Sunday 18 October 2015, 8pm
Always a pleasure to welcome back the vitalising fire, energy and essential craft of Joe McPhee's Survival Unit III, featuring drummer Michael Zerang and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm.
“Survival Unit III, formed in 2006 but their two sets were steeped in the fire, focus and collective energy of an earlier time. Improvisations arced from scattered abstractions to furious, dense textures, as McPhee’s brittle trumpet or abrasive, warm-centred sax spiralled to a climax. Underneath, Fred Lonberg-Holm attacked his cello like a demon and doctored its tone with abstract crackles and percussive pops, while percussionist Michael Zerang clattered and clanged with a tremendous sense of pulse.” – Mike Hobart, FT review of Survival Unit's residency at OTO in 2013.
“... [Joe Mcphee's] magical take on avant-garde sax remains one of the wonders of the scene. He still has one of the most beautiful tones on the planet, even when he’s reaching for jazz’s outer limits.” – Time Out New York
Preceeding this event; music critic, record producer, and curator, John Corbett presents a free early evening launch for his new book, ‘Microgroove: Forays Into Other Music’, with Joe McPhee (who features on the book's cover as well as inside) playing a special solo set.
Joe McPhee grew up in New York, is a multi-instrumentalist and plays since the late 60ties within the creative and free jazz music world. His play is energetic, demanding and breathtaking sensitive - still with over 80 years! He learnt to play trumpet as a kid and - inspired by John Coltrane, Albert Ayler and Ornette Colemann - he thought himself saxophone in his thirties. McPhee's first recording was with Clifford Thornton in 1967 on the album "Freedom and Unity". He became involved and known in Europe in the midd 70ties and since the 90ties he also plays with a younger generation from Chicago and New York. He played/plays regular for example with Ken Vandermark, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Mats Gustafsson, Dominic Duval, Jay Rosen, Jeb Bishop, The Thing, Clifton Hyde, Jérôme Bourdellon, Raymond Boni, Joe Giardullo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_McPhee
Percussionist, improvisor and composer Michael Zerang was born in 1958 in Chicago, Illinois. He has co-founded and performed with the musical groups Liof Munimula, The Neutrino Orchestra, Trio Troppo, The Wonderfuls, The Blue Angels, Sam Pappas' Tumbling Strains, Frozen Lucy, The Quirt Quintet, Musica Menta, The Vandermark Quartet, Dream Cheese, The Sputter Ensemble, In Zenith, and Broken Wire . In addition to these ensembles, Zerang currently performs with many innovative musicians including AACM co-founder Fred Anderson, Mats Gustafsson, Raymond Strid, Sten Sandell, Don Meckley, Jaap Blonk, Daniel Scanlan, Peter Brötzmann, Kent Kessler, Barre Phillips, Jim Baker, Hamid Drake, Ken Vandermark, Luc Hautkamp, and Fred Lonberg-Holm. He has recorded for Okka Disc, boxMEDIA, Kontrans, Southport, Quinnah, Eighth Day Music, Garlic, and Platypus, labels as well as many others.
Chicago based cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm has played and studied music in a variety of situations from the Juilliard School to the gutter. A former student of Anthony Braxton, Morton Feldman, Bunita Marcus and Pauline Oliveros, his primary projects are his Valentine Trio and The Lightbox Orchestra. He is also a member of a number of ongoing collective projects (The Boxhead Ensemble, The Friction Brothers with Michaels Zerang and Colligan, The Flatlands Collective, Keefe Jackson's Fast Citizens) as well as participating in numerous one off "ad-hoc" or in frequently convening en-sembles.
