Evan Parker continues to provide a locus of energy and inpiration as he celebrates his 70th year in 2014. This special concert pairs him with Polish saxophonist Mikolaj Trzaska - a hero in his homeland and one of the most vibrant new voices in European free jazz. The two are joined by John Edwards on Double Bass and Mark Sanders on Drums - the ubiquity of both players in a variety of contexts is testament to the incredible energy and unstoppable ideas they inject into any given situation. This should be pretty special.

EVAN PARKER / saxophones

"ln The Human Province, Elias Canetti writes "lt is not enough to think, one also has to breathe. Dangerous are the thinkers who have not breathed enough." In Evan Parker's music, thought and breath are continuous, each the instrument and measure of the other." Stuart Broomer, Coda 1995

Evan Parker has been a consistently innovative presence in British free music since the 1960s. Parker played with John Stevens in the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, experimenting with new kinds of group improvisation and held a long-standing partnership with guitarist Derek Bailey. The two formed the Music Improvisation Company and later Incus Records. He also has tight associations with European free improvisations - playing on Peter Brötzmann's legendary 'Machine Gun' session (1968), with Alexander Von Schlippenbach and Paul Lovens (A trio that continues to this day), Globe Unity Orchestra, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, and Barry Guy's London Jazz Composers Orchestra (LJCO).

Though he has worked extensively in both large and small ensembles, Parker is perhaps best known for his solo soprano saxophone music, a singular body of work that in recent years has centred around his continuing exploration of techniques such as circular breathing, split tonguing, overblowing, multiphonics and cross-pattern fingering. These are technical devices, yet Parker's use of them is, he says, less analytical than intuitive; he has likened performing his solo work to entering a kind of trance-state. The resulting music is certainly hypnotic, an uninterrupted flow of snaky, densely-textured sound that Parker has described as "the illusion of polyphony". Many listeners have indeed found it hard to credit that one man can create such intricate, complex music in real time.

Evan Parker website

JOHN EDWARDS / double bass

John Edwards is a true virtuoso whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Peter Brötzmann, Mulatu Astatke and many others.

"I think John Edwards is absolutely remarkable: there’s never been anything like him before, anywhere in jazz." - Richard Williams, The Blue Moment

MARK SANDERS / drums & percussion Mark Sanders has been acclaimed as "the most exciting, original and overwhelmingly powerful drummer alive" (Steve Reynolds, Jazz Corner) and his precise and propulsive drumming has graced projects with, to name but a few, Evan Parker, Jah Wobble, Broadcast, Agusti Fernandez, Christian Marclay, Matthew Shipp, John Butcher, Roswell Rudd, Henry Grimes and Otomo Yoshihide.

"ubiquitous, diverse and constantly creative, drummer Mark Sanders always outdoes himself, whether playing with restraint or erupting like a dynamo." Bruce L Gallenter, Downtown Music Gallery. NY

MIKOLAJ TRZASKA / alto sax, bass clarinet

Mikolaj Trzaska is one of Poland's leading free jazz musicians. He has toured and recorded with his Clarinet Trio (with Ken Vandermark and Waclaw Zimpel), Peter Brotzmann, Joe McPhee and Lester Bowie, among many others. He is also a member of ken vandermark's Resonance Ensemble.

“Mikolaj's sound on alto is mesmerizing, even at his most lyrical there's the inner tension in the timbre, you could hide entire planets in there, even at his most expansive and screaming, there's something intimate and emotional to what he plays” - (Free) Jazz Alchemist

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This concert is a form of saying thank you for Evan Parker's permission to use fragments of his music in Arkadiusz Krawczyk's audio-book: Slush, from a beginning to an end, scored for voices, Delusive Mystery Plays.