26–28 April 2018
“Hawkins improvises with the strength and conviction that come from combining an advanced technique with a teeming imagination…[i]t isn't always cosy, but this is state-of-the-art contemporary piano” – The Guardian
Delighted to welcome one of the great contemporary pianists, Alexander Hawkins, to OTO for a specially curated three-day residency covering an eclectic cross-section of Hawkins' expansive musical output. Whether it's performing his own compositions with ensemble, playing with regular collaborators such as Elaine Mitchener and John Edwards, or guesting with the likes of Joe McPhee, Louis Moholo and Evan Parker, Hawkins has provided a huge array of standout moments at OTO over the years and it's a pleasure to play host to him for several performances across three days.
As an extra bonus, anybody who buys a series pass for all four events of the residency will receive free CD copies of both the eponymous Alexander Hawkins Trio album and the Unit[e] double album!
“Hawkins draws favorable comparisons to some of the great innovative pianists of our time” – All About Jazz
Alexander Hawkins’ work ranges from his acclaimed solo performances (‘intensely intricate…powerful, technically brilliant and melodically inventive’) through to works on a much larger canvas, such as his Togetherness Music ('[a] masterpiece that can stand next to the best works of Mitchell, Braxton or Parker’). He collaborates regularly with all generations of creative musicians, including the likes of Anthony Braxton, Marshall Allen, Evan Parker, John Surman, Joe McPhee, Hamid Drake, Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid, Sofia Jernberg, Shabaka Hutchings, and many others. Further creative associations, with two very different icons of African music, Louis Moholo-Moholo and Mulatu Astatke, stretch back for well over a decade. He has been widely commissioned as a composer, including by the likes of the BBC, Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal, and numerous festivals. His performance schedule takes him to club, concert hall, and festival stages worldwide.
"Sounds like all the future jazz you might imagine without ever being able to conceive of the details" – The Guardian
