No Bounds Festival in Sheffield, October 14th

Improv & avant-garde powerhouse Martin Archer is to run a one day festival in Sheffield on October 14th.

No Bounds Festival will take place at the newly refurbished arts centre at Sheffield's Nonconformist Chapel (Cemetery Road, Sheffield).

This festival within a festival is partly funded by Jazz North's Northern Line scheme. The event is split into three parts (with admission costing £5 for each part).

Line up -

Commencing 1.30pm

Maja Bugge - solo cello
Juxtavoices - 25 piece improv choir directed by Martin Archer and Alan Halsey
H Trio - Mark Hanslip/Otto Willberg/ Andrew Cheetham

Commencing 4.30pm

Charlie Collins/Ryoko Akama
Platform 4 - Sheffield based contemporary music composers collective
Beck Hunters - Mick Beck/Anton Hunter/Johnny Hunter

Commencing 8pm

Matthew Bourne - solo memorymoog
Corey Mwamba/Mark Sanders
Inclusion Principle - Martin Archer/Herve Perez/Peter Fairclough

And finally to top it all off, lurking in the cemetery ground between sets and alarming passers-by with sonic events will be maverick composer Steven Chase.

A date for the diaries for sure!

Tour Preview: Misha Mullov-Abbado Album Launch & Tour, July 2017

Double bassist, composer and winner of the 2014 Kenny Wheeler Prize Misha Mullov-Abbado will launch his new album, Cross-Platform Interchange on Edition Records this month and will tour England between 15th and 26th July.

Winner of the 2014 Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize, Misha Mullov-Abbado is an in-demand bass player, composer and arranger based in London. He is a 2014 City of Music Foundation Artist and recently released his debut album New Ansonia consisting of all his own compositions performed by his quintet on Edition Records, which has been included in “Best Jazz Albums of 2015” by The Telegraph and BBC Radio 3 and been extremely well-received in newspapers and magazines across Europe. As an experienced band-leader but also a versatile sideman Misha has performed at many of London’s top venues such as Ronnie Scott’s, the Vortex, 606 Club, Pizza Express and Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room (as part of the BBC Proms Late series), as well as venues in the rest of the UK and Europe. Having won the 2014 Dankworth Prize for jazz composition Misha is an experienced composer and writes for various jazz groups as well as classical soloists and ensembles, and is influenced by a variety of jazz, classical and pop music.

The final three dates of the tour will bring the ensemble to the North, visiting Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.

Misha is joined by James Davison on trumpet, Matthew Herd on alto, Sam Rapley on tenor, Liam Dunachie on piano and Scott Chapman on drums.

For more information, visit Misha's website.

Tour Dates

15th July - The Hive, Shewsbury
17th July - The Beaver Inn, Appledore
18th July - St Ives Jazz Club, Cornwall
20th July - St Columba's Church, Cambridge
24th July - The Wonder Inn, Manchester
25th July - The Jazz Cafe, Newcastle
26th July - The Lescar, Sheffield

NJN Jazz Advent Calendar - Juxtavoices (Dec 20th)

Behind door number 20 is our largest ensemble included in our calendar - Sheffield's premiere anti-choir, Juxtavoices.

Click here to watch Juxtavoices perform For You, Me & Krakatoa - https://youtu.be/wUC5aULd-dQ

Juxtavoices is a large antichoir which includes many familiar faces from Sheffield’s leftfield music, poetry and visual arts scene. Although the group performs structured scores, no fixed pitches are ever notated, and the group uses improvisation to shape the detail of the scores as the music progresses. Both trained and untrained voices are included. As well as playing normal concerts, the group is to be found in various unexpected public places and at poetry / text events. 

Juxtavoices are 

Julie Archer, Martin Archer, Jon Ashe, David Bartholomew, Ian Baxter, Mick Beck, Nathan Bettany, Geoff Bright, Chris Bywater, Clinton Chaloner, Julie Cole, Laura Cole, Emma Cooper, Paul Coupe, Edward Eggleston, Kat Fletcher, Sharon Gill, Alan Halsey, Matt Harling, Lyn Hodnett, Christine Kennedy, Bo Meson, Tamar Millen, Geraldine Monk, Rick Moran, Liam Murphy, Tim Plant, Marion Rout, Liz Searle, Wolfgang Seel, Walt Shaw,  Jan Todd, Jane Tormey, Caroline Veal, Peter Veal, Linda Lee Welch, Gillian Whiteley.

