CHINO SHUICHI

Piano

Born in Tokyo, Chino has been active in the popular music scene since 1970s, and has been involved in pop-music, jazz and rock groups as a keyboard player, a pianist, and a producer. (1972-80: Downtown Boogie Woogie Band, 1982-85: Wha ha ha, 1983-95: A-Musik,1994-96: Ground Zero) He has also composed music for dance, film and theatre (1980-85: Norio Yagishita Butoh Group, 1985-2007: Dairakudakan Butoh Group, 1995-2007: Ehara Tomoko Dance Company, etc.) and has created sound installations.

Since 2006, he has been organizing numerous workshops about improvised music which include the improvised music festival for two pianos, Piano Buto-kai (2006-7). He regularly organizes 5-60 concerts during a year in Japan and worldwide.



ROGER TURNER

Drums and Percussion

Roger Turner is applauded for his precision and speed since he entered the London improvising scene in the 1970s. His restricted drum kit is extended by found objects to create a sound comparable to no other. He’s played with Evan Parker, Cecil Taylor, Otomo Yoshihide, Shelley Hirsch, Joëlle Léandre, Keith Rowe...

Roger Turner info on the EFI group website

NAOKI KITA

Violin

With roots in tango and classical violin, Kita brings a unique perspective to his varied approach to improvised violin playing with a focused intensity and rhythmic flair.

He first studied the classical music at a music college in Japan, and studied composition for the film and the jazz improvisation in the UK. After these studies, he stayed in Buenos Aires for four month, and learned a way of playing the tango under Fernado Suarez Paz who used to be a member of Astor Piazzolla’s quintet and performed with local musicians in several tango shows. He's joined many concerts and recordings of Japanese tango players since coming back to japan in '99.

In recent years, Kita has expanded the field of his musical activities to include improvised music and collaborations with performers of contemporary dance and so on and his field of vision is now not be fixed in a certain musical genre. He has attempted to approach the music from many different directions. For example his performance is sometimes theatrical. In a concert series “grating sound” given with a piano player, Kyoko Kuroda, he composes, plays the violin, sings and recites original poems. He has aimed to create “installations of music and word”.

Kita also performs in a band called “Salle Gaveau”. The music of this band is a kind of a fusion of tango, free jazz and punk rock. The band toured the EU countries several times in the past years, and the performances were highly regarded in each cities. In the 2008, the band performed at “Maison de la culture du Japon a Paris”, and in 2010 performed at “Istituto Giapponese di cultura” in Rome.



Naoki Kita on Myspace

HANNAH MARSHALL

Hannah Marshall is a cellist currently active within improvised music in London, playing with, amongst others, Alexander Hawkin's Ensemble, 'Zinc' with Roger Turner and Tim Hodgkinson, and string trio 'Barrel'. She also works internationally with Luc Ex's and Veryan Weston's group SOL, in a trio with saxophonist Gianni Mimmo and pianist Nicola Guazzaloca, and Swiss duo 'diatribes'.

Hannah Marshall on Myspace