That Mysterious Forest Below London Bridge

Various

1 Chant_Lambert_Lexer_Milton 09/11/06 21:08
2 2 Coleman_Wastell_Wright_09:11:06 21:44
3 09/11/06 25:34

Interlace/Ongaku presented this live show at the Shunt Lounge in the labyrinth under the London Bridge station in November of 2006. Three groups performed: the e-a improv quartet of Tom Chant, Ross Lambert, Sebastian Lexer and Matt Milton; the trumpet/Indian harmonium duo of Jamie Coleman and Mark Wastell; and the AMM duo of Eddie Prevost and John Tilbury.

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Ross Lambert / guitar
Sebastian Lexer / piano, computer
Tom Chant / soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Matt Milton / violin
Seymour Wright / alto saxophone
Mark Wastell / harmonium 
Jamie Coleman / trumpet
Eddie Prévost / percussion
John Tilbury / piano

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An Interlace/Ongaku presentation at Shunt Lounge, London Bridge on 9th November 2006. With kind support of Shunt Lounge and EMS Goldsmiths’ College. Title taken from John Ruskin, Modern Painters Vol.V Part IX ‘Of Invention Spiritual’ 1860

 

Eddie Prévost

A founder-member of AMM (1965-2022)

[Eddie Prévost’s] is one of the greatest metallurgists that music has produced. […] sparks delicately arcing through the air, of slow lava ingesting its surroundings, of the shifting grind of tectonic plates across each other, of the rustle and glint of a firebird darting between shadows, and of ore smashing into the surface of the earth; but perhaps this language is overwrought: all that needs to be remarked upon is Prévost's industry, his diligence.”
Nathan Moore — liner note to AMM’s ‘Indúsria’
Matchless Recordings mrcd105.

But beyond this work Prévost has also maintained a relationship with the jazz drum-kit.

“His free drumming flows superbly making perfect use of his formidable technique, but his most startling feature is his stylelessness. It’s as though there has never been an Elvin Jones or a Max Roach.” - review of a set with saxophonist Lou Gare, Melody Maker (27.03.1975)

“Prévost, meanwhile, was simply miraculous; it was fascinating to watch him and to compare his approach with that of a Kern or a Nilssen-Love. I can only say that he was possessed of an uncanny, burning intentness that navigated the ensemble through passages of stark, sculpted beauty, grave concentration and full-on, bristling energy.”
Blue Tomato, Vienna 2012. In concert with Marilyn Crispell and Harrison Smith. Richard Rees-Jones

“An excellent release from one of the finest percussionists around, jazz or otherwise.” review of Prévost’s solo CD ‘Collider’
Matchless Recordings mrcd106 – Brian Olewnic, Squidsear (2022).

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

John Tilbury

John Tilbury is renowned for his peerless interpretation of the piano music of Morton Feldman, John Cage, Christian Wolff and Howard Skempton. In addition to the performances and seminal recordings that he has made of these composers’ works, he has been an eloquent advocate of their music in his writing and speaking about them. The same is true of the attention he has paid to the music and ideas of Cornelius Cardew, the subject of his authoritative biography published in 2008, and with whom he played in the legendary improvisation groups the Scratch Orchestra and AMM. In the last ten years John Tilbury has performed a range of plays and prose pieces by Samuel Beckett.

Video by Helen Petts

Mark Wastell

Mark Wastell is a versatile improvising musician who has played a central role in the British improvised music scene for thirty years. He has performed and recorded extensively and his varied resume includes projects with Derek Bailey, Phil Durrant, John Butcher, Lasse Marhaug, Rhodri Davies, Simon H. Fell, Burkhard Beins, John Tilbury, Mattin, Tony Conrad, Evan Parker, Tim Barnes, Bernhard Günter, Keith Rowe, John Zorn, Peter Kowald, Joachim Nordwall, Otomo Yoshihide, David Toop, Max Eastley, Hugh Davies, Julie Tippetts, Alan Skidmore, Mike Cooper, Chris Abrahams, Stewart Lee, Clive Bell, Arild Andersen, Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Maggie Nicols, Will Gaines, Charlotte Keeffe, Thomas Lehn, Thurston Moore and David Sylvian.