Author Archives: cath

Thursday 21st November: London Jazz Festival Special! Quadraceratops and Entropi at Hundred Crows Rising

For this special LJF gig, we will present a double bill of our own bands: Quadraceratops and Entropi. Doors 8pm, music 8.30/8.45pm. £5 entry. We’d love to see you there, partly also to celebrate running the gig for nearly five months!

www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk/events/info/entropi-and-quadraceratops

ENTROPI

Dee Byrne put the group together while studying at Trinity College of Music in 2010, and they explore her growing repertoire of original music. Expect heavy grooves juxtaposed with outbreaks of swing, tight arrangements framing open-ended improvisation, abstract harmony mixed with melodic departures. This will be an intergalactic evening of space sonics!

Dee Byrne – alto sax, compositions

Andre Canniere – trumpet

Rebecca Nash – keys

Sandy Suchodolski – bass

Mat Fisher – drums

entropimusic.com

 

QUADRACERATOPS

Cath Roberts formed Quadraceratops while studying for a Masters at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2011.The band supported Get The Blessing at Camden’s Jazz Cafe as part of the 2012 London Jazz Festival. In June 2013, they played at Jazz In The Round @ The Cockpit hosted by Jez Nelson of BBC Radio 3′s ‘Jazz on 3′ programme. A few months later they appeared at the Vortex Jazz Club for the first time, playing at ReDiViDeR’s ‘I Dig Monk, Tuned’ album launch gig in September 2013 (presented by Match & Fuse). The current set of music is inspired by insects, fairground rides, underground tunnelling machines and fictional serial killers.

Cath Roberts – alto sax, compositions

Henry Spencer – trumpet

Tom Ward – tenor sax

Magnus Dearness – trombone

Dave O’Brien – keys

Jason Simpson – bass

Olly Blackman – drums

quadraceratops.co.uk

Trio Riot & Kjaer/Marshall/Musson: Thursday 14th November @ Hundred Crows Rising

trio-riot-kmm

Coming up this week we’ve got a touring band stopping off for their only London date, plus an exciting group of improvisers from closer to home. This will be a lovely night. Here comes the blurb…

TRIO RIOT

Mette Rasmussen – alto saxophone
Sam Andreae – tenor saxophone
David Meier – drums

Trio Riot formed in Helsinki in 2009, since the they have performed across Europe including dates in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and England. Stylistically, the band relate their sense of energy to the 1980s British punk scene, their approach to sound is inspired by Ornette Coleman and other free jazz pioneers and in their compositional style the group draws inspiration from 20th century contemporary music. With pure performance energy they manage to pull these disparate influences together into a compact and hard hitting musical concept.

http://efpirecords.com/artists/trio-riot/

KJAER/MARSHALL/MUSSON

Julie/Hannah/Rachel

alto saxophone/cello/tenor saxophone

ethereal/sublime/restless

otherworldly/unique/spontaneous

surreal/esoteric/ruminative

together

http://www.rachelmusson.com/

http://www.hannahmarshall.net/

http://www.juliekjaer.com/

As usual, doors at 8pm, music about 8.30/8.45pm, and it’s £5. Join us for an evening of improvised music at Hundred Crows Rising!

 

31st October @ The Harrison: Art Of Three (Leeds)

This week we return to the Harrison with a very special gig: drummer Sam Gardner is bringing his trio ‘Art Of Three’ down from Leeds! Come along and give them a warm London welcome.

ART OF THREE

Krzysztof Urbanski – Sax
Sam Vicary -Bass
Sam Gardner – Drums

‘A fresh new trio featuring heavy riffs, grooves and swing with soul. The group draws inspiration from jazz legends such as Kenny Garret as well as more modern artists like Kendrick Scott and Terence Blanchard. They combine jazz with funk to create groovy music with a warm sound.’

art of threeThis gig is half of a London/Leeds gig swap. For the other half, LUME’s Dee Byrne is taking her group Entropi up to Leeds to play at Sam’s jazz night at the Grove Inn. For more info on that, head over to the FB event.

See you at the Harrison on Thursday! 28 Harrison Street, WC1H 8JF. Five minutes’ from Kings Cross.

