Ingrid Laubrock’s Sleepthief

The Noise Upstairs presents…

Tuesday 17th November

German born saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock is teaming up once again with acclaimed UK pianist Liam Noble and one of New York’s finest drummers, Tom Rainey for an exciting brand of new improvised music. Sleepthief play with a wide spectrum of sound, rhythm, space and colour whilst maintaining a strong feeling for form.

Those of you who were lucky enough to see them last year will definitely not want to miss out this year, and if you weren’t there, this is your second chance!

“(…) Laubrock’s open soundworld made a fascinating contrast. Now, characterised by remarkable tonal variation and great empathy with Noble’s gritty piano textures, the slightly loose sound of their duo came into sharp focus when joined by Rainey’s atmospheric drumming. Clinking tones from a half-filled bottle, scattering sticks like matchwood on his drumheads, or thrashing visually graceful arcs above his cymbals, he was a delight both to watch and to hear. A first night of this quality augurs well for the days to come.” The Times, January 2008 (Alyn Shipton)

Special guests…

Rodrigo Constanzo (piano) with Scott Hewitt (live sampling)
+
An Anton Hunter Quartet
Anton Hunter – guitar, Ben Cottrell – clarinet, Rod Skipp – cello, Graham South – flugelhorn

Please note that, due to being in a church, there is a no food or drink policy. The gig is situated close to some very fine drinking establishments though, don’t worry…

CROSS STREET CHAPEL, Cross Street, M2 1NL
Tuesday 17th November. 7:30pm
£9/7adv from http://www.skiddle.com/events/11323011/ or in person at The Noise Upstairs jam night, Fuel, Withington, 12th Nov.

Andreae/Meier/Tikkanen – Helsinki

This will be the first gig with my new trio featuring two of my pals (Eero and David) from here in Helsinki, it’s a collaborative effort. I’d say the compositions were weird-melodic, wrong-jazzfolk with plenty of improv. It’s all the trend don’t you know….

The venue is a cool little book shop which puts gigs on in the evenings, I expect you all to be booking flights over here while they’re cheap…

If, for some reason you can’t make it, I’ll hopefully put a recording up soon.

Beats & Pieces Big Band EP Launch

It gives me great pleasure to announce that the Beats & Pieces Big Band’s debut EP will be released on Efpi Records on November 30th, and that this will be celebrated to great extent at the official launch party upstairs at Odder in Manchester on December 2nd – come one, come all! The band will be playing two sets featuring all of the EP’s 5 tracks, some newer stuff thats not on the EP and some stuff thats so brand new they don’t have names yet… Its also FREE ENTRY so you can save all your cash to buy the CD!

Doors open 8.30pm, live set from 9.30pm sharp. Odder, Oxford Road, Manchester (opposite the BBC). Contact info@beatsnpieces.net for more information.

Helsinki

Terve, Moi! – Greetings from Helsinki!!

This is my first post written from my new home here in Finland, how exciting…..

I won’t bore you with details of everything I’ve been up to while out here, just a few, and I thought everyone back in Manc might like to check out some of the music I’ve found out here. The course is going well at the Sibelius Academy, (I’m on the NOMAZZ Nordic Jazz Masters course, well worth checking out if you’re interested in studying jazz) It’s pretty flexible and I’ve taken a few classes this term – Ear training/Repertoire/Free-improv etc… I’m free alot of the time though and have met some fantastic musicians who I’ve been jamming with loads. The facilities are good too, several nice recording studios available for free so there are a few recordings on the cards later this term. I’ve got some gigs coming up – Big Band and a new trio a few of us are starting up. Also, me Anton and Ben (mostly me though) are running an Efpi Records showcase in December, Ben and Anton are gunna fly over like rocks stars (minus the money and screaming fans) and we’ll play some of the Beats & Pieces rep with musicians from here and some HAQ too.

There have been quite a few really great gigs on while I’ve been out here, somewhere between Manchester (none) and London (loads) I’ve listed some of them bellow along with some Finnish musicians and bands I’ve met while being out here.

What else…….???

In my spare time I’ve been in the Sauna, Climbing and falling of my bike (I’ve attached a photo of it because it’s cool and I forgot to take any photos of gigs I’ve been to….)

Missing Manchester loads!!

Check out the musicians below if you get a minute.

Gigs I’ve seen;

Olavi Louhivuori (Drums)
Kalle Kalima (Guitar) with Umo Big Band
Rufuge Trio – Theo Bleckmann (Voice), John Hollenbeck (Drums), Gary Vercace (Keys)
Mikko Innanen & Mika Kallio (Sax & Drum Duo)
Guillermo Klein (keys/Composer) & Umo Big Band

My friends bands you should check out:

kauhukakara
Laser
Plop
schnellertollermeier
Maratone quintet

People I’ve been listening to over here (not necessarily from here…);

Juhani Aaltonen
Edward Vesala
Raoul Bjorkenheim
Mats Gustafsson
Tomasz Stanko
Claudia Quintet
Ellery Eskelin
John Surman

Token Otter @ Nexus Art Cafe, Manchester

Token Otter appear at the Nexus Art Cafe as part of the MANTIS (Manchester Theatre In Sound) Festival. Free Entry.

HAQ in Jazzwise

Those of you who are regular readers of the excellent Jazzwise magazine may have noticed mention of our very own Hunter/Andreae Quartet in the reviews section of the October 2009 issue (with Empirical on the cover). The review of the Manchester Jazz Festival by Chris Ackerley (also author of the also excellent The Sound of Now blog) makes special note of the Jazz Festival’s commitment to local emerging talent, and singles out both HAQ and our friends the Phil Meadows Quartet as being particular highlights. Scanned copies of the full review (and an extra large version of the HAQ bit) follow below – good work guys!

Don’t forget that the quartet’s EP is still available here. Get your orders in fast though as the strictly limited stock is fast running out!

Beats & Pieces Big Band – Sheffield

First trip over the Pennines for the big band. Playing in the Lescar pub on Sharrowvale Road, Hunters Bar, S11 8ZF. £3 to get in, possibly a bit less if you’re a student, can’t argue with those prices!

Expect some new material from Ben, including a new Radiohead arrangement. We’re really looking forward to it, the Lescar’s a great place to play and hear music.