Category Archives: grooves

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!

Double LUME week: a duo, a trio, a quartet and a crocodile…

Double LUME week has come round again! This time we’ve got multiple sizes of ensemble, original writing, plenty of improv and a reptile heading for the Vortex…

30th April @ Long White Cloud: Gus Garside/Annie Kerr & Byrne/Nash/Pursglove

A double bill this week, with an improvising duo of Gus Garside and Annie Kerr and a new trio with LUME’s own Dee Byrne…

Gus Garside has worked in a variety of musical settings – jazz, contemporary music, pop, cabaret, dance, theatre and, most importantly, improvised music where he has performed with many leading players. Inspired by the late John Stevens, Gus took to running creative music workshops. This led him into leading music projects with musicians of a wide range of abilities. He remains active as a musician, performing in a number of improvisation and contemporary music settings including his long standing string trio arc (with Sylvia Hallett and Danny Kingshill); The Static Memories, a duo with Dan Powell (on laptop and processed percussion and guitar) and the West Hill Blast Quartet, a free jazz quartet with Ron Caines, Dan Spicer and Andy Pyne.

Annie Kerr works as a violinist, pianist and composer. She is a music tutor, a writer and creative arts facilitator. She works with individuals and groups to generate and sustain tailor-made creative projects. She has a particular interest in working with adults who are exploring creative work for the first time. She writes poetry and fiction and has had work read on radio 3 by Juliet Stevenson. Her work received a commendation in the 2013 Sussex poetry competition and was long listed in the 2014 National poetry competition. Her own musical projects have included facilitating combined arts workshops at Brighton’s Fabrica gallery and a soundscape collaboration she performed in Rottingdean Windmill as part of 2014’s Brighton Festival Fringe.

‘You blow me away – this sort of improv is the type of art experience that gives back 110%’ Jeane Myers, abstract painter living in Washington State.

Byrne/Nash/Pursglove

Dee Byrne and Rebecca Nash met while studying for a Masters at Trinity College of Music. Their duo has evolved from weekly sessions in which they enjoy exploring the freedom and creative scope the duo format invites. This new trio welcomes the formidable talents of Percy Pursglove on double bass. In the spirit of true collaboration they’ll play a mixture of their own original compositions with lots of space for improvisation.

Dee Byrne alto saxophone
Rebecca Nash keyboard
Percy Pursglove double bass

3rd May @ ‘LUME Presents…’, Vortex Jazz Club: Jeff Spencer’s Crocodile & Nick Malcolm Quartet

Jeff Spencer’s Crocodile

Crocodile is the vehicle for compositions by bassist Jeff Spencer, featuring an all-star lineup of some of the best young jazz musicians around. The best of modern classical influences sit amongst infectious and raucous world rhythms and obtuse funk. With a healthy splattering of free improv and some almost rock bits, Crocodile is a crafty beast and it’s after your ears!

Gareth Lockrane flute
Laura Jurd trumpet
Gavin Broom trumpet
James Gardiner-Bateman alto sax
Josh Arcoleo tenor sax
Joe Wright tenor sax
Kieran McLeod trombone
Callum Au bass trombone
Elliot Galvin keys
Alex Munk guitar
Jeff Spencer bass
Dave Hamblett drums
Hugh Wilkinson percussion

Nick Malcolm Quartet
Nick Malcolm is a musician who happily inhabits multiple stylistic worlds, equally at home playing freely improvised music as he is in a more composed jazz setting. His quartet play his original compositions, exploring this love of both freedom and structure. The music merges and deconstructs rhythm, melody and all the points in between, resulting in an intense and thrilling performance. Featuring some of the leading improvisers on the UK scene, the quartet have released two albums to critical acclaim, the most recent being 2014’s excellent ‘Beyond These Voices’.

Nick Malcolm trumpet
Alexander Hawkins piano
Olie Brice bass
Ric Yarborough drums

Join us! This will be a fantastic night at the Vortex…

‘LUME Presents…’ at the Vortex: season 2!

As we tie up the last loose ends of our Spring programme at Long White Cloud, one thing we *can* tell you is that ‘LUME Presents…’ is back for a second season at the Vortex Jazz Club! Gigs kick off on Sunday 8th February, and we hope you agree the lineup looks pretty tasty…

Tickets will be on sale from the Vortex website very soon.