10th October @ Hundred Crows Rising: Nick Costley-White Trio & Compass

This week we’re back at Hundred Crows Rising for a double bill with two great bands…

NICK COSTLEY-WHITE TRIO

The Nick Costley White Trio is a new group which Nick uses to explore his own contemporary jazz compositions and arrangements.

The trio features Nick on guitar, who’s recent performing credits include the London Jazz Orchestra, Martin Speake trio & Gareth Lockrane quartet. Nick is joined by Mobo award winning drummer Jon Scott (Kairos Quartet, Dice Dactory, Monocled Man). The trio is completed by one of the most in demand bass players of his generation, Tom McCredie (Reuben Fowler Big Band, Keith Tippett).

COMPASS

Compass is an acoustic project fusing influences from global music with modern jazz. Using infectious grooves, colourful melodies and group improvisation, the band takes influences from flamenco, choro, cuban and folk music and many other styles to perform original compositions with a unique sound. Between them, the band members have won various awards and played extensively around London, the rest of the UK and abroad, and through this collaborative project are exploring a new and intimate musical setting.

Tom Green – Trombone
Alex Munk – Guitar
Tom McCredie – Double Bass
Scott Chapman – Cajon/percussion

Check out some tracks from Compass on their Soundcloud:

See you there!

3rd October @ Hundred Crows Rising: Len Aruliah Sextet

This week LUME is back at Hundred Crows Rising, and we’re happy to present the Len Aruliah Sextet.

Saxophonist Len Aruliah is active both in London and Vancouver, Canada, and released his first album ‘Full Circle’ in 2007 with a quartet playing his compositions. He formed his new sextet in 2011 to perform his current repertoire, and this is the ensemble that he brings to LUME. We look forward to a great night of original music from some top London musicians!

Len Aruliah – alto/soprano saxophones
Ollie Weston – tenor saxophone
Magnus Dearness – trombone
Ryan Williams – guitar
Julie Walkington – bass
Roy Dodds – drums

Have a listen to Len on Soundcloud:

See you back at the Crows….

Thursday 26th September @ The Harrison: Madwort Sax Quartet

This week at LUME we’re heading back to The Harrison, and inviting Tom Ward to take the stage once again following last month’s debut of his other group Madwort’s Mechanical Mindset.

MADWORT SAX QUARTET

The Madwort Sax Quartet formed in 2011 to play compositions by Tom Ward and guided group improvisation. Tom’s 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. Of technical interest was exploring contemporary techniques such as complex time signatures and metric modulations without the presence of a dedicated drummer or percussionist, and exploring harmony without a chordal instrument.

All the members bring their own individual, contrasting voices to the saxophone: Andy’s warm-toned, mellifluous tenor; Chris’s assertive, energetic alto familiar to fans of Led Bib; Tom’s lyrical, passionate but more reserved alto; and Cath’s fluid, assured baritone. When required, though, the ensemble manages to blend beautifully into a homogenous whole that belies these contrasts.

sax_qrt_building-1024x654

The group has been very well received (“a significantly distinctive musical proposition” – LondonJazz blog, September 2012), has recorded an EP’s worth of material (slated for release late 2013), and has played gigs in London, Manchester (hosted by Efpi Records) and Derby (hosted by Corey Mwamba).

The line-up is:

Tom Ward: alto saxophone & composition
Chris Williams: soprano & alto saxophones
Andy Woolf: tenor saxophone
Cath Roberts: baritone saxophone

More about the quartet and Tom’s other projects at his Madwort website. See you at the gig!

12th September @ Hundred Crows Rising: The Jeff Chambers Variable n-tet

Large ensemble special! This week we’re excited to welcome Jeff Chambers and his sixteen-piece behemoth The Jeff Chambers Variable n-tet to LUME. On the move as ever, we’re pitching up at our original home Hundred Crows Rising for this gig, so cast your minds back to a month or so ago and those halloumi burgers, coffee sacks and (subject to availability) rugs of yore. We’d love to see you there: five mins’ walk from Angel tube and a short climb up some stairs.

