CHRIS CORSANO / drums

Having collaborated with such distinguished musicians as Paul Flaherty, Thurston Moore or Björk, Chris Corsano has developed a percussive language of extraordinary amplitude and infinite resources.

He is capable of generating narrative out of permanent ecstasy, leading the eternal cry of sax players and blowers of the 60's to its logical consequence - a supreme continuous howl, marveling us with the resonances and with all the plastic/acoustic possibilities of the skin on his kit.

Capable of interacting in the most disparate creative and vocabular settings (he's got a wide interest in many musical forms), he never ceases to be profoundly affirmative and imposing of his language, and being an absolute and charismatic virtuoso, he simultaneously is one of the most noble and generous improvisers of the few last decades.

Chris Corsano website

CLAYTON THOMAS / double bass

Clayton Thomas's thoughtful and virtuosic prepared double bass playing has taken Europe by storm since he moved to Berlin from Sydney in 2007 – part groove cannon, part kinetic sculpture, all parts BAD bass skills. He showcases all the possible positions of the instrument, ways of tickling, teasing, forcing, caressing, beating and shaking sounds out of the body of his double-bass The range of sounds is exceeding the preconception most audiences might have about the double bass by far.

Clayton Thomas website

Chris Corsano and Clayton Thomas live at Festsaal Kreuzberg in Berlin from PLAYBERLIN on Vimeo.

ALEX WARD / Guitar & Clarinet

Alex Ward seems to be very busy at the moment playing loud, skronking electric guitar in groups such as NEW (with Steve Noble and John Edwards), Dead Days Beyond Help (with Jem Doulton, where he sings as well), and with the ecstatic agonies of his own free jazz quartet Predicate (with Tim Hill, Dom Lash and Mark Sanders. He can also be spotted on clarinet in duos with Steve Noble and Dom Lash...

Perched precariously on top of a bar stool, Ward's intensely concentrated clarinet playing draws deep on his own immersion in free improvisation and reference the whole history of his instrument, invoking the experimental extensions of John Zorn and Anthony Braxton, the studied elegance of Jimmy Guiffre, the Ellingtonian rubato of Harry Carney, the classicism of Mozart, and even the prehistoric pipes of frenzied bacchic ritual.

"[Alex Ward's solo clarinet LP] Cremated Thoughts has already been compared to great solo saxophone albums like Anthony Braxton’s For Alto and Evan Parker’s Monoceros. Those are tough comparisons, but realistic ones based on the music here." Dusted Magazine

Alex Ward website





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