An impressively diverse array of musicians, spanning several generations and approaches, come together for an evening of duos that provides a fascinating cross-section of improvised music in London.
SEBASTIAN LEXER & EVAN PARKER
Saxophonist Evan Parker has a long-standing interest in the potential of technology to transform musical material and restructure the space of improvisation, ranging from the incorporation of tapes in duos with Paul Lytton, the overdubs on solo recordings such as Process and Reality and Time Lapse, the multi-layered explorations of his Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, to recent collaborations with Matthew Wright and DJ Sniff. Tonight he will be joined by Sebastian Lexer, whose piano+ deploys digital technology to redouble fine details and open up huge abysses of sound.
DAVID TOOP & DAICHI YOSHIKAWA
Although he's been heavily involved in improvised music since the 1970s, David Toop has never been a straightforward improviser, always preferring to stay on the edges of the scene, absorbing other influences and subtly disrupting more mainstream activities. He's joined for an intriguing new duo by Daichi Yoshikawa, another disruptive influence, whose inventive feedback interventions have been enlivening encounters with the more experimental end of London's improvised music community for some years now.
JOHN BUTCHER & SEYMOUR WRIGHT
John Butcher and Seymour Wright have been playing together in private for some time, emerging for a first public appearance at Eddie Prevost's 70th birthday concert with an abrasive set of extreme concentration and intensity. This is total saxophone music, simultaneously sounding nothing like what the instrument is conventionally supposed to sound like yet consisting of sounds that couldn't possibly be produced by anything else.
