Tuesday 16 December 2025, 7.30pm
Derek Bailey formed COMPANY in 1976.
The premise was an effectively simple one; invite a group of musicians to improvise together, in various ad-hoc formations, with as little pre-planning as possible.
COMPANY 2025 (for Derek Bailey) celebrates this endeavour, and also marks the twentieth anniversary of Derek’s passing.
Khabat Abas (cello)
Julia Brüssel (violin)
John Butcher (saxophones)
Teresa Hackel (recorders)
Charles Hayward (drums)
Petra Haller (tap dance)
Pat Thomas (piano, electronics)
Matt Wand (electronics)
Alex Ward (electric guitar, clarinet)
Mark Wastell (percussion)
Compered by Stewart Lee
COMPANY 2025 (for Derek Bailey) includes musicians that participated in original COMPANY events organised by Derek; John Butcher (1990/91/92/95), Pat Thomas (1990/91), Alex Ward (1988/90/94, 2002), Mark Wastell (1999, 2000/01) and Matt Wand (1992/93), alongside performers new to the form; Khabat Abas, Charle Hayward, Teresa Heckel, Petra Haller and Julia Brüssel. Over two evenings, these ten musicians will combine in various group formations, chosen by a particular individual just moments before going on stage. The whole event will be compered by Derek Bailey devotee, Stewart Lee.
COMPANY 2025 (for Derek Bailey) curated by John Butcher, Tim Fletcher, Ian Greaves and Mark Wastell.
COMPANY is an association of improvising players – not a fixed group but an assortment of musicians who come together in various combinations. The first Company Week was in 1977 and, with a couple of exceptions, was an annual event in London until 1995. Since then, Company events have also taken place in many other parts of the world, in Hakushu (Japan) in Chattanooga, New York, Marseille and various other places. The earlier events, drew their membership largely from improvisors who, although not sharing formal music making relationships, would be familiar with, or at least aware of, each other’s work. Later versions of Company looked to recruit players from virtually any part of the musical spectrum. Normally, there will be 9 –11 people on each event but sometimes much larger numbers have taken part; in 1988, 29 people, in 1990, 34. Throughout, the structure and intention of Company has remained the same. Everything is designed to avoid as far as possible any preconceptions as to what the music might be and to make improvisation a necessity. COMPANY is about mutual music-making and, at times demands the sacrifice of individual preferences. It calls for musical generosity, curiousity and sensitivity, the ability to respond instinctively and constructively to new and unfamiliar situations. (Derek Bailey)
With support from:
Khabat Abas is an experimental cellist, improviser, and composer from Iraqi Kurdistan. She moves freely between artistic discipline and possibilities. Her works are inspired by a broad collection of methods, including noise, improvisation, and narrative storytelling as individual approaches. Therefore, she searches for unheard sounds or undiscovered spaces. Khabat is probably best known for her adapted cello and improvisational work exploring extended techniques, through which she started developing pieces that respond to the objects that are surrounding her or to her childhood memories. In her practice, she raises questions about what is out of bounds, raising the possibilities of sounds that cannot be controlled – in contrast to traditional musical values.
Julia Brüssel is dedicated to a wide variety of genres and has a passion for dealing with musical diversity, characteristics, flexibilities and roles. Accordingly, her work includes solo performances both unplugged and with live electronics, but also work as a composer and home producer. In the avantgarde/ experimental (kraut)rock genre she has played with bands like TheDorf, faUSt, RKet, Horse Lords,..and has led several projects like the experimental string ensemble Liasemble, the Jazzband Julia Brüssel Quartet and is also a co-leader of the band song-improv band hilde. In addition to this she founded various projects of other genres and is currently working on a new project with Ghanaian percussionist Abass Dodoo. Julia has played on numerous jazz and avantgarde festivals (e.g. Berlin Solo Impro, Berlin Jazz Festival, Bezau Beatz (...),and has performed at the Moers Festival many times since 2018. She regularly plays and collaborates with international artists and formations in and outside of Europe.
Butcher is well known as a saxophonist who attempts to engage with the uniqueness of time and place. His music ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback and unusual acoustics. Since the early 80s he has collaborated with hundreds of artists – including Derek Bailey, Rhodri Davies, Andy Moor, Phil Minton, Christian Marclay, Eddie Prévost, Magda Mayas, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Sophie Agnel, Gino Robair, Mark Sanders, John Tilbury, Okkyung Lee, John Edwards, Chris Corsano, Polwechsel and Steve Beresford.
Alongside long term projects he values occasional encounters; from large groups such as the WDR Sinfonieorchester & Butch Morris’ “London Skyscraper”, to duo concerts with Joe McPhee, Fred Frith, Akio Suzuki, Paal Nilssen-Love, Keiji Haino, David Toop, Angharad Davies, Otomo Yoshihide and Matthew Shipp.
Recent compositions include “Penny Wands” for Futurist Intonarumori, three HCMF commissions for his own groups, “Good Liquor Caused my Heart for to Sing” for the London Sinfonietta and “Tarab Cuts”, a response to recordings of early Arabic classical music which was shortlisted for a British Composer’s Award.
