regular gig for a few weeks, as we’re taking a break for August: we’ll be back at Long White Cloud every Thursday starting on September 4th. To tide you over though, we’re launching our new ‘LUME Presents…’ series at the Vortex on August 3rd with Overground Collective (fantastic big band led by Paulo Duarte!) and Madwort’s Menagerie (brand new project from Tom Ward!). Head over to the Vortex website for advance tickets: we’d love to see you there as we kick off this new venture.

Anyway, back to the gig in hand! We’re excited to welcome two top names on the improv circuit this week, for our last gig of the Summer season. Here go the biogs…

Mark Sanders
Mark has played with many renowned musicians from around the world including Evan Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, Myra Melford, Paul Rogers, Henry Grimes, Roswell Rudd, Okkyung Lee, Barry Guy, Tim Berne, Otomo Yoshihide, Luc Ex, Ken Vandermark, Sidsel Endresen and Jean Francois Pauvrois, in duo and quartets with Wadada Leo Smith and trios with Charles Gayle with Sirone and William Parker.
New collaborative projects include `Riverloam Trio` with Mikolaj Trzaska & Olie Brice, `Asunder` with Hasse Poulsen & Paul Dunmall, duos with John Butcher and DJ Sniff, `Statics` with Georg Graewe & John Butcher and trio with Rachel Musson & Liam Noble

Sarah Gail Brand
Described as “the most exciting trombone player for years” (The Wire), Sarah Gail has recorded and performed on the international jazz and improvising scene since the early 1990s with Mark Sanders, John Edwards, Billy Jenkins, Elton Dean, Evan Parker, Phil Minton, Lol Coxhill, Martin Hathaway, Alexander Hawkins, Maggie Nicols, Wadada Leo Smith, Jason Yarde and countless others. Gail has composed music for short films, including an original score for Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Easy Street’, performed live to film at the Barbican Cinema, London and has music projects in development for theatre. Recent work includes: work with comedian Stewart Lee and appearing in ‘Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle’ (BBC TV): duo with US improvising vocalist Morgan Guberman; long standing duo with drummer Mark Sanders; Gail Brand Sextet performing her pieces with edgy improvisation at the heart of the music. Sarah Gail is an occasional interviewer on BBC Radio 3’s Jazz on 3 programme.

We’re really in for a treat! Doors 8pm, music starts at 8.30pm. £5 entry….

17th July: Busnoys

This week we are very happy to be hosting Martin Pyne’s trio Busnoys, as they launch their new album Weaving The Spell.

Ostensibly a chamber jazz trio, the group’s musical palette is in fact much more wide ranging, drawing on Americana, electronica, and the avant-garde to create a distinctive, colourful and highly engaging ensemble sound. Beautiful melodies, extraordinary, magical sounds, and dynamic improvisational interplay are all vital ingredients in this unique band’s musical recipe.

Martin Pyne is a passionate improviser who makes subtle use of electronics to take his instrument into unexpected sonic territories, as well as occasionally throwing small percussion sounds and toy piano into the mix. He is joined by two musicians who have emerged from the wonderfully vibrant Bristol music scene, bassist Jeff Spencer, main man of The Resonation Big Band and now his London based ensemble Crocodile, and drummer Trevor Davies, who has accompanied many of the foremost soloists in the country. The trio’s repertoire is based around Pyne’s striking compositions, which create strongly focused atmospheres for the players to explore through improvisation.

Martin Pyne vibes/electronics
Jeff Spencer bass guitar
Trevor Davies drum kit

Doors 8pm, music starts at 8.30pm. £5 entry. Join us once again for a lovely night of new music at Long White Cloud.

10th July: Huw V Williams’ HON

This week we welcome Huw V Williams and his group HON.

Huw brings together some of the most impressive improvisers and composers of the young London jazz scene to play his quirky original music, with influences ranging from grunge rock to early 21st century minimalist jazz music. The band brings together Chaos Collective’s Laura Jurd and Elliot Galvin (making a rare appearance on accordion) and SE Collective co-founder Alam Nathoo on tenor saxophone.

Alam Nathoo saxophone

Laura Jurd trumpet

Elliot Galvin accordion / toy piano

Huw V Williams double bass

Rod Oughton drums

Doors 8pm, music at 8.30pm and £5 entry…see you at Long White Cloud!