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Fizzle sticks to improvisation

From Mike Hurley, a pair of Fizzles:

Both at The Lamp Tavern, Barford St, B5 6AH.

Tuesday 25th February at 8:30pm
Chris Cundy – Reeds
Matthew Grigg – Guitar & Electronics
Dom Lash – Double Bass
Stuart Wilding – Percussion

Tuesday 4th March at 8:30pm
Chicago improvisers Rempis and Daisy team up with Midlands based musicians.

First set: Dave Rempis + Tim Daisy duo set
http://daverempis.com/rempisdaisy-duo/

rempisdaisy

Second set: duos, trios, quartets, quintets with:
Paul Dunmall -sax
Dave Rempis – sax
Mike Hurley piano
Chris Mapp – bass
Tim Daisy – drums
Miles Levin – drums

Sound Out on Alec Hill

Just had word that this Friday, 21 February, at 2 pm (London time), on her great regular show, Sound Out, on Resonance FM, Carole Finer will be focusing on the former Scratch Orchestra and PTO performer Alec Hill, who tragically died last October. Guests will include John White, Hugh Shrapnel, and Christopher Hobbs — the other members of the legendary group the Promenade Theatre Orchestra — plus John Tilbury and Bryn Harris, who, with White, Shrapnel, and Hobbs, were in the Scratch Orchestra with Hill. This will be a landmark occasion, and a chance to hear from some of the most important figures in late-1960s and early 1970s experimental music and minimalism. They do not, at the time of this writing, have any details up on Resonance FM’s site, but here’s the link to the schedule: http://resonancefm.com/schedule . Resonance FM is a non-profit alternative music station run by the London Musicians’ Collective, with a large internet presence as well as their London-only FM broadcasts. If you have one thing to listen to this week, this is a good candidate!

Update: the tribute to Alec was affectionate, featuring John Tilbury, Bryn Harris, Carole Finer, and the surviving members of the PTO: John White, Christopher Hobbs, and Hugh Shrapnel. The broadcast will be repeated on Monday, 24 February, at 8 am GMT on Resonance.

Chant music

One of the rather lovely features of London’s Resonance FM is Sound Out, a Friday afternoon show hosted by former Scratch Orchestra member Carole Finer, back after a six-month hiatus. This time it’s American folk musicians, plus Michael Chant’s Fragrance of Flowers.
Sound Out is back on air after a six-month break.
Friday 10th January 2:00 to 2:45 Carole talking about and playing the music of Alice Gerrard and Beverly Smith. http://resonancefm.com/schedule or 104.4fm in the London area.

CHA goes oop North!

Ah, the cobbled streets and tiny pubs; the sound of a slow nostalgic jazz tune under shots of housetops…oh, sorry, that was Coronation Street! Well, the next best thing is happening. Those people who live in the Manchester area might be interested in next week’s Sounds of the Engine House Christmas fiesta, which will feature CHA (Bruce Coates (saxes), Christopher Hobbs (keyboards and percussion), Virginia Anderson (clarinets and other things), this year’s new free improvisation trio, plus Mark Summers (viola da gamba) and David Bainbridge (guitars), on Monday 16 December, upstairs at the Old Nags Head, Jackson Row, Deansgate, M2 5WD. The festivities start at 7.30 and run to 10.30. For information, see http://sotehupcoming.blogspot.co.uk/ and its Facebook events page: https://www.facebook.com/events/558273884246823/?notif_t=plan_user_joined . CHA’s web page on the Experimental Music Catalogue blog page is: http://experimentalmusic.co.uk/wp/?page_id=859 . Hope to see you there!

Fizzle’s fizzling out with a melodic trio!

Mike sends us news of some swingin’ C melody action to close out Fizzle for 2013:

Fizzle this Tuesday 3rd December at The Lamp Tavern, B5 6AH.
8:30pm, £5/3.

A special project initiated by Trevor Lines and featuring three varied compositions named Doina 1, 2 and 3.

Paul Dunmall with strings and percussion
Paul Dunmall – sax/clarinet
Trevor Lines – bass
Miles Levin – drums
With viola quartet led by Beth Gifford.

C-Melody Three
Paul Dunmall, Bruce Coates and Mike Fletcher on c-melody saxophones
With Miles Levin(drums) and Trevor Lines(bass).

