Dau is the new ambient drone project from UK musician Phil Self. Known locally for his work with Smugglers Festival, the Isolation Choir and bands like Cocos Lovers, Will Varley and Montrose Composers Club, Phil is joined here by cellist James Gow. Dau’s debut release on Phantom Limb’s Spiritual imprint, entitled 'Zed Zed', was created entirely from acoustic instrumentation and real-time performances and has been described as ‘serenely crafted quietude [that] ripples and breathes with life, every creak of its bowed guitar as audible as the seagulls flying above Self’s flat’ (Phantom Limb).
Phil and James were joined for this performances by Chase Coley (see FR#252), playing walkie talkies, TV static and a waterphone, and Samuel D Loveless (trumpet).
Opening the evening is Tony Westcliff: famous rock star, intellectual giant of the manosphere and freelance sex therapist.
‘Tony is dry, silly, camp, sober and terrific, all at once ... He inhabits the stage with a throwaway charisma, and we're never sure if things are going to plan’ (Steven Todd)
🔗
Dau
Dau website
👂 Zed Zed on Bandcamp
👂 The Drift by JOW (James Gow & Pete Judge) on Bandcamp
Tony Westcliff
Help Me Fake My Death on bandcamp
Let Spin are a post-jazz quartet who’ve been making waves in the UK and European jazz scenes since they formed in 2012. Their new release, 'Thick As Thieves', sees their fiery energy find a more organic feeling of growth and reflection through collective improvisation.
Let Spin are: guitarist Moss Freed (Union Division, Spike Orchestra), saxophonist Chris Williams (Led Bib, Sarathy Korwar), bassist Ruth Goller (Skylla, Melt Yourself Down) & drummer Finlay Panter (Beats & Pieces Big Band).
‘British Punk Jazz with a wiry electrical crackle’ Uncut
‘I'm absolutely loving this album! It's a full listening journey’ Corey Mwamba, Freeness BBC Radio 3
‘An album of energy and synergy, Let Spin again show their absolute muscle and charm’ ★★★★ Liverpool Sound and Vision
The poet David Herd will read from his recent collection 'Walk Song'. Voted a book of the year by the Australian Book Review, this work grew from the Refugee Tales project and speaks of the need for activism, solidarity and a language of welcome.
‘passionately engaged, moving towards real change, charged with the vivid strength of a collective commons’ (Blackbox Manifold magazine)
🔗
Let Spin
Let Spin website
👂 Let Spin - Waveform Guru on Bandcamp
👁 Let Spin - Thick as Thieves trailer on YouTube
David Herd
David Herd - Walk Song
👁 David Herd reading 'Prologue' on YouTube
A collaboration between the Gulbenkian Arts Centre and Free Range
The singer Maggie Nicols was a founding member of the Feminist Improvising Group in 1977 as well as being a key member of John Stevens' Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Keith Tippett's ambitious jazz-rock group, Centipede. For over 30 years she has run regular improvisation meetings called The Gatherings.
The Free Range Orchestra grew out of our series of events. They are a collective of musicians, dancers and poets with a shared love of improvisation and experimentation. Their performances combine the uncompromisingly anarchic with a celebration of creativity and community.
For this, the final show of our tenth anniversary year, Maggie Nicols will lead the orchestra in a series of adventurous and playful group improvisations.
Information about tickets
You are invited to pay what you decide for this performance at the Gulbenkian.
Click here to book
Links:
Maggie Nicols & the Feminist Improvising Group
Maggie Nicols singing Stormy Weather
This special event is a collaboration between the Gulbenkian Arts Centre, Free Range and world-renowned Hurdy-Gurdy maker Claire Dugue.
‘Living legend’ Valentin Clastrier is considered the inventor of the modern hurdy-gurdy which, in his hands, creates a magical and virtuoso universe. His playing is full of surprises, as is his career. Originally a guitarist alongside Jacques Brel he then discovered the hurdy-gurdy and, over the years, worked with instrument makers on prototypes of electroacoustic hurdy-gurdies leading to his current 27-string instrument.
‘deep sonorous drones supporting cascades of notes and sometimes discordant swashes of sound, with electronic effects feeding the serpentine melodies and creating hauntingly powerful, sometimes intoxicating sonic spirals’.
After winning several prestigious awards and much critical acclaim, Valentin is back in England for the first time in over 20 years and we’re very happy to have him in Canterbury!
There will be two workshops for hurdy-gurdy players earlier in the day, one with Valentin Clastrier and the other with Nigel Eaton. To book a place contact Claire at [email protected]
Evan Parker (soprano saxophone)
‘If you've ever been tempted by free improvisation, Parker is your gateway drug’
Stewart Lee, The Guardian‘There is, still, nothing else in music - jazz or otherwise - that remotely resembles an Evan Parker solo concert’
Steve Lake‘One of the music's greatest living instrumentalists’
The Times
For over 50 years Evan Parker has been widening the scope of what is possible on a saxophone. Using techniques such as circular breathing, Parker creates complex worlds of sound with vivid, intricate detail projected into polyphonic textures that slowly evolve and grow. It’s as if Parker dismantled all musical language associated with the saxophone and stripped it back to simply air passing through a column and, from this ground zero, created something new that is simultaneously primal, modern, hypnotic, intimate, vast and microscopic.
Information about tickets and booking
We have partnered with the Gulbenkian Arts Centre for this special event.
Tickets cost £15 (£10 students) and are available here:
Click here to book tickets
Links
Valentine Clastrier Links:
Evan Parker Links:
“Dance to it, make love to it, stare at the clouds to it” - Iggy Pop
Formed by Bex Burch in 2015, Vula Viel’s music has shifted over the course of their three critically acclaimed albums, from Afro jazz-tinged adaptations of traditional Dagaare music towards a unique sound rooted in post punk.
Placing Bex's rawly delivered gyil (Ghanian xylophone) rhythms as the central element, the band’s scything rock dynamics have seen them championed by Iggy Pop. Bassist Ruth Goller (Skylla, Acoustic Ladyland, Melt Yourself Down) and drummer Jim Hart (Cloudmakers Trio) complete the line-up. They have gained further plaudits for their pulsating live shows at venues such as Café OTO and Total Refreshment Centre.
The trio are joined by NYC legend Peter Zummo. In addition to performing his own compositions and leading his own ensembles, he has worked with myriad bands, orchestras, composers and musicians.
Peter's celebrated trombone style is one of the most beloved features of Arthur Russell's sound, with whom he played and collaborated with in the recording studio.
★ ★ ★ ★ Evening Standard
★ ★ ★ ★ Jazzwise
★ ★ ★ ★ Financial Times
★ ★ ★ ★ Songlines
The Free Range Orchestra will be playing the opening set to launch their new album, Connections, recorded live with saxophonist Evan Parker in July 2021.
Links
Vula Viel website
Peter Zummo website
#5 Go Bang (Dinosaur L, produced by Arthur Russell, feat Peter Zummo)
Arthur Russell - In The Light of The Miracle (featuring Peter Zummo)