NJN Jazz Advent Calendar - Nicola Farnon (Dec 10th)

We head to Sheffield through door number 10, with double bassist and vocalist Nicola Farnon. December is a busy month for Nicola as she prepares to release her seventh album, So Farnon - So Good! at a special launch gig on December 21st.

Check out a track from this upcoming album here - this one's called Sing - https://soundcloud.com/nicolahh-1/sing-a-song

Nicola’s latest album, 'So Farnon – So Good!' featuring Jim Mullen, David Newton and Steve Brown displays her remarkable range of talents as a singer with enormous vitality, a swinging double bassist and an emotive cellist. As with her previous two Cds (recorded with her other swinging trio with Piero Tucci on Keys and Phil Johnson on drums), the recording venue is the village hall of her birthplace in Wiltshire.  She is absolutely thrilled to have recorded her seventh Cd to date with three of her favourite UK jazz musicians and to use again the internationally acclaimed double bassist, Andrew Cleyndert as her mixer, masterer and mobile recording engineer.

The melodic, propulsive, joyously swinging and wonderfully intuitive style of these masterful musicians has produced a dazzling album packed with popular standards, lesser known tunes from female writers, inspired originals (penned by Nicola) and some equally stylish and innovative arrangements from David Newton and herself.

Nicola Farnon Bio

Wiltshire born and now long-term Sheffield resident, Nicola has a remarkable musical pedigree, both parents being professional classical musicians and her great uncle no less than the late Robert Farnon.  After an early start on piano and cello (grade 8 in both by the age of eleven!), she followed her dad's love of the 'standards' into jazz via the double bass and an enchanting voice which was developed during her Performing Arts studies at Middlesex University.  Her sparkling trio and quartet appears regularly on the jazz circuit and the band's arrangements are all done by her - with some melodic and extremely catchy originals thrown in for good measure!  She has played with  such Jazz luminaries as Dave Newton, Digby Fairweather, Jim Mullen, Bruce Adams, Roy Williams and Alan Barnes and has supported class jazz acts as diverse as Eliane Elias, Courtney Pine, Georgie Fame, Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine, Humphrey Lyttleton and Acker Bilke.

www.nicolafarnonmusic.com

A Day of Music at the Three Cranes, Sheffield - July 23rd

If the Dandy Warhols, Kelis and Dizzee Rascal aren't your thing, you probably shouldn't go to the Tramlines Festival in Sheffield. Instead, you should join Martin Archer and his musical comrades for a day of music ala Discus at the Three Cranes on July 23rd.

Martin has invited lots of Discus artists and friends to perform throughout the day, a celebration of improvisation, electronic music and the avant-garde. What's more, it is free to attend (donations gratefully received and a CD stall will be set up to purchase albums released by Discus) and refreshments will be available throughout the day.

Visit the Discus website to check out the artists and albums connected to the label, and see below for a schedule of the day.

Venue: The Three Cranes, 74 Queen Street, Sheffield

13.00 - Walt Shaw & Martin Archer - percussion / sax duo

14.00 - Das Rad - Nick Robinson (guitar) / Martin Archer (sax) / Steve Dinsdale (electronic drums) - melodic motorik
https://www.facebook.com/events/842902562506179/

15.00 - Chris Bywater - solo laptop abstraction
https://soundcloud.com/chris-bywater-2/chris-bywater-fuse-bradford-12-may-2016wav

17.00 - Modulator ESP - solo synths and electronics from Jez Creek
https://www.facebook.com/ModulatorESP/?fref=ts

18.00 - The Unkillable Clerics - song based post-metal Chamber Music

https://www.facebook.com/UnKillableClerics/?fref=ts

20.00 - frostlake - haunting songs and electronics
https://www.facebook.com/frostlakemusic/?fref=ts

21.00 - Inclusion Principle - Martin Archer & Herve Perez (laptops, saxes) / Peter Fairclough (drums) - in a space between electronics, nu-jazz, contemporary electroacoustic music and free improvisation
https://www.facebook.com/Inclusion-Principle-110752295685776/?fref=ts

22.00 - Meson - freewheeling floating collective improv and poetry under the misdirection of Bo Meson
https://www.facebook.com/Meson-235514343146751/?fref=ts
meson.me.uk

Upcoming Releases and a gig from Discus Music

The indefatigable Martin Archer has announced the two newest releases from his record label, Discus Music as well as a gig later in the month.