THE JEFF CHAMBERS VARIABLE N-TET

“The Jeff Chambers Variable n-tet is a 16 piece band whose sound is skewed toward the brass end of the spectrum. All the music is composed by Jeff Chambers and draws on the depth and richness of the brass chorale, the harmonic language of modern jazz and the quirkiness and humour of popular music. Its influences range from Kenny Wheeler, Mike Gibbs and Loose Tubes to early Mothers of Invention and Hatfield and The North, the best band to have come from the intensively creative ‘Canterbury Scene’ of the 60s and 70s. In other words, this music is sonorous and humorous, with full and rich modern jazz harmonies underpinning memorable melodies and exciting jazz solos.”

Trumpets
George Hogg, John Eacott, James Copus, Henry Spencer

Trombones
Magnus Dearness, Ed Rieband, Dave Hordern

Tuba/bass trombone
Jeff Miller

Woodwinds
Andrew Woolf, Julie Kjær, Tom Ward, Cath Roberts

Piano
Tom Hewson

Bass
Amy Baldwin

Drums
Olly Blackman

Composition, occasional guitar, vocals
Jeff Chambers

Hundred Crows Rising, 58 Penton Street, London, N1 9PZ. Doors 8pm, £5 entry.

Thursday 22nd August @ The Harrison: Tom Millar Quartet and Madwort’s Mechanical Mindset

This week it’s our first gig at The Harrison. We’ll be presenting two great bands in their basement bar, which is a cosy space that often acts as home for all kinds of folk gigs. The venue is only five minutes’ walk from Kings Cross/St Pancras, so hopefully should be easy for everyone to get to. Do come down and support us as we start moving around as bit for the next few months: the programme remains full of the same exciting music except for 19th September, which will now be ‘LUME’s week off’…

Anyway, this Thursday 22nd August at the Harrison it’s a double bill of bands led by Toms: pianist Tom Millar and sax player Tom Ward. Tom Millar, chair of the Way Out West musicians’ collective and the man behind the current incarnation of the Green Note Jazz Jam (first Sunday of every month) formed his quartet in 2011. With guitarist Alex Roth, bassist James Opstad and drummer Mike Clowes, the group play mostly Tom’s compositions and have been gigging regularly around London.

Tom Ward is bringing a brand new ensemble to LUME: Madwort’s Mechanical Mindset. After spending the past year or so establishing the Madwort Sax Quartet (where ‘madwort’ is an anagram of Tom Ward), he has recruited a rhythm section and is exploring his music in a more stripped-down lineup of sax, keyboards (Dave O’Brien), bass (Spencer Brown) and drums (Olly Blackman). Tom composes using Steve Coleman-esque number sequences as a starting point, and the result is intriguing groove music that transports the listener in unexpected directions. In his own words:

“The main thing I’m working on with the compositions for this project is an idea that I’ve come in several places – notably Slonimsky via Coltrane, but also Wayne Krantz’s iOS and elsewhere – of exploring ways of enumerating possibilities in order to stretch your intuition as a composer. Of course, some search spaces are too large to be enumerated (such as the universe), so, I’ve been using a couple of simple algorithms based on prime numbers & symmetry to derive little grains of ideas, little points in the search space. I then grow these ideas organically, filtering them through my own personal listening history, taste & intuition, until they gradually develop their own personality, their own character as tunes. I think the sonic pallet they take on reflects things that I’ve been listening to in recent years, which includes Steve Coleman, Alas No Axis, MF Doom, Tim Berne and others.”

Yeah! Come with us to The Harrison for an evening of new music! 28 Harrison Street, Kings Cross, WC1H 8JF. Doors 8pm, £5 entry.

Dee Byrne’s Entropi: Thursday 8th August

This week we welcome to LUME Dee Byrne‘s band Entropi! Dee put the group together while studying at Trinity College of Music in 2010 and they explore her growing repertoire of original music. Expect heavy grooves juxtaposed with outbreaks of swing, tight arrangements framing open-ended improvisation, abstract harmony mixed with melodic departures. This will be an intergalactic evening of space sonics! With special guests Nick Walters and Olie Brice.

For a taste of what might happen on Thursday, check out their tune ‘Orbit’:

More recordings, videos and info can be found on the Entropi website.

Dee Byrne – alto saxophone, compositions
Nick Walters – trumpet
Rebecca Nash – piano
Olie Brice – bass
Matt Fisher – drums