Monday 19 October 2015, 8pm
The Electrics (Axel Dörner / Sture Ericson / Joe Williamson / Raymond Strid) + Dominic Lash / Alex Ward (duo)
“Should be recognized without qualifictions as an identifying archetype of top- flight improvisation”, “A true Northern European super group” – Ken Waxman, Jazz Weekly on The Electrics
Jazz, free jazz, improv and contemporary music in a melting pot, a highly original musical profile created by four internationally acknowledged improvisers:
“The Electrics shift smoothly across adjacent genres, edging over from free jazz simmer to intricate small sound mosaics. They vary pace and dynamics expertly, and the energy flow is unaffected by their collective descent to the molecular level of buzz, tap, purr and whirr. It´s a total music conception fully realized by highly skilled players who impose no limits on their instruments.” – The WIRE
Axel Dörner
German trumpeter Axel Dörner has a unique style of playing based on unusual, often self-invented techniques that make use of breath and microscopic sounds as much as conventional note-playing - but that didn't stop him winning the prestigious SWR Jazz Prize in 2006.One Final Note has described him as “one of the most interesting improvisers in the world, an instrumentalist of prodigious technique, deep sensitivity, and a creativity that continues to grow with each release.”
http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mdorner.html
Sture Ericson
After having spent a number of years as part of the internationally aknowledged swedish ensemble Position Alpha, and after numerous ad hoc anventures with musicians like Rhodri Davies, Chris Burn, Derek Bailey and Fred Lohnberg Holm, one of his preferred contexts is The Electrics. “I only know of reedsman, Sture Ericson, from the other Electrics disc, yet he is outstanding througout” (Downtown Music Gallery – Bruce Lee Gallanter).
Joe Williamson
A native of Vancouver, Canada, Williamson has been living in extended periods in London. Berlin, Amsterdam and Stockholm and is well established and appreciated on the experimental scenes in all those mayor cities, having played with, among others Han Bennink, John Butcher, Rudi Mahall, Tony Buck, Tobias Delius etc.
Video by Helen Petts
Raymond Strid
Raymond Strid was discovered by the world in the nineties as a member of the group Gush, along with Mats Gustafsson and Sten Sandell. A musician with big ears and an exceptional sense of group improvisation Strid has later in other trio adventures.One was formed with Mats and UK bass wizard Barry Guy, and another with pianoplayer Marilyn Crispell and Anders Jormin on bass. He is also a member of Barry Guy New Orchestra.
Dominic Lash
Bassist Dominic Lash is based in Bristol and has performed with musicians such as Tony Conrad (in duo and quartet formations), Joe Morris (trio and quartet), Evan Parker (duo, quartet and large ensemble) and the late Steve Reid. His main projects include The Dominic Lash Quartet, The Set Ensemble (an experimental music group focused on the work of the Wandelweiser collective) and The Convergence Quartet.
http://dominiclash.blogspot.co.uk/
Alex Ward
Alex Ward is a composer, improviser, and performing musician, working primarily with clarinet and guitar. His involvement in freely improvised music dates back to 1986, when he met the guitarist Derek Bailey. He subsequently took part regularly in Bailey's Company events, and has gone on to become a major figure in British improvised music.
His current work includes the avant-rock duo Dead Days Beyond Help in which he plays guitar, sings and co-writes the material; various groups which perform his compositions-for-improvisers including Forebrace, the Alex Ward Quintet/Sextet, and the Item series of ensembles (the first of which, Item 10, debuted at Cafe Oto in September 2017); and improvising collaborations both regular and ad-hoc with musicians including Steve Noble, Dominic Lash, Kay Grant, Joe Morris and Weasel Walter. Besides his own groups and improvisational work, he also performs in ensembles including the Duck Baker Trio/Quartet, Thurston Moore’s recent multi-guitar projects Galaxies and New Noise Guitar Explorations, and Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward’s This Is Not This Heat. He brings a unique energy and inventiveness to all these projects, elevating them far above the ordinary and injecting them with a thrilling sense of danger and possibility. Much of his work is documented on the label Copepod, which he co-runs with Luke Barlow.
"...guitarist Alex Ward [is] a compulsively creative polymath... a reliably unpredictable axe-hero for collaborators of all backgrounds." Stewart Lee, The Sunday Times Review
