Category Archives: pandemonium

26th June @ IKLECTIK: LUME Festival

We’re extremely happy to be able to type this: LUME Festival is going ahead! With the support of our awesome 131 Kickstarter backers, Arts Council England and the Austrian Cultural Forum, we’ll be hosting an all-dayer on Sunday 26th June at IKLECTIK.

A lot of tickets were sold through the Kickstarter campaign, but there are a limited number available from our Luminous Bandcamp site. Grab yours now and we’ll see you there for a great day of music!

The line-up, in reverse order of appearance, is:

Article XI (Manchester)
Freewheeling large ensemble led by guitarist Anton Hunter, with: Oliver Dover (alto sax), Tom Ward (tenor sax), Cath Roberts (baritone sax), Johnny Hunter (drums), Seth Bennett (bass), Graham South, Nick Walters (trumpet), Tullis Rennie, Richard Foote (trombone)

Blueblut (Austria)
Coming over from Austria! With Led Bib’s Mark Holub (drums), Pamela Stickney (theremin) and Chris Janka (guitar)

Kjær/Musson/Marshall (London)
Fantastic trio of Julie Kjær (alto sax), Rachel Musson (tenor sax) and Hannah Marshall (cello)

Little Church (Birmingham)
Quintet led by David Austin Grey (nord/synth/FX) playing compositions inspired by Miles Davis electric period featuring Rachael Cohen (alto sax), Chris Mapp (bass/electronics) and Tymek Joswiak (drums).

Hot Beef Three (Leeds)
Trio with some of Leeds’ finest improvisers: Oliver Dover (saxes), Andrew Lisle (drums), Craig Scott (guitar)

Ant Traditions (Manchester)
Top notch Manchester improv from Adam Fairhall (toy pianos) and Dave Birchall (electric guitar)

Word Of Moth (London)
Collaborative quartet from the founders of LUME: Dee Byrne (alto sax), Cath Roberts (baritone sax), Seth Bennett (bass), Tom Greenhalgh (drums)

We’ll also have artist Gina Southgate capturing the day on canvas!

Doors 1pm, music 1.30pm-10.30pm, with late bar afterwards.

IKLECTIK, Old Paradise Yard, 20 Carlisle Lane, SE1 7LG.

The festival is generously supported by Arts Council England, the Austrian Cultural Forum and 131 Kickstarter backers.

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.

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.

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!

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

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…

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.

19th February: Rubik Trio & Solodog

This week we welcome two new projects: Rubrik Trio and Solodog. Come and join us for a great night of original music!

Rubik Trio

Rubik was formed out of a mutual love of the classic piano trio format, and an enduring interest in the re-invention of the jazz repertory. The trio utilises contemporary rhythmic approaches and reharmonisation to create vigorous interpretations of jazz standards, and also performs original compositions by band members. The musicians share a deep understanding of the jazz tradition and a collectively wide experience of performing other music including flamenco, tango and West African. The resultant trio sound is energetic and rhythmically acute, with a keen attention to melody; playful, highly interactive, and performed with commitment.

Andrew Oliver piano
Tim Fairhall bass
Jon Desbruslais drums

Solodog

Solodog are an improvising quartet born of weekly jam sessions in a living room with the aim to learn how to play free jazz. The group has since expanded from 2 to 4 and has developed a keen rapport alongside a repertoire of original compositions. Sounds of Tim Berne and Ornette Coleman seem to be emanating from the group these days…

Matthew Herd alto sax
Kieran McLeod trombone
Sean Maynard Smith bass guitar/compositions
Will Glaser drums

‘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