ROGER TURNER / KAZUHISA UCHIHASHI DUO

Event information

ROGER TURNER / drums, percussion

Roger Turner is applauded for his precision and speed since he entered the London improvising scene in the 1970s. His restricted drum kit is extended by found objects to create a sound comparable to no other. He’s played with Evan Parker, Cecil Taylor, Otomo Yoshihide, Shelley Hirsch, Joëlle Léandre, Keith Rowe...

“Turner [used] brushes to create a wild spattering and scattering of sound from cymbal and snare, with sudden explosions from tom and kick drums. At times in this early passage he sounded like rain on a caravan roof, at others like a tool box in the back of a moving van” - Molloy Woodcraft, The Guardian

KAZUHISA UCHIHASHI / guitar

A pioneering Japanese guitarist, Uchihashi is involved in a wide variety of musics, but still retains a commitment to free improvisation. Born in 1959 in Osaka, Uchihashi began to play the guitar at age 12, playing in various rock bands, though he later studied jazz music. In 1988 he joined the band the First Edition, and in 1990 formed the band Altered States. He was also a member of Otomo Yoshihide's Ground Zero from 1994 to 1997. Uchihashi also plays daxophone, and in addition to his role as a free improviser, Uchihashi has been the musical director for Osaka theatre group Ishinha, has held improvisation workshops (a project known as New Music Action) in various cities in Japan, as well as London, Oslo, and currently in Vienna also. Uchihashi has set up his own record label, Innocent Records a.k.a. Zenbei Records, had held a music festival annually since 1996 Festival BEYOND INNOCENCE.

Uchihashi has had many opportunities to play with non-Japanese musicians. In 1993, he toured Europe with guitar and daxophone player Hans Reichel. (The tour included their performance at the 25th Free Music Workshop in Berlin.) They also played together in Japan in '91 and '97. In '96 Uchihashi toured Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao with Otomo, sampler player Sachiko M, and Samm Bennett. In October '97, he visited Graz, Austria to play at the Musikprotokoll festival with Roger Turner (drums, trash), Heinz Ditsch (bassoon), and Helge Hinteregger (sax, sampler, tapes). Other musicians with whom he has played are bassist Barre Phillips, alto sax player Kang Tae Hwan, trumpeter Leo Smith, tenor sax player Peter Brötzmann, violinist Jon Rose, vocalist Lauren Newton, guitarists Eugene Chadbourne, Derek Bailey and Elliott Sharp, and many others.

As both a musician and an organizer, Uchihashi is working hard to build a network of free improvisation communities inside and outside Japan. In 1992 he started his own label, Zenbei Record, on which he has released CDs and videos of his solos and of Altered States. Since '95 he has been holding a monthly free improvisation workshop called New Music Action, mainly at the Kobe club Big Apple. In founding the workshop (which consists of two sessions--the first session for amateur musicians and the second session for amateurs and professionals to play together), Uchihashi aimed to build a nurturing environment for talented musicians, and also to join these musicians in the creation of great music.