Category Archives: magic

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!

14th May: Corey Mwamba’s ‘New Dark Art’

This week we welcome improvising vibraphone player, multi-instrumentalist and composer Corey Mwamba back to Long White Cloud for a special concert: the London premiere of his composition ‘New Dark Art’.

In 2014 Corey completed an MRes at the University of Keele, producing ‘New Dark Art’ as a part of this research project. His focus was on the improvisational, conducting and notational practices found in medieval music, and how these might inform the music of contemporary improvising musicians and composers. The idea wasn’t to create a musical fusion of jazz and medieval music, but rather to look how medieval approaches could be employed to create new music. You can read more about the project on Corey’s MRes website.

At this week’s gig, music from ‘New Dark Art’ will be performed by an improvising Eb sax quartet and by Corey on solo vibraphone. The sax quartet met once last year to try out the music with Corey in a rehearsal, and performed it for the first time in Derby on 7th May this year. Join us for a fascinating evening of new music!

Featuring:

Chris Williams alto saxophone

Tom Ward alto saxophone

Colin Webster baritone saxophone

Cath Roberts baritone saxophone

and the composer Corey Mwamba on vibraphone

Double LUME week: Last Summer’s Tealights, Penelope Dreaming, Zonica and Aye-Aye…

It’s double LUME week once again, and we have an array of interesting projects for your ears…

2nd April @ Long White Cloud: Last Summer’s Tealights & Penelope Dreaming

This week another exciting double bill with Last Summer’s Tealights – playing compositions inspired by an eclectic mix of musical genres – and Penelope Dreaming, the latest project by improvising vibraphonist Martin Pyne.

Last Summer’s Tealights

Strong melodies, jazz harmonies and a potent sense of nostalgia are some of the words associated with the music of Last Summer’s Tealights. Part classical, part folk, part pop, part hymnal, the music is a peculiar hotchpotch of shared influences.The idea for LST was conceived through a series of saxophone/marimba duets emerging during a winter spent in Scotland, which were eventually expanded under more southern skies. LST brings together experienced players from a diverse range of musical backgrounds, including jazz, classical, flamenco and middle-eastern.

Joe Browne sax
Hal Hutchison marimba and Piano
Shirley Smart cello
Demi Garcia Sabat percussion

Penelope Dreaming
This trio revolves around the rich textures, grooves and soundscapes conjured up by Martin Pyne’s largely electronic percussion set up,which he has used on two solo albums. These provide fertile musical soil for the improvised explorations of Tony Woods and Nette Robinson.

Tony Woods saxophones / flutes
Nette Robinson vocals
Martin Pyne percussion / electronics

Tony Woods is a leading figure in West London’s Way Out West collective. He leads his own quintet – Tony Woods Project, and collaborates regularly with musicians such as Tim Whitehead, Pete Churchill and Mike Outram. He’s also very good at sailing.

Nette Robinson had an acclaimed collaboration with the late Mike Garrick – their album “Remembered Time” garnered rave reviews, and penetrated beyond the jazz ghetto to the pages of Mojo. She’s also very good at chess.

Martin Pyne plays vibraphone, drums, and percussion, and also makes extensive use of electronics in his work. He has worked across the range of contemporary music, but his primary focus has been on improvised music, and especially on collaborations with dancers. His trio Busnoys released their third album last year, and he recently established a duo with fellow vibes player Corey Mwamba. He’s also very good at going to the cinema.

5th April @ ‘LUME Presents…’, Vortex Jazz Club: Zonica & Aye-Aye

Electronic explorations and vibrant new composition tonight at ‘LUME Presents…’

Zonica

Zonica is an experimental improvising ensemble using a mixture of acoustic instruments and electronics. The group creates a spontaneous narrative of soundscapes, riffs and themes taking the listener on a cosmic, sonic adventure. With a heavy-weight line up from the UK jazz/creative scene, prepare yourself for a spontaneous electro-acoustic cocktail of epic proportions!

Dee Byrne alto saxophone/effects
Ed Riches guitar/effects
Elliot Galvin keyboard/effects
Tom McCredie bass/effects
Pat Davey drums

Aye-Aye

An intriguing new trio of harp, saxophone and bass, playing music written by all three members. The group explores angular grooves and captivating improvisations, creating a unique texture with their unusual and refreshing instrumentation. With all three members well-known on the jazz/improvised music scene and further afield, this is an exciting collaboration not to be missed.

