LONDON: Cafe Oto

TUE 28TH MAY, 2013 8PM

The trio of Evan Parker, Eddie Prevost and John Edwards return to Cafe OTO for an extended residency with two very esteemed guests from Germany - pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and trombone player Christof Thewes.

"Last year at Waterloo's Network Theatre free-jazz and improv percussionist Eddie Prévost began the series of encounters that gives this set its name – Jason Yarde and John Butcher are among the guests on upcoming volumes. But this May 2011 recording with Evan Parker and the latter's regular bass partner John Edwards marks a spectacular start. The first piece builds from breathy insinuations to a driving intensity. The second starts on a bass/drums gallop, briefly turns to a folksy improvised melody, then swells up over Prévost's cymbal-tingling groove almost into an orthodox jazz walk and a softly multiphonic close. Free-jazz doubters might well find a eureka moment here." - John Fordham, The Guardian 7th June 2012

EVAN PARKER / saxophones

"ln The Human Province, Elias Canetti writes "lt is not enough to think, one also has to breathe. Dangerous are the thinkers who have not breathed enough." In Evan Parker's music, thought and breath are continuous, each the instrument and measure of the other." Stuart Broomer, Coda 1995

Evan Parker has been a consistently innovative presence in British free music since the 1960s. Parker played with John Stevens in the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, experimenting with new kinds of group improvisation and held a long-standing partnership with guitarist Derek Bailey. The two formed the Music Improvisation Company and later Incus Records. He also has tight associations with European free improvisations - playing on Peter Brötzmann's legendary 'Machine Gun' session (1968), with Alexander Von Schlippenbach and Paul Lovens (A trio that continues to this day), Globe Unity Orchestra, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, and Barry Guy's London Jazz Composers Orchestra (LJCO).

Though he has worked extensively in both large and small ensembles, Parker is perhaps best known for his solo soprano saxophone music, a singular body of work that in recent years has centred around his continuing exploration of techniques such as circular breathing, split tonguing, overblowing, multiphonics and cross-pattern fingering. These are technical devices, yet Parker's use of them is, he says, less analytical than intuitive; he has likened performing his solo work to entering a kind of trance-state. The resulting music is certainly hypnotic, an uninterrupted flow of snaky, densely-textured sound that Parker has described as "the illusion of polyphony". Many listeners have indeed found it hard to credit that one man can create such intricate, complex music in real time.

JOHN EDWARDS / double bass

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.

EDDIE PREVOST / drums, percussion

Eddie Prévost plays with immense fire, grace and invention. Founder of the essential AMM, collaborator of the greatest improvisers internationally, since the 60's he has kept a continuous contact with the scene and always manages to invent anew his contribution to "meta-music".

“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

ALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH / piano

One of Europe's premier free jazz bandleaders, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach's musicmixes free and contemporary classical elements, with his slashing solos often the link between the two in his compositions. Schlippenbach formed The Globe Unity Orchestra in 1966 to perform the piece "Globe Unity, which had been commissioned by the Berliner Jazztage. He remained involved with the orchestra into the '80s. Schlippenbach began taking lessons at eight, and studied at the Staatliche Hochschule for Musik in Cologne with composers Bernd Alois Zimmermann and Rudolf Petzold. He played with Gunther Hampel in 1963, and was in Manfred Schoof's quintet from 1964 to 1967. Schlippenbach began heading various bands after 1967, among them 1970 trio with Evan Parker and Paul Lovens and a duo with Sven-Ake Johansson which they co-formed in 1976. Schlippenbach has also given many solos performances. In the late '80s, he formed the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra,which has featured a number of esteemed European avant-garde jazz musicians including Evan Parker, Paul Lovens,Kenny Wheeler, Misha Mengelberg and Aki Takase. During the 90`s Duo work with Tony Oxley, Sam Rivers and Aki Takase and started performing and recording the complete works of Thelonius Monk.

www.avschlippenbach.com