Readers of this blog will remember that we recently published an article about a crowdfunding campaign Discus will running to support the Keith Tippett Octet's new album. Well, the campaign was a success and the Nine Dances of Patrick O'Gonogon will be the 56^th release on the label. This can be listened to and ordered on the website.

Following that, release 57 will be an ambitious double album from a new project, Story Tellers. With Martin himself on woodwinds and joined by Anton Hunter, Corey Mwamba, Pete Fairclough, Kim Macari and Mick Somerset Ward, Story Tellers will be released in July. A group of strong improvising voices coming together to form something huge...

And if you'd like to hear music like this live, Martin is putting on a gig on June 24^th at Bishop's House in Sheffield featuring two sets of music. DAS RAD is a trio of musicians from the Discus Music roster performing together for the first time – Martin on saxophone & electronics, Nick Robinson on guitar and electronics and Steve Dinsdale on drums and electronics. They are joined by Jez Creek aka Modulator ESP who will perform a solo set.

Information on all of this and more can be found on the Discus Music website. (www.discus-music.co.uk)

Upcoming Dates for Inclusion Principle

Inclusion Principle, a trio featuring Martin Archer, Peter Fairclough and Herve Perez, have publicised their upcoming gigs which are scattered across the country between now and April 2016 in a sort of elongated tour.

Inclusion Principle operates in a space between electronics, nu-jazz, contemporary electroacoustic music and free improvisation tending towards a minimalist approach. Its members can be seen in numerous different projects , many of which have recorded for Martin's label Discus Music.

They currently have 5 albums available, the most recent being released earlier this year. These can be listened to and purchased on the Discus website.

Information on live dates can be found below with more details to follow on the website soon.

19 Nov 15 - Lee Rosy's Tea Shop, Broad St, Nottingham
2 Dec 15 - Jazz At The Lescar, Sharrow Vale Rd, Sheffield
22 Jan 16 - The Others, Manor Rd, Stoke Newington, London
3 Mar 16 - Blackout, venue tbc, Leeds
5 Mar 16 - Halton Mill, Lancaster
17 Mar 16 - Venue tbc, Bradford
20 Mar 16 - Mopomoso at The Vortex, London
3 Apr 16 - Bridge Hotel, Newcastle
27 Apr 16 - Flim Flam, Ryan's Bar, London

Northern Musicians head to Canada

Discus Music owner and saxophonist Martin Archer has worked in collaboration with vocalist Julie Tippetts for the past 9 years. 4 studio albums have been recorded, receiving critical acclaim. As a team, they have been described as peerless, fearless musical adventurers.

Up until now, their work together has been confined to the studio but Martin has recently announced that they have been invited to perform at the prestigious Victoriaville Festival in Quebec in May.

FIMAV has a long history of programming forward-thinking artists spread across the world. Last year's festival featured musicians including Hamid Drake, Marc Ribot and Deerhoof.

Martin and Julie will be joined by Sheffield's Seth Bennett and Pete Fairclough on double bass and drums respectively,  Leeds-based Laura Cole on piano and Manchester's Anton Hunter on guitar.

Find out more about the festival on the FIMAV website and visit Discus Music's site for information on all releases.

Alex Munk's Flying Machines come to York & Sheffield

Guitarist Alex Munk will bring his new quartet to perform in York and Sheffield next week.

Munk graduated from LCoM in 2009 before moving to London to study a Masters at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Since then he has worked extensively as a sideman for a long list of internationally renowned musicians which includes Stan Sulzmann, Trish Clowes, Ivo Neame and Gwilym Simcock.

Flying Machines was formed in 2014 a vehicle for Munk's compositions. The band includes bassist Conor Chaplin, pianist Matt Robinson and drummer Dave Hamblett. The group have recently recorded their debut album (Alex's first as a leader) and it is set for release in 2016.

Audiences in the North will have the chance to hear the band at The Phoenix in York on October 20th and at the Lescar in Sheffield on October 21st.

For more information on Alex and to listen to Flying Machines, visit his website.

On The Snap - Jazz, Film & Crime Fiction

As part of the Sensoria Festival in Sheffield (25th September - 3rd October), there will be a talk by music writer, author and avid jazz fan Brian Case.