Julie Kjaer alto saxophone, flute
Tori Handsley harp
Ruth Goller bass

5th March: Backyard Chassis & Seth Bennett/Cath Roberts

This week’s gig is a meeting of improvising musicians from all around the UK. A new trio armed with a sonic kaleidoscope of unconventional instruments gets its second outing, and a duo plays for the first time, focussing on the lower end of the pitch spectrum…

Backyard Chassis

Backyard Chassis is a new trio comprising three extremely high calibre UK improvisers: Corey Mwamba, Johnny Hunter and Adam Fairhall. Their music ranges from busy energetic ‘blowing’ to delicate textures that recall non-Western musics.

Timbre and texture are very important to the trio. The keyboards used are mechanical instruments, with the Pianet being prepared using springs, clips and chains to produce a range of percussive sonorities. The toy piano, too, is prepared, using magnets and felt. Corey may bring anything to the gig, from a zither to a wooden flute, and use them all in a wonderfully creative way. The unusual instrumental sonorities provide a rich palette for improvising, and the instruments are really played; there’s no relying on timbre for timbre’s sake! Add to this mix Johnny’s lightning-quick reflexes, sensitivity and propulsive sound, and the result is highly distinctive music, not to be missed.

Corey Mwamba – vibraphone and miscellaneous instruments

Johnny Hunter – drums

Adam Fairhall – prepared Hohner Pianet T, prepared toy piano and Dulcitone.

Seth Bennett and Cath Roberts

A new collaboration, with double bass and baritone saxophone. Seth Bennett is a prolific bassist, leading his own trio Nut Club (who you may have heard at LUME last year) as well as playing in Martin Archer’s large ensemble Engine Room Favourites, Laura Cole’s Metamorphic, and the Grew Quartet among many others. Cath Roberts leads ‘dino-jazz, paleo-groove’ septet Quadraceratops and is half of Ripsaw Catfish with Anton Hunter, as well as being your LUME co-host. Seth and Cath first played together in Anton Hunter’s Manchester Jazz Festival commission ‘Article XI’ last year, where they were often found playing basslines together (although Seth was actually playing trombone on that gig). It seemed like a good idea to do a duo, so they are.

Seth Bennett – double bass

Cath Roberts – baritone saxophone

Join us at Long White Cloud: doors 8pm, music at 8.30/8.45pm as usual.

Kicking off the year with a double LUME week…

Happy 2015 everyone! We’re looking forward to starting our year of gigs at Long White Cloud and the Vortex. In fact, the first week of the year is a double LUME week….

5th February @ Long White Cloud: Andrew Woolf Quintet & Sans Domicile Fixe

For our first week back at Long White Cloud, we’re happy to welcome two bandleaders with connections to F-IRE Collective, Zac Gvi and Andrew Woolf.

Andrew Woolf Quintet

Andrew Woolf grew up playing classical music before discovering jazz in his teens. Since then, his musical palette has continued to broaden, so that he is now known for his diversity across many musical settings. As well as playing with a variety of modern jazz ensembles (Button Band, Madwort Sax Quartet), he is also a leading exponent in the UK of Brazilan choro (a style with parallels to ragtime and folk), sings with the London Vocal Project (Kenny Wheeler, Bobby McFerrin) and performs regularly on the London Afrobeat scene.

This variety of experience and interest finds a unity of expression in his output as an improviser and writer, simultaneously accessible and surprising, moving and uplifting. His quintet places an emphasis on lyricism, atmosphere, sonority and playfulness, in which his soulful, warm and melancholy-tinged sound expresses a depth, clarity and honesty of emotion and feeling.

“… warm-toned mellifluous tenor saxophone… with elegant phrasing” – LondonJazz

Andrew Woolf tenor saxophone and clarinet
Robbie Robson trumpet
Ryan Williams guitar
Dave O’Brien double bass
Corrie Dick drums

Sans Domicile Fixe

Drawing their inspiration from Beat Poetry, SDF is a new group that brings together spoken word and groove music in a way that eschews the obvious hip hop connotations and searches for more free form and dynamic inter-relationships between the two. Taking the poems of Alistair Cartwright and others as a starting point, the rhythm section combines to create a form that’s part writing, part song.