18th, 19th, 20th November: LUME @ London Jazz Festival

For this year’s London Jazz Festival we’re presenting a special three night series of our own current projects, featuring some of the UK’s most exciting improvising musicians aka the LUME usual suspects…

Tuesday 18th November: Ripsaw Catfish ‘Shoaling’

Ripsaw Catfish is Anton Hunter (guitar) and Cath Roberts (baritone saxophone). The Manchester and London-based duo formed in 2013 to explore improvised and composed music, and whatever lies between those things. They employ a collection of pre-composed elements which can be drawn upon, or not, during the course of an improvisation. Tonight they launch ‘Shoaling’, a UK tour with a collaborative focus, with support from Sound And Music. The duo will assemble ad hoc ensembles (‘shoals’) of improvising musicians at each location to play spontaneous sets of new music informed by, incorporating or ignoring the Ripsaw Catfish composed material. For this performance they are joined by improvising vibes player Corey Mwamba and his trio.

Anton Hunter guitar

Cath Roberts baritone sax

Corey Mwamba vibraphone, small instruments

Dave Kane bass

Joshua Blackmore drums

Wednesday 19th November: Deemer & duck-rabbit

The brain-child of Merijn Royaards and Dee Byrne, Deemer started life in 2006 as a weekly improvisation/electronics session in a warehouse in Hackney Wick. The project has since evolved into an installation/performance based electro-acoustic ‘two-piece’ orchestra, whose aural narratives are created within fluid frameworks that map a trajectory in time, but leave the sonic textures and compositions entirely free and undetermined. Deemer employ, among other things, alto saxophone, drums, analogue electronics, tape, transducer microphones/speakers to instantly compose, activate space, and blur the boundaries between free jazz and sound installation.

Merijn Royaards electronics/percussion

Dee Byrne alto saxophone/electronics

duck-rabbit

This new improvising trio explores two contrasting and overlapping personalities; one acoustic, one electronic. Using unique electronic instruments, they interact with their acoustic improvisations to form a rich and varied dialogue. Their interaction creates an absorbing interplay between past and present, a constant re-imagining of ideas within an expanded sonic terrain. Two releases, ‘Path To Field’ and ‘Scattered Voices: Part 1’ came out in early 2014.

Joe Wright – saxophone/electronics

Tom Taylor – piano/electronics

James Opstad – double bass/electronics

Thursday 20th November: Entropi & Quadraceratops

Entropi

Led by Dee Byrne, Entropi started life in 2010 as a vehicle for composition and improvisation. Dee’s compositions deal with the inconsistent nature of time, the transience of life, exploration of the unknown, pivotal moments of decision making, journeys in outer space and the unlikely symmetry of seemingly unrelated events.

Dee Byrne alto saxophone

Andre Canniere trumpet

Rebecca Nash keyboards

Olie Brice bass

Matt Fisher drums

Quadraceratops

Cath Roberts leads this septet playing her compositions, described by Jez Nelson as ‘suitably psychotic!’ The current set of music is inspired by insects, fairground rides, underground tunnelling machines and fictional serial killers. The first Quadraceratops album was released on Efpi Records in October.

Cath Roberts alto saxophone, compositions

Tom Ward tenor saxophone

Henry Spencer trumpet

Magnus Dearness trombone

Dave O’Brien keyboards

Jason Simpson bass

Olly Blackman drums

On all three nights it will be doors 8pm, music 8.30pm at Long White Cloud. We hope you can join us for three festive nights at LUME!

16th October: Vole & Olie Brice (solo set)

A really tasty double bill this week, with a rare solo bass set from LUME regular the ever-excellent Olie Brice, and a set from Roland Ramanan’s ‘punk, funk, improv’ outfit Vole.

Vole

Between them, the members of Vole play with Peter Brotzmann, Ingrid Laubrock, Pat Thomas, Steve Noble, Alex Ward etc and are all leading members of the London Improvisors Orchestra. ‘By turns floating, funking and punking out, Vole stuff a range of influences and compositional devices into an improvised funnel and let them splatter all over the audience,’ says a Vortex Jazz Club blurb on their website. Influenced by the likes of Tim Berne and Henry Threadgill, improvisation lies at the heart of the music but it’s always framed within compositions that bring to bear their combined experiences of playing art-rock, groove-improv, punk, funk and jazz.

Roland Ramanan – trumpet

Ricardo Tejero – alto sax

Roberto Sassi – guitar

Tom Greenhalgh – drums

Olie Brice

‘Brice makes the entire body of his bass sing. He has the ability to deliver a fractal line that is as purposeful as any by the great jazz bassists, but to do so within an entirely abstract setting,’ wrote Brian Morton (Point of Departure) about prolific improv/jazz bassist Olie Brice. We’ve been lucky enough to have him appear at LUME in various different projects over the past year, and it’s always a pleasure. Olie is involved in several collaborative groups (Wolf Suit, Riverloam Trio, BABs, Catatumbo) and as a sideman in numerous others (Nick Malcolm Quartet, Mike Fletcher Trio, Alex Bonney Trio, Inner Space Music), but tonight none of these will be in evidence as he’ll be playing solo! A rare opportunity to enjoy an exploration of the double bass as the main focus of the set.

