CHRIS CORSANO

"The most riotosly energetic and creative drummer in contemporary free jazz. Corsano's sudden shifts of texture and dynamics are a wonder to behold." - The Wire

Chris Corsano has gained a well-earned reputation as one of the hardest-working drummers around. Equally at home with intense kinetic explosions of energy and concentrated near-silence, he effortlessly flows from one idea to the next, always sympatico with his fellow musicians. He has recorded and gigged with, among others, Paul Flaherty, Thurston Moore, Jessica Rylan, Jim O'Rourke, Matt Heyner, Mick Flower, Nels Cline, Jandek, Greg Kelly, Daniel Carter, Six Organs of Admittance, Evan Parker, Sunburned Hand Of Man, Okkyung Lee, Wally Shoup, MV&EE, Keiji Haino, Dredd Foole, Vampire Belt, Joe McPhee, Carlos Giffoni, Akira Sakata, Christina Carter and Heather Leigh Murray.

http://www.myspace.com/chriscorsano

MICK BECK

"He plays the tenor with conviction that can border on lawlessness. Mick Beck has been causing jaws to drop by playing the bassoon. He is now getting something personal and unheralded out of the bassoon" - The Wire.

"Ace tenor saxophonist Mick Beck incorporates an amplified bassoon (in a way) that defies even the most oddball stereotypes" - All About Jazz, June 2006.

"Beck's abstract resources extend to all manner of whistles and squeals, but his tenor sax playing is a resourceful development of Evan Parker's" - The Guardian, May 2005.

"Able to double- and triple-tongue on a double reed, he creates dissonant textures you wouldn't associate with the usual orchestral instrument" - Cadence Jazz Records no. 1164.

Mick Beck has been working since 1980 in jazz, free music and as a composer and club/ festival organiser.

After leading the touring quartet, Jazzmine, in the early 1980s, he was a member of Will Evans multi-dimensional group, Dan Kolobi, and since 1984 has been a member from time to time of Derek Bailey's Company. Blending performance with composition, in 1987 he founded FeetPackets, a Sheffield-based large improvising band which toured England three times between 1988 and 1990. It has given one-off performances since then when opportunities arise, and produced a CD and two cassettes. In 1993, he was a member of the 11-piece band which celebrated the Leeds City centenary with a specially commissioned work, Piece for 10(0) by Simon Fell.

Recent collaborations have included a trio with Stuart Brown, keyboards and Will Evans, percussion; pianist Alex Maguire, bass player Marcio Mattos, and drummers Steve Noble and Louis Moholo; Hugh Metcalf and Bob Cobbins; and duos with Tony Marsh, drums and Mary Oliver, voice. His trio 'Something Else!' with Simon Fell (bass) and Paul Hession (drums) toured extensively in 1993 and has produced a cassette and CD. Beck also plays straight jazz and in this medium has worked with, among others, Fred T Baker (bass) and Pete Fairclough (drums).

Mick Beck sees his development mainly as a small group and solo performer. He seeks to extend appreciation of harmonic relationships which go beyond the tempered keyboard, and to re-introduce some of the rhythms and instrumental techniques which have been ignored or under-used by contemporary improvisors. He also wishes to continue to be technically innovative on the tenor saxophone.

JOHN EDWARDS

After taking up the bass, around 1987, John Edwards co-formed The Pointy Birds who went on to win awards for their music for The Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs dance troupes. The group appeared at festivals in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Moers, Leverkusen, Copenhagen. Around 1990, Edwards played his first gigs with London improvisers such as Roger Turner, Lol Coxhill, Maggie Nicols, Phil Minton.

Between 1990 and 1995 Edwards was a member of three touring groups simultaneously: B-Shops For The Poor, The Honkies and GOD. During this period he also became an increasingly regular player on the London improvised music scene and performed his first solo gigs; he composed and performed music theatre with the bass and cello duo The Great Explorers, street-busked a lot and appeared at many more festivals in Germany, Estonia, France, Italy, Czech, etc.

Since 1995 John Edwards has become a "mainstay" of the London scene, playing with just about everybody, an activity that has seen him clocking up between 150 and 200 gigs a year. He has become regular player with Evan Parker, in many groupings, and with Tony Bevan, Veryan Weston, and Elton Dean, often in collaboration with Mark Sanders on percussion. He has become a more frequent player on the European (and festival) scene, appearing at Taktlos, Ulrichsburg, Nickelsdorf, Budapest, New Zealand and in the USA. He continues to work on solo performances.