Monday 22 June 2026, 7.30pm
Tonight sees the release of two works by Jazz in Britain artists and affiliates: Epigram by The Day After - aka Pat Thomas (piano), Olie Brice (double bass) and Gary Willcox (drums), plus writer Chris Searle's new book, Global Groove.
Each member of The Day After is a bandleader/solo artist in their own right and has great experience playing as part of small groups, large ensembles, using electronics and collaborating with artists & musicians from other countries. Their eclectic backgrounds, shared love of modernism within tradition and individual drives combine to create an exciting and thoughtful trio.
'Global Groove' is Chris Searle's fourth book on jazz, following 'Forward Groove' (2008), 'Red Groove' (2013) and ‘Talking The Groove’ (2024). Throughout its pages he mixes his reviews with dozens of interviews with jazz veterans, established virtuosi and younger musicians - who Art Blakey called 'new stars of the jazz firmament'. He shows how through more than a century of its existence, jazz has grown hugely in its internationalism and inclusiveness, always remaining a campaigning and evolving music with its aims rooted in a quest for freedom, popular justice and astonishing, boundary-breaking artistry.
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
Olie Brice is a double bassist, improviser and composer. Raised in London and Jerusalem, he now lives by the sea in Hastings.
Olie Brice leads and composes for two groups, a trio (with Tom Challenger & Will Glaser) and an Octet (with Alex Bonney, Kim Macari, Jason Yarde, Rachel Musson, George Crowley, Cath Roberts & Johnny Hunter). Both of these groups were featured on the critically acclaimed double album ‘Fire Hills’. Previously Brice lead a quintet – “one of the most interesting and satisfying bands on the current UK scene” – which released two albums, ‘Immune to Clockwork’ and ‘Day After Day’. He has also composed a piece for improvising string quartet, ‘From the Mouths of Lions’, which will be released in 2024.
Brice is a committed free improviser, who has performed, toured and recorded with many of the leading names in the music. Frequent collaborators include Mark Sanders, Paul Dunmall, Rachel Musson, Tobias Delius, Cath Roberts and Luis Vicente, and he has also appeared with the likes of Evan Parker, Tony Malaby, John Butcher, Ingrid Laubrock, Ken Vandermark, Eddie Prevost and Louis Moholo. He is part of several ongoing improvising ensembles including Somersaults (with Tobias Delius & Mark Sanders) and The Acrylic Rib (with Albert Cirera & Nicolas Field).
Brice is also in demand as a bass player in creative ensembles led by many artists, including Dee Byrne’s Outlines and Out Front (Nick Malcolm’s quintet playing the music of Andrew Hill and Booker Little). He regularly performs at venues and festivals across Europe. Brice has been the recipient of Arts Council England funding multiple times and in 2021 received a composition commission from Jazz South.
“Brice makes the entire body of his bass sing. He has the ability to deliver a fractal line that is as purposeful as any by the great jazz bassists, but to do so within an entirely abstract setting” - Brian Morton, Point of Departure
Born in 1972 and from Shepperton, Middx, Gary Willcox started playing the drums when he was 10 years old.
In the early 1990s, Gary studied orchestral percussion at the Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff, under the tutorship of Chris Stock, Principal Percussionist of the BBC National Orch. of Wales.
During his time there he also had lessons with Pete Fairclough and Keith Tippett who introduced him to the wider world of Improvised Music.
From 2015 Gary has been a member of Loz Speyer's band, Inner Space.
Gary has performed at many of London and the UKs leading venues many times - Ronnie Scott's, The Vortex - and tonight returns to OTO with this new Trio.
https://www.garywillcoxdrums.co.uk/
Chris Searle has been jazz correspondent of the Morning Star, Europe's only socialist daily newspaper, for nearly three decades. During that time he has written hundreds of reviews of recorded and live jazz performances and interviewed numerous musicians.
Chris Searle was born in Romford in 1944. Fifty years a working teacher and educationalist, he has written or edited over fifty books on education, language, poetry, cricket and jazz. His book 'The Forsaken Lover' won the Martin Luther King Award in 1972, and he has written four autobiographical accounts: 'Isaac and I', 'We're Building the New School! Diary of a Teacher in Mozambique', 'Grenada Morning' and 'The World is in Our Words'.