We hope you agree this should be an excellent night of music. Join us….same LUME time, same LUME place…

9th October: The Button Band

During our venue troubles last year, The Button Band played the only LUME gig at the Hanbury Arms in Islington. The Hanbury is a lovely pub with a great upstairs space, but they’d had some neighbour complaints and moved LUME downstairs as a pre-emptive measure. Cue a slightly strange setup, at one end of the massive main pub room! Despite this though, it was a nice night and a good crown turned up to hear The Button Band and Pocket-Size.

When we heard that a Button Band album had been recorded, we had to invite them back! It will be great to hear them again in the cozy setting of Long White Cloud. The band is led by guitarist Andrew Button who, as well as being a busy London musician, is involved in running three (three!) regular nights: the long-running Jazz At The Salisbury in North London, Jazz At The Bell in Walthamstow, and his most recent venture Jazz At The Union Chapel Bar (part of the Sunday Sessions upstairs at Union Chapel, Islington). He assembled the quartet to play his compositions, which have been described as ‘reminiscent of Bill Frisell’s cross-genre explorations’ (London Jazz News). We’re looking forward to welcoming this group of fantastic musicians back to LUME….and checking out the album!

Andrew Button – guitar, composition

Andrew Woolf – tenor saxophone

Dave Manington – bass

Jon Ormston – drums

‘LUME Presents…’ at the Vortex, Sunday 5th October: Quadraceratops (album launch) & Paradox Ensemble

‘LUME Presents…’ at the Vortex is back! This month it’s a double bill of medium sized ensembles from the roster of our favourite Manchester contemporary jazz/improv/experimental music label Efpi Records, to celebrate the launch of the debut album from Cath’s band Quadraceratops! The album is coming out on Monday 6th October, and the band will head up to Manchester on Tuesday 7th for the northern leg of the album launch. At the Vortex they are joined by trumpeter Nick Walters’ excellent Paradox Ensemble….this will be a great night!

Paradox Ensemble

Manchester and London-based nonet led by trumpet player Nick Walters (Riot Jazz,
Beats & Pieces Big Band). Bringing together many strands of his musical experience,
Nick has taken inspiration from jazz composers such as Gil Evans, electronic artists
such as Aphex Twin, and from artists who blur the lines between the two, such as Jaga
Jazzist and Tortoise. The result is, as Manchester Jazz Festival put it ahead of the
groupʼs live debut in 2013, ‘a coherent synthesis of electronics, live effects and
samples but retaining an earthy groove.ʼ Paradox Ensemble released ‘Entanglement’
in August 2013 on Efpi Records.

Nick Walters – trumpet + electronics
Tim Cox – trombone
Sam Healey – Alto sax
Ed Cawthorne – tenor sax + bass clarinet
Ben Kelly – sousaphone
Rebecca Nash – keys
Aidan Shepherd – accordian
Anton Hunter – guitar
Paul Michael – bass
Yussef Dayes – drums

Quadraceratops

Cath Roberts leads this septet playing her original compositions, described by Jazz On
3′s Jez Nelson as ‘suitably psychotic!’ Formed in 2011, the band have played at
numerous jazz nights around London as well as appearing at the London Jazz Festival
and ‘Jazz In The Round’ at the Cockpit Theatre. In Spring 2014 they recorded a
selection of music inspired by insects, fairground rides, underground tunnelling
machines and fictional serial killers. The result is their debut album ‘Quadraceratops’,
released on 6th October by Efpi Records and launched this evening at The Vortex.

Cath Roberts – alto saxophone, compositions
Tom Ward – tenor saxophone
Henry Spencer – trumpet
Magnus Dearness – trombone
Dave O’Brien – keyboards
Jason Simpson – bass
Olly Blackman – drums

Come down to the Vortex and check out these two bands playing great new music! Plus, Cath’s album will be on sale….just sayin’…

Doors 8pm, music 8.30pm and it’s £10 on the door, but £8 if you book tickets now on the Vortex website.

25th September: Madwort Sax Quartet & Julie Kjær/Tori Handsley/Ruth Goller

This week we have a saxophone-heavy double bill (the best kind, no?). Julie Kjær returns to LUME with an exciting trio, and the Madwort Sax Quartet make their first appearance at Long White Cloud.