This will be the last Fizzle concert until February 2014.
More info at: http://improvisationuk.wix.com/fizzlebirmingham

Planets in orbit again — plus Bad Dog!!

Dave Smith lets us know about his rescheduled performance of Holst’s The Planets:

Dear everyone,

6.30 pm on Saturday 30th November at Schotts Recital Room, 48 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7BB.

In addition to the 1st performance of my solo piano version of Holst’s “The Planets”, John White will present the British premiere of his (electronic) 15th symphony which contains two movements entitled “A survivor from Vienna” and “The crematorium organist’s favourite chords”. There will also be an appearance by White and Andrea Rocca under their collective title Bad Dog!!

Given Dave’s previous performances of his own works and arrangements of others, we expect good things of it. Plus we’ve had a heads up — John White phoned us last night with good news about this rare public performance of one of his symphonies, and enthusiasm about the new duo, Bad Dog!! (the exclamation points are mandatory, like John’s former group with Chris Hobbs, Live Batts!!!).

If you’re in London, this is recommended.

 

Sizzle with da FIzzle, dogs!

More from Mike about Fizzle and all things Birmingham:

Good news for Fizzle this Tuesday.

Benedict Taylor, Tom Jackson and Dom Lash will now be joined by Mark Sanders on drums/percussion.

Also two fantastic gigs coming up:

COMING UP AT JAZZLINES: PAUL DUNMALL AT 60 and THE LANGSTON PROJECT

Jazzlines is celebrating Paul Dunmall’s birthday (which actually came earlier in the year) and his major contribution to music with a special concert at mac (Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park) on Saturday 26th October at 8pm.  The concert will feature two aspects of Paul’s music, the improv. side and his compositional side.  The concert will start with an improvised set from the Realisation Trio, which features, as well as Paul, Nick Jurd on bass and Jim Bashfordon drums.  This is the group that made an excellent album earlier this year.  In the second set Paul will present the premiere of a composed work for a new sextet featuring Percy Pursglove on trumpet, Mike Fletcher on alto sax and flute, Paul on various instruments, Mike Hurley on piano, Chris Mapp on bass and Mark Sanders on drums.  Of course there will be plenty of room for improvisation within the compositions.

On Tuesday November 5th Jazzlines will be presenting at mac a new Ango French project developed with La Dynamo club in Pantin Paris and supported by Jazz Shuttle.  The music is the setting to music of certain poems written by Langston Hughes, the key writer in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1930s and 40s.  The music has been developed over five days of rehearsal by Hasse Poulsen guitar, Luc Ex bass guitar, Mark Sanders drums and Elaine Mitchener vocals. Tony Dudley-Evans attended the premiere at La Dynamo last week and reports that the music is very strong moving from poignant songs to very exciting improv., but always with a wonderful groove.  Strongly recommended.

Fizzle update

More fizzling from Mike Hurley:

Hello friends of improvised music.

There will unfortunately be no Fizzle gig on the 24th September.

The next Fizzle being 8th October: Tout Croche www.toutcroche.com + Chris Mapp solo bass and electronics.
More info at: http://improvisationuk.wix.com/fizzlebirmingham

But no fear. Fizzle heartily recommends the following:

PAUL DUNMALL JOINS TOBY DELIUS AS A SPECIAL GUEST IN EXCLUSIVE BIRMINGHAM EVENT
20th September at Ort café.
Toby Delius is a British saxophonist who has spent most of his playing career abroad, initially in Germany and then Mexico before settling some years ago in Amsterdam.  There he is a key figure of the jazz and improvising scene playing most notably in the Instant Composers Pool that recently had a three-day residency at The Vortex in London.  Toby’s sound owes a lot to the great saxophonists from the 1930s onwards, notably Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster, but his style is that of the 2000s.
Toby is touring UK with bass player, Olie Brice and in Birmingham Miles Levin on drums.  At the Birmingham gig, this Friday 20th September at Ort Cafe on the Moseley Road opposite Moseley Baths (500 – 506 Moseley Road, to be precise) at 9pm, they will be joined by Paul Dunmall, one of Europe’s finest improvisers on sax, clarinet and pipes.  This is exclusive to Birmingham and is a very exciting prospect, two great improvising saxophonists who respect the jazz tradition, but take it somewhere else.
For further information see an interview with the tour organiser Olie Brice at http://www.londonjazznews.com/2013/09/interviewpreview-olie-bricetobias.html