Olie Brice (double bass, electronics)
Alexander Hawkins (keyboards, electronics)
Matt Wright (turntables, electronics)
Fusing influences from DJ Premier, Konono No.1 and the UK free improv scene, Spheric Totemic bring a ritual of splintered rhythm, bass and keys to Free Range. Featuring Olie Brice (Olie Brice Quintet, Somersaults) Alexander Hawkins (Alexander Hawkins Ensemble, Anthony Braxton Quartet) and Matt Wright (Trance Map, Evan Parker Electroacoustic Ensemble).
oliebrice.com
www.alexanderhawkinsmusic.com
matt-wright.co.uk
*Please note - Neil Charles was originally slated to play as part of the Spheric Totemic trio, but can no longer make it. He has been replaced for this show by Olie Brice.
Black Top, the duo of multi-instrumentalist Orphy Robinson and pianist Pat Thomas, is a shape-shifting unit whose freely improvised performances combine twisted loops, samples and dub-effects, drawing on their Afro-Caribbean roots with a spontaneity and daring rooted in experimental free-jazz.
Returning to Free Range after their 2019 performance, they are joined by the gifted 24-year old saxophonist, flautist and composer, Xhosa Cole (BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2018).
[Black Top’s latest album, Some Good News,] vibrates with wild energy from start to finish … But what really lifts this above the average is the unit's ability to switch seamlessly into diasporic pan-global grooves … This 21st century melting pot is brimming over with thrills. (Jazzwise)
Links
Black Top (live at Free Range 2019)
https://soundcloud.com/search?q=black%20top%20free%20range
Xhosa Cole
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5S8zWkNJpQ
We are pleased to present the drummer Roger Turner improvising as duo with the guitarist Pascal Marzan.
Pascal Marzan plays a microtonal 10 string guitar. After studying classical guitar in Paris in the 70's and 80's, playing music by Luciano Berio and Tristan Murail, Pascal became interested in improvisation and the music of eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. He was particularly drawn to central Asian music from Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, and Kyrghyztan.
The drummer Roger Turner has been described by The Wire as "one of the giants of free improvisation":
‘He has a virtuosity as astounding as it is inexplicably hilarious. i have rarely heard such an exquisite combination of volcanic power and finely- honed precision' (The Wire)
The opening set features the poet Kat Peddie reading from her own work alongside a collaboration with Walt Whitman, the Free Range Orchestra and the audience.
Pazcal Marzan duet with Phil Durrant (bandcamp)
Roger Turner with Chris Biscoe at FR#130
Kat Peddie conducting the Free Range Band for FR#166
turners-site.com
*The original line-up for this evening included Phil Minton, who was unable to play because of ill health.
Zubin Kanga performs new works exploring cyborg pianism by Louis d’Heudieres, Alwynne Pritchard, Luke Nickel and himself.
In these performances Zubin combines the piano with a range of sensors, synthesizers, strobe lights, electronics, video, an instrument made of glass and other technologies.
Louis d’Heudieres’ Reflects dans Sequana (2022) is a speculative fiction about Debussy's piano music and a Celtic river goddess cult. Making use of a sampler keyboard, electronics and video, it looks at traditional piano music through a warped lens, incorporating themes of pianistic technique, romantic hero-worship, and ritual cleansing.
Alwynne Pritchard's Heart of Glass (2019 rev. 2021) takes inspiration from Werner Herzog’s experimentations with hypnosis in 1976 film, Heart of Glass, to create a work in which the pianist seems to be hypnotised, performing around the piano (and in multiple personas on screen) in a performance inspired by drag, butoh dance and trance states.
In his 2021 piece, Steel on Bone, Zubin uses MiMU sensor gloves to morph and granulate the delicate, visceral and violent sounds from the inside of the piano.
Luke Nickel's hhiiddeenn vvoorrttiicceess uses Soundbrenner’s haptic metronomes alongside dreamlike roller-coaster visuals and the sounds of Ravel filtered through an AI, in a play of vertiginous tempi between the hands.
The performance is part of Cyborg Soloists, a multi-year artistic-research project innovating new types of interactions between musicians and new technologies, supported by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.
zubinkanga.com
lukenickel.com
alwynnepritchard.co.uk
louisdheudieres.com
Alistair Zaldua and Sam Bailey will improvise short pieces for violin and piano before Zubin Kanga's performance.
Welcome to our 2022 Spring Season. Below are listed details of all of the events we have organised for March - May 2022.
FR#227 | Zubin Kanga: Hidden Vortices | The Old Synagogue, 33-34 King St, Canterbury CT1 2AJ | Thurs 31 March, 7:30pm.
FR#228 | Phil Minton & Roger Turner | Fruitworks, 1-2 Jewry Ln, Canterbury CT1 2NP | Thurs 7 April, 7:30pm.
FR#229 | Black Top with Xhosa Cole | Fruitworks, 1-2 Jewry Ln, Canterbury CT1 2NP | Thurs 14 April, 7:30pm.
FR#230 | Screening: The Extraordinary Mr Henry Dagg | Fruitworks, 1-2 Jewry Ln, Canterbury CT1 2NP | Thurs 21 April, 7:30pm.
FR#231 | Skylla | Fruitworks, 1-2 Jewry Ln, Canterbury CT1 2NP | Thurs 28 April, 7:30pm.
FR#232 | Spheric Totemic (Neil Charles / Alexander Hawkins / Matt Wright) | Fruitworks, 1-2 Jewry Ln, Canterbury CT1 2NP | Thurs 5 May, 7:30pm.
FR#233 | Refugee Tales - Dragan Todorovic & Kristin Fredricksson | Fruitworks, 1-2 Jewry Ln, Canterbury CT1 2NP |
Thurs 12 May, 7:30pm.
FR#234 | Mendelssohn violin concerto (Chihiro Ono/Neil Luck/Squib box-CRAM/FRO) | Thurs 19 May, VENUE TBC.
Moonseed started life as one of Free Range’s Incubate commissions but it has taken on a life of its own. Thanks to further funding from Odela Arts and Electric Medway, Moonseed has become an installation-style performance involving improvised sound, dance, projections and live visual art focussed on our moon.
The initial creative partnership between Anna Braithwaite (composer, singer) and Daisy Thompson (dance artist) has expanded to become the MOONSEED collective with Olivia C Davis (dance artist), Helen Lindon (visual artist) and Luke Birch (dance artist).
With two of the performers in Canada, this event mixes live streamed, live, pre-recorded, improvised and digital elements with sound, movement and projections.
Moonseed Collective:
https://electricmedway.co.uk/artists/moonseed-collective/
www.instagram.com/moonseedproject/
Anna Braithwaite
www.annabraithwaite.co.uk/
www.instagram.com/annabraithwaitemusic/
https://twitter.com/annamerriel
Daisy Thompson
https://thompsondaisykaren.wixsite.com/daisythompson/biograpghy
Helen Lindon
www.helenlindon.co.uk/
Luke Birch
http://lukedoesdances.com/
Olivia C Davis
www.oliviacdavies.ca/wishing-well-2/