Madwort Sax Quartet

Tom Ward assembled the Madwort Sax Quartet in 2011 to play his own compositions and explore 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.

Said LondonJazz blog about the band’s first gig: “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 made for a perfect opening sortie, and suggested that we may well be hearing much more from them.”

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

(And in the rabbit head: Dave O’Brien, who produced the sax quartet’s 2012 recording)

Julie Kjær/Tori Handsley (plus special guest Ruth Goller!)

New duo collaboration comprising harpist Tori Handsley and saxophonist and flautist Julie Kjær exploring angular grooves and captivating improvisations. This evening they will be inviting the excellent Ruth Goller to join them on bass.

Tori Handsley started playing the piano at the age of 3 and the harp at the age of 6. Originally classically trained, she grew up listening to the music of Miles Davis, Bird, Dizzy, Keith Jarrett and many more, and was drawn to the freedom of jazz and improvisation. One of the highlights of her career was touring with her childhood hero Nigel Kennedy in 2010, after being invited to be a part of his band for his Duke Ellington tour. Tori has since performed with other notable artists including: Orphy Robinson, Cleveland Watkiss, Pat Thomas, Claude Deppa, Shabaka Hutchings, Doug Boyle, Adam Waldmann and more.

Julie Kjær’s edgy and thoughtful playing and ‘dark, otherworldly imagery’ (Jazzwise) has become incerasingly evident around Europe, inhabiting ground between composition and free improv. She has recorded and toured internationally with Django Bates and his band StoRMChaser, as well as with the Danish big-band “Blood Sweat Drum ’n’ Bass” where she has played with amongst others: Dave Douglas, Arve Henriksen and Palle Mikkelborg. She plays with the London Improvisers Orchestra and is a leader and sidewoman of several other English and Danish ensembles. Julie was recently chosen to be a Sound and Music “New Voice” artist and will be a part of the ‘Portfolio’ artist development program for improvisers.

Join us for a night of exciting new music! Doors 8pm, music at 8.30pm…

‘LUME Presents…’ at the Vortex, Sunday 7th September: Corey Mwamba & Deemer

It’s happening this Sunday! Just a little reminder about our next ‘LUME Presents…’ gig at the Vortex Jazz Club in Dalston. It’s going to be a great night of improvised music, with a solo set from Corey Mwamba and the return of Dee’s duo with sound artist Merijn Royaards, Deemer. Don’t miss it: tickets are still on sale from the Vortex website.

And a re-cap of the other gigs coming up in this series, with lovely artwork by Peter Beatty:

‘LUME Presents…’ at the Vortex, Sunday 7th September: Corey Mwamba & Deemer

After a fantastic first night in a packed Vortex, our ‘LUME Presents…’ series continues on Sunday 7th September. This time, rather than filling the stage with as many musicians as possible, we’re inviting experimental electro/acoustic duo Deemer to fill it with their signature array of weird and wonderful equipment and get stuck into some sonic cookery. They will be sharing the bill with the captivating improviser and friend of LUME, vibraphone monster and multi-instrumentalist Corey Mwamba. We hope you can join us for another ‘LUME-inous’ night of new music at the Vortex.

Corey Mwamba

Corey Mwamba creates music using vibraphone, dulcimer, electronics and small instruments. His music contains elements of jazz, folk from different countries, and electronica. Born in Derby and a former chemist and librarian, Corey is virtually self-taught in music, having made the decision to take up vibraphone in his late teens after seeing a picture of Orphy Robinson in a book and taking five lessons with the orchestral percussionist Lewis Dyson. Corey is renowned as a highly creative improviser with a wide stylistic range: he has performed with Orphy Robinson, Pat Thomas, Tony Kofi, the Master Drummers of Africa and Evan Parker among countless others.

Deemer

The brain-child of Merijn Royaards and Dee Byrne, Deemer started life in 2006 as a weekly improvisation/electronics session in a warehouse in Hackney Wick. The project has since evolved into an installation/performance based electro-acoustic ‘two-manned’ orchestra, whose aural narratives are created within fluid frameworks that map a trajectory in time, but leave the sonic textures and compositions entirely free
and undetermined. Deemer employ, among other things, alto saxophone, drums, analogue electronics, tape, transducer microphones/speakers to instantly compose, activate space, and blur the boundaries between free jazz and sound installation.

Merijn Royaards – electronics/percussion
Dee Byrne – alto saxophone/electronics

Doors are at 8pm, with the music starting at 8.30pm. Tickets are £8 in advance from the Vortex website, or £10 on the night. See you there…