Case has a career spanning over 5 decades of writing for publications like NME, Melody Maker, Time Out, Uncut and The Times. Writing about his passions - jazz, film and crime fiction, he developed a strong readership and some rather unusual accolades, like being the first journalists to go on tour with the Sex Pistols.

In this event, Brian Case will be interviewed by the CEO of Film London, Andrew Wooton and will discuss his life and new book, On The Snap.

“His writing was surprising, funny, elusive, erudite, emotionally engaged and all his subjects in this book from Ian Dury to Norman Mailer, from Don McCullin to Tom Waits, the whole gang of motormouths and shutterbugs, junkies and pussy hounds, the witnesses to bebop and Belsen, get a fair hearing and words shaped by acute sensibility.” Richard Williams Melody Maker

The event will be held at Trippets Lounge Bar in Sheffield with tickets priced £5/4. Details on the event and how to buy tickets can be found on the Sensoria 2015 festival website.

Juxtavoices Open Up in Sheffield

Juxtavoices, Sheffield's 30-voice new music and peformance poetry anti-choir, has been invited to take part in the annual Open Up event in Sheffield this weekend.

Open Up is an opportunity for artists to open up their workspaces and invite the public to watch them at work at venues across the city. Running since 1998, the event lets practitioners share their work and their work processes, discuss what they do and connect with audiences.

Juxtavoices will perform at four points throughout Sunday 3rd May -

11.30 a.m.

Manor Oaks Studios, 389 Manor Lane, S2 1U

1.00 p.m.

Exchange Studios, Exchange Street, S2 5SZ

2.30 p.m.

St Mary's Community Hall, South Road,  Walkley, S6 3RX

4.00 p.m.

Fulton's Yard, 49 Nethergreen Road, S11 7EH

You can find out more about the event at the Open Up website, and the Discus Music website contains more information on Juxtavoices including how to be involved and their upcoming recording projects.

Nicola Farnon Trio on Tour

Sheffield's Nicola Farnon is preparing to embark on a tour with her trio as part of a partnership between Jazz North's northern line and Highlights Rural Touring scheme. The tour will take the trio to 7 venues across Northumberland and County Durham between March 19st and 29th.

From the Highlights North website...

This close-knit, swinging outfit play classy arrangements of popular standards and a mix of swing, Latin and the moving, heart rending ballads that people never tire of. With Nicola Farnon (vocals and double bass), Piero Tucci (piano and tenor sax) and Phil Johnson (drums), you get a lot of musical talent for such a small band.  A joyfully entertaining evening of music and melody to swing yer socks off to.

New Releases from Discus Records

Sheffield-based label Discus Records, run by musician and composer Martin Archer, has announced the release of three new albums this week.

Third Opening is the 5th album for trio Inclusion Principle. Featuring Martin Archer, Herve Perez and Peter Fairclough, the group is described as being in a space between electronics, nu-jazz, contemporary electroacoustic music and free improvisation tending towards a minimalist approach. Their new release is a double album.

Bad Tidings from Slackwater Drag is the second album from the AACM-inspired large ensemble, Engine Room Favourites. The band gigged across the North in 2014 with support from Jazz North's Northern Line scheme and the material for this new album was developed during those performances. 

Personnel: Martin Archer, Mick Beck, Laura Cole, Corey Mwamba, Graham Clark, Seth Bennett, Walt Shaw, Johnny Hunter & Steve Dinsdale.

Vestigium is the fourth release from Julie Tippetts & Martin Archer duo. The line-up is a mixture of musicians from both jazz and rock backgrounds (reflecting Tippetts own varied musical career from Brian Auger to Keith Tippet) and is decribed as a homage to the heady days of musical collison and exploration...

Personnel: Julie Tippetts, Martin Archer, Peter Fairclough, Seth Bennett, Gary Houghton, Michael Somerset-Ward, Kim Macari, Lee Hallam, Chris Bywater, James Archer, Michael McMillan, Heather Cordwell, Aby Vuillamy & Mick Bardon.

Tour Preview: Beck Hunters UK Tour

Sheffield-based saxophonist Mick Beck set up his new trio around 18 months ago, featuring Anton Hunter on guitar and Johnny Hunter on drums. To mark the release of their debut album on Discus, The Hunt Is On, the trio will be playing dates across England during February and March.