“English saxophonist John Butcher may be among the world’s most influential musicians, operating at the cutting-edge of improvisatory practice since the ‘80s. Whenever an acoustic musician starts to sound like a bank of oscillators, a tropical forest, a brook or an insect factory, Butcher’s influence is likely nearby.” – New York City Jazz Record.
The recorder player Teresa Hackel, born in Berlin, is based in Switzerland since 2005.
Her focus is free improvisation and she is keen to search for strange and unconventional sounds on the different types of the recorder. In her playing she values listening – there is no unnecessary sound, just the music that comes by itself.Teresa Hackel was awarded the 3rd Prize at the Concours Nicati for interpreters of contemporary music in Bern. In 2018 the CD “Solare” was released with pieces of Fausto Romitelli, in 2022 she released the CD “Zustandsformen” with the guitar player Karin Rüdt. The Aargauer Kuratorium has awarded Teresa Hackel with a scholarship and a stay in London from July to December 2024. She has worked collaboratively with Caroline Kraabel, Sue Lynch, Eiko Yamada, Tony Hardie-Bick, Tansy Spinks, Adrian Northover, Ivor Kallin, Pascal Marzan, Douglas Benford and many others.
Petra Haller is an independent dance artist and tap dancer based in London. She started her career as a freelance dancer working on BBC1, The One Show: SKY1, Luie Spence’s Show Business; Ellen Kent Production, Aida, as well as various music videos and live events. After several years of solely working for other people she started creating, producing and performing her own work as well. Her first outings as a creator, dancer, producer include: “Charlie: My Message to Humanity”, Lake Studios, Berlin and the Solo Theatre Showcase “Solo Roulette” at the Blue Elephant Theatre in November 2018 Performing “Deliver Me” a theatre and dance piece which combines spoken word and contemporary dance.
She is currently the resident dancer ad Resonances Performances, an interdisciplinary collaboration of improvised music, poetry, digital art and live painting led by Aurelie Freoua and supported by the Vortex Jazz Club. Petra has been the first tap dancer named in Jazzwise Magazine’s rising jazz artists section in: Who to look out for in 2020. She has mainly studied tap under Jason Samuels Smith and Derick Grant, who not only taught her the dance style but also inspired her to study the roots fo this African-American art form in jazz music and African American history.
She was introduced to free improvisation by Cleveland Watkiss at the Freedom of Art Loft Jam and immediately found herself at home. Petra is committed to honor the lineage and history of tap dance while finding her place in improvised music and jazz, constantly hungry to learn and collaborate with other art forms and instrumentalists. Recent performances include Orbit - On The Wings Of Freedom Vortex Jazz Club 2024 1/Resilience/Memories: Vortex Jazz Club 2020 Jazz Connective; Vortex Jazz Club 2020 Tap Dance and Piano Duo with Richard Adam Lewis: Vortex Jazz Club 2020 Resonances 3 Reves: Vortex Jazz Club, London Jazz Festival 2019 Exctasies; Artwalk Wakefield 2019
www.petrahaller.net/home
Pat Thomas studied classical piano from aged 8 and started playing Jazz from the age of 16. He has since gone on to develop an utterly unique style - embracing improvisation, jazz and new music. He has played with Derek Bailey in Company Week (1990/91) and in the trio AND (with Noble) – with Tony Oxley’s Quartet and Celebration Orchestra and in Duo with Lol Coxhill.
"Sartorially shabby as Thomas may be, and on first impression even rather stolid, he has a somewhat imperious charisma that’s immediately amplified when he starts to play. Unlike other pianists whose virtuosity seems to be racing ahead of their thought processes Thomas always seems supremely in command of his gift, and his playing, no matter how free and ready to tangle with abstraction, always carries a charge of authoritative exactitude." - The Jazzmann
Rare London appearance of this electronic music legend. Matt Wand played with Stock, Hausen & Walkman, collaborated with Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, documented on Incus, The Tony Oxley Quartet and The Tony Oxley Orchestra on Soul Note. Has worked on many commissions for installations and exhibitions in the UK and abroad. He has written film scripts for short films and animations (one winning the Goldcrest Award for best short in 1988).
Mark Wastell is a versatile improvising musician who has played a central role in the British improvised music scene for thirty years. He has performed and recorded extensively and his varied resume includes projects with Derek Bailey, Phil Durrant, John Butcher, Lasse Marhaug, Rhodri Davies, Simon H. Fell, Burkhard Beins, John Tilbury, Mattin, Tony Conrad, Evan Parker, Tim Barnes, Bernhard Günter, Keith Rowe, John Zorn, Peter Kowald, Joachim Nordwall, Otomo Yoshihide, David Toop, Max Eastley, Hugh Davies, Julie Tippetts, Alan Skidmore, Mike Cooper, Chris Abrahams, Stewart Lee, Clive Bell, Arild Andersen, Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Maggie Nicols, Will Gaines, Charlotte Keeffe, Thomas Lehn, Thurston Moore and David Sylvian.
Stewart Lee (“the world’s greatest living stand-up comedian” The Times), is in danger of being left behind. He’s approaching sixty with debilitating health conditions, his TV profile has diminished, and his once BAFTA award-winning style of stand-up seems obsolete in the face of a wave of callous Netflix-endorsed comedy of anger, monetising the denigration of minorities for millions of dollars. But he can still pack ’em in at CAFÉ OTO!