Alistair Cartwright vocals
Zac Gvi keys
Ed Hiller drums
Plus guests to be announced….

As usual it’s doors 8pm, music at 8.30pm. £5 entry. See you there!

8th February: ‘LUME Presents…’ @ The Vortex

We’ve put together an exciting second season of our ‘LUME Presents…’ series at the Vortex Jazz Club. To start things off, we’re looking forward to welcoming a fantastic tentet and trio!

Roland Ramanan Tentet

This tentet comprises some of the most exciting musicians to emerge from the European free jazz/improvised music scene. Inspired by playing with the Peter Brotzmann tentet, the group combines original compositions with free and conducted improvised music to wildly sensual effect.

‘Throws a bomb under the usual carve-up between composition and improvisation’ (The Wire)

Roland Ramanan trumpet
Nick Malcolm trumpet
Ed Lucas trombone
Adrian Northover soprano saxophone
Ricardo Tejero alto saxophone
Rachel Musson tenor saxophone
Roberto Sassi electric guitar
Dominic Lash bass
Mark Sanders drums
Andrew Lisle drums

Andreae/Birchall/Cheetham with Javier Saso

A trio of Manchester’s finest improvisers, joined by a special guest. Tenor player Sam Andreae is known for his collaborations with Scandinavian musicians in the critically- acclaimed bands Trio Riot and Silence Blossoms, as well as countless other projects. Birchall and Cheetham’s duo was described by Mojo as ‘a psychedelic maelstrom of sound that threatens to atomise your walls’. The trio toured Scandinavia in 2013 and have performed widely around the UK and further afield. With their debut release newly out on the Tombed Visions label, they are joined tonight by Madrid experimental musician Javier Saso.

Sam Andreae tenor saxophone
David Birchall guitar
Andrew Cheetham drums
Javier Saso amplified objects, machines obsolètes, pickups, radios

Tickets are £8 in advance from the Vortex website, or £10 on the door. Join us for a night of improv explorations! Doors 7.30pm, music 8pm…

Spring 2015 programme at Long White Cloud

Hooray! We’ve finished our Spring season at Long White Cloud and it’s looking great. Lots of exciting bands and new collaborations for your ears. Here we go…

February

5th Andrew Woolf Quintet & Sans Domicile Fixe

12th Word Of Moth

19th Rubik Trio & Solodog

26th Alec Harper/Tom Wheatley/Andrew Lisle & Ti/om

March

5th Backyard Chassis & Seth Bennett/Cath Roberts

12th Alex Bonney Quartet

19th Huw V Williams Meets A Quartet

26th Andreae/Knight/Ward & Pete Ibbetson/Rory Simmons

April

2nd Last Summer’s Tealights & Penelope Dreaming

9th KTHXBYE with Colin Webster & New World Order

16th Sloth Racket & Alex Ward

23rd Mark Sanders/Sarah Gail Brand

30th Gus Garside/Annie Kerr & Byrne/Nash/Pursglove

See you there…

‘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.

Thanks for a great 2014!!

Quick post just to say a massive THANKS to everyone who has supported LUME this year – all the amazing musicians and lovely audience members! We’ve had a blast and we’re looking forward to all the exciting LUME activities we’re planning for 2015.

Have a great festive season – we’ll be back in February.

Cheers!

Cath and Dee

18th December: Rowland Sutherland Double Trio

This week we’re closing 2014 with an exciting evening of music from some big names on the London improv scene – and definitely the most flutes we’ve ever had at a LUME gig so far. Rowland Sutherland brings this fantastic group comprised of players whose reputations precede them. Come and join us at Long White Cloud as we toast a great year of live music at LUME with three sets: trio, trio and double trio!

Trio:
Rowland Sutherland flutes (Henry Threadgill, Carla Bley)
Emi Watanabe Japanese flutes (Jah Wobble, David Toop)
David Leahy bass (Evan Parker, Louis Moholo)

Trio:
Tom Jackson clarinet (Squib Box, CRAM Collective)
Neil Metcalfe flute (Roscoe Mitchell, Lol Coxhill)
Daniel Thompson guitar (Javier Carmona, Benedict Taylor)

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!