Saturday 7 May 2016, 5pm, OTO Project Space
Double bassist Guillaume Viltard presents 6 duets across 5 evenings in the OTO Project Space.
“If acoustic instruments had been invented after the use of electricity and electronics, it would have represented a major advance in the history of music: perfect definition of sound, rich timbres, energy self-sufficiency, recyclable materials, etc.”
An intensely physical double-bassist Viltard was one of OTO’s first associate artists – he has played and performed here with musicians as diverse as Otomo Yoshihide and Kan Mikami, Louis Moholo-Moholo, and Evan Parker. Particularly memorable was a sensational solo set in support of Marc Ribot. Most often his work has been in the ‘classic’ jazz format of saxophone/bass/drums: from trios with the late Tony Marsh and Shabaka Hutchings, to most recently Eddie Prévost and Ken Vandermark.
His uncompromising, physical and rhythmic approach to the double-bass – always acoustic, adamant – connects to jazz learning from sources as diverse as Jean-Jacques Avenel, Barre Phillips, Johnny Mbizo Dyani and Ronnie Boykins.
His close association with OTO endures, and since late summer 2013 he has been part of a group of musicians playing, pushing and learning day and night in the OTO project space. Most often private, groupings around this new energy these groups are increasingly public, for example Steve Noble’s (new) Quartet.
Video by Helen Petts
Ute Kanngießer is a London based cellist and composer from Germany. Over the years, she has carefully deconstructed her classical roots and almost exclusively performs unscripted, improvised music - solo and in collaboration with others. Much of her work has evolved in relationship with other art forms such as film, poetry, and site specific work. She is interested in the vast expressive possibilities of her instrument in relation to body, space, and others, always looking to rediscover or redefine what is musical/lyrical in this moment in time.
Recent collaborations have been with Paul Abbott, Tom Wheatley, Theodora Laird, Nik Colk Void, Okkyung Lee, Caius Williams, Bo-Sung Kim, Steve Noble, Kenichi Iwasa, and Phil Minton. She has also performed alongside poets Denise Riley, Nathaniel Mackey, Evie Ward, and Zara Joan Miller.
