Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith // Brass & Percussion Ensembles

Event information

Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith is one of the most adventurous and engaged figures in creative music today and his recent 4CD boxset - 'Ten Freedom Summers' showed that he is currently operating at the height of his creative powers. This will be his third visit to Cafe OTO and his residencies here always offer a new insight to his approach to music. This time he will be working with four groups across the two nights. On Sunday, an acoustic trio with guitarists John Coxon and John Russell followed by an electrified quintet with Coxon, Russell, John Edwards and Mark Sanders. On the monday he'll open with a brass quartet with Gail Brand (trombone) and trumpeters Ian Smith and Byron Wallen and then finish things off with a driving percussion ensemble featuring Charles Hayward and more percussionists TBC.

ISHMAEL WADADA LEO SMITH / trumpet

Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith has been active in the creative contemporary music world for over 30 years. A trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser, his original theory of jazz and world music has been significant in his musical development as an artist and educator. Born in Leland, Miss., Smith's early musical life began in high school concert and marching bands. At the age of 13, he became immersed in the Delta Blues and improvisational music traditions. As an improvisor-composer, Smith has studied a variety of music cultures (African, Japanese, Indonesian, European and American) and to fully express this music, he has developed an original theory and notation system for jazz and world music which he calls Ankhrasmation.

GAIL BRAND / trombone

Described as "the most exciting trombone player for years” (The Wire), Gail has recorded and performed on the international jazz and improvising scene since the early 1990s with Billy Jenkins, Elton Dean, Evan Parker, Phil Minton, Pat Thomas, Lol Coxhill, Veryan Weston, Oren Marshall, Maggie Nicols, Georg Graewe and countless others. Recent projects include work with comedian Stewart Lee and appearing in both series of ‘Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle’ (BBC TV); the duo with US improvising vocalist Morgan Guberman; long standing duo with drummer Mark Sanders and Gail Brand Sextet performing her pieces with edgy improvisation at the heart of the music.

“..one of the most passionate and dynamic musicians alive." Time Out

"..an outrageously earthy tone and original, fluid style " All Music Guide

IAN SMITH / trumpet

“Smith’s trumpet playing is a particular revelation. His brassy blats and smears play off of the hyperactive spatters of Eisenstadt’s drums. There is a clear jazz edge to his tone, which sounds almost radical these days when many trumpet players in the improv world seem inclined to turn their back on that vocabulary. But he can also dip down to breathy flutters and muted coloristic playing.” Signal to Noise

BYRON WALLEN / trumpet

Byron Wallen is "one of the most innovative, exciting and original trumpet players alive" (Jazzwise Magazine). Widely recognised as a seminal figure in world jazz, he is constantly travelling the world recording, teaching and performing.

“Byron's always absorbing music genuinely draws in the disparate elements of African and Eastern cultures, while retaining true jazz spirit … ”

Byron was raised in a musical environment and started learning his first instrument, the piano, at an early age. He then went on to study the trumpet with Jimmy Owens, Donald Byrd and Jon Faddis in New York. His early music career was forged while he was studying for a degree in Psychology, Philosophy and Maths at Sussex University (he graduated in 1992). During this period he recorded for Loose Ends and Cleveland Watkiss, and played trumpet with the likes of Mervyn Africa, The Style Council, Charles Earland, Courtney Pine and Jean Toussaint.

CHARLES HAYWARD / drums

Charles Hayward is known as the pioneering drummer with This Heat and Camberwell Now. In 1976, Hayward and fellow Radar Favourites and Dolphin Logic member, Charles Bullen began practising with bassist Gareth Williams under the name This Heat. They began to experiment with tape loops, found sounds and keyboards on several sessions (recorded from 1976 to 1978, but not released until 1979). Finally, in 1979, This Heat released their self-titled debut album. 1981's Deceit marked the final new album from This Heat, Williams leaving just after its release.

While Bullen began working as a studio engineer, Hayward did sessions for Lora Logic, the Raincoats and Everything But the Girl before forming Camberwell Now with bassist Trefor GORONWY and tape manipulator Stephen RICKARD. The trio released several albums through the Swiss Recommended label.

When Camberwell Now disbanded in 1987 Hayward embarked on a solo career which has continued to the present day. He debuted with Survive the Gesture (1987), Skew-whiff (1989) Switch on War (1991) and My Secret Alphabet (with Nick DOYNE-DITMAS) in 1993. Committed to song 'but the shapes have to change', the current incarnation of his one-man show is an intoxicating mix of percussive attack, swirling electronics and lyrical fragment collage.

"Telepathic magic……. Hayward is one of the most life-affirming people who stalks this dark globe." - SOUND PROJECTOR