ADAM LINSON

solo double bass and electronics

“Adam Linson has arrived at a propitious moment; the 20th Century has dropped behind the horizon, but the 21st has yet to be given permanent shape. He has the expanded skill set and the big ears necessary to make music that stands up to the severest scrutiny now and in the coming decades. His work will undoubtedly be closely monitored by discerning listeners around the world for many years to come.” - Bill Shoemaker

Solo double bass and electronics from the brilliant young American musician Adam Linson, whose combination of instrumental and technological inventiveness sets new standards for the intermixture of 'real' and 'processed' sounds. His critically acclaimed solo recording 'Cut and Continuum' was released in 2006 on Evan Parker's psi label. Groups include a long-standing duo with Lawrence Casserley, Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, the John Butcher Group, and his own Systems quartet with Axel Dörner, Rudi Mahall and Paul Lytton.

TONY MARSH / STEVE NOBLE

percussion duo

This is going to be very special: two of the world's finest drummers going head to head in a first time duo performance. Both are acknowledged masters of improvised percussion – Noble currently excelling in trios with John Edwards, Alex Ward and Alan Wilkinson, and in ad hoc encounters with Ikue Mori, Matthew Shipp, Rhodri Davies and Hankil Ryu; Marsh shining in groups with Evan Parker, John Tchicai, Elliott Sharp, Peter Brötzmann and the LIO. They were last seen playing together in a stellar quintet with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Lol Coxhill and Pat Thomas, were their contrasting styles meshed together beautifully. The two of them on their own together should be explosive combination, rich in texture, event and polyrhythmic brilliance.

Tony Marsh photo © Caroline Forbes

PAT THOMAS / PHILIPP WACHSMANN / ALEX WARD

piano/violin/clarinet trio

Although its instrumentation is suggestive of chamber music, it’s impossible to predict in which direction this trio will go. Featuring three players who can cover all the ground between raw expression, classical delicacy, electro-acoustic elisions, Ellingtonian rubato, motorik funk, abstracted experimentalism and stride exuberance, this trio promises to be a volatile musical concoction, held together by their hyper-alert sensitivity and intuitive sense of structure.