Catchpole / Edwards / Prévost – beyond the barrier

"How do we push beyond the merely presentational? Market acceptability is surely a too limiting artistic objective. Maybe, no objective at all. Contrary to what so many commentators and educators promulgate, there is always somewhere else to go, to explore, to enlarge and to enhance. Being content with one's lot is aesthetic (and maybe political death). There are no fixed objectives as characterised and circumscribed by systems and conventions. Within these digitally configured sounds you will hear cross generational responses to these questions. Nathanial Catchpole (b. 1980), John Edwards (b.1964) and myself (b. 1942) Negotiating the challenges of uncertainty. What might seem to be (on repeated listening) a fixed pattern, was, in performance, a series of questions and choices. How much should we push, pull, nudge and test anticipated responses? And, how much should we try the patience of our fellow musicians and our audience? These considerations are not necessarily barriers to playful activity. They are always - joyfully - limits to surmount and other horizons to be viewed." - Eddie Prévost.

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John Edwards / double bass

Nathaniel Catchpole / tenor saxophone

Edwin (Eddie) Prévost / drums and bowed tam-tam

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Recorded at a concert given at Network Theatre, London 21st December, 2014 by Giovanni La Rovere. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux. Design by Myah Chun. 

Available as a 320k MP3 or 16bit FLAC download.  

Tracklisting:

1. Beyond The Barrier - Part I - 38:33 

2. Beyond The Barrier - Part II - 31:55 

3. Beyond The Barrier - Part III - 9:21

 

John Edwards

John Edwards is a true virtuoso whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Peter Brötzmann, Mulatu Astatke and many others.

"I think John Edwards is absolutely remarkable: there’s never been anything like him before, anywhere in jazz." - Richard Williams, The Blue Moment

Eddie Prévost

Eddie Prévost began his life in music as a jazz drummer. A recurring interest in this form has been maintained, although always with an experimental ethos. Along the way he has maintained his fifty-year plus experimental credentials with AMM and numerous other improvisation projects, including his now twenty-year long weekly workshop. But drumming has generally been backgrounded to his experimental percussion work. More though, is to be expected of his drumming in 2020 on forthcoming multi-CD album: The Unexpected Alchemy. A part of this Krakow festival recording features the drums and saxophone trio of Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake, and Eddie Prévost. His most recent released recordings include AMM’s: An Unintended Legacy, and a duo with John Butcher - Visionary Fantasies, both on Matchless Recordings. Also, a solo percussion LP on the Earshots label called Matching Mix. Later, in 2020 he meets with Jason Yarde and Nathan Moore, while in March concerts and recording will hear him drumming with US guitarist Henry Kaiser and saxophonist Binker Golding.

And, early 2020 should see the publication of his fourth book: An Uncommon Music for the Common Man: a polemical memoir.

“Prévost's free drumming flows superbly making use of his formidable technique. It’s as though there has never been an Elvin Jones or Max Roach.” - Melody Maker

“Relentlessly innovative yet full of swing and fire.” – Morning Star