The album caught the attention of many critics and has received positive reviews:

Aggressive when it needs to be, but comfortable winding down into unhurried, meandering humour, it sounds like a miniature Art Ensemble at play. - Daniel Spicer, The Wire
 
…truly mind-blowing, ranging between a cardiac arrest, epileptic fit and a nervous breakdown. The trio are extremely tight, threatening to unravel before skilfully coming back into sync. - Rob Aldam, Now Then Magazine 

Full information on the album can be found on the Discus website and the tour dates are listed below.

Thu 5th February - Over the Top, Sheffield
Thu 12th February - Noise Upstairs, Manchester
Sun15th February - Vortex, London
Wed 25th February - Safehouse, Brighton
Sat 14th March - Halton Mill, Lancaster

Orchestra of the Upper Atmosphere releases new album

Sheffield-based improvising group Orchestra of the Upper Atmosphere are set to release a new double CD through Martin Archer's Discus label.

The group's first album garnered many positive reviews not only from the UK but internationally and the new double album is sure to make an impact yet again.

A sample of the new material can be found on the Discus website, where the album can also be pre-ordered.

Album Review: Pete Lyons LX:V

Pete Lyons – LX suite – LX:V – the quintet

Personnel:

Pete Lyons (tenor sax)

John Hulme (trumpet/flugelhorn)

Dan Whieldon (piano)

Gavin Barras (double bass)

Johnny Hunter (drums)

Saxophonist Pete Lyons has been an integral part of the Sheffield jazz scene for many years, both as a player performing regularly and as a part of the long-established Sheffield Jazz Workshop. To mark his 60^th birthday, Lyons composed the LX suite; 19 compositions to be played by a quintet of Manchester-based musicians plus a Sheffield duo and septet. The three strands of this ambitious project were called LX:V, LX:II and LX:VII and were premiered at Sheffield Millennium Hall in April of last year. LX:V for quintet was the first of the groups to be recorded and released as an album.

Jazz@TheHubClub, Sheffield July 5th

Date: Saturday 5^th July

Time: 3pm

Venue: Crucible Theatre, Surrey Street, Sheffield S1

Tickets: £5 (£2)

To Book: Sheffield Theatres Box Office

Tel. 0114 2496000

In collaboration with Jazz North, Sheffield Music Hub are hosting an evening of Jazz at the Crucible on Saturday July 5th.

The event will feature two groups, Sheffield Youth Big Band and the Ashley Henry Trio. The big band will feature a group of highly talented young musicians playing classic big band repertoire under the direction of Dave Joyce. Ashley Henry, an inventive young pianist who recently graduated from LCoM will feature alongside bassist Simon Read and drummer Sam Gardner.

Information can be found on the event page of Sheffield Theatres, where tickets can also be booked.

Discus Concerts in June

Discus Music, a label run by composer and improviser Martin Archer, are hosting two gigs this month in Sheffield.

Friday 13th June
Burngreave Cemetery Chapel, Sheffield
7.30pm
Peter Rophone plus Juxtavoices

You've probably never visited this atmospheric old building, buried away in east Sheffield. Now's your chance! A short opening set by everyone's favourite antichoir will feature a performance of Guardian Weekend Remix, the piece current in prep for that even more difficult second album, plus others.

We're very happy to supporting this launch event for a CD by Sheffield's finest maverick singer, songwriter and guitarist

Thursday June 19th
Over The Top, Sheffield
8.00pm
£5/3
Chris Meloche

A one off group featuring Sheffield based colleagues of Canadian electroacoustic musician Meloche making one of his occasional visits to town:

Chris Meloche - electronics
Hervé Perez - electronics
Martin Archer - electronics
Mick Beck - bassoon
Nick Robinson - guitars and loops
Andy Peake - keyboards
Charlie Collins - percussion

Expect various groupings of low key towards minimal improvised dronescapes.

See more information at Discus Music website.

 
 

Gig Preview: Jooklo Duo in Sheffield, March 13th

Jooklo Duo (IT)/Gelba (IT) /Dave Jackson (UK)

Thursday 13th March 2014

Queens Social Club, Sheffield

Tickets: Advance: £7 waged, £5 concessions - from Rare and Racy, Division St, Sheffield or http://www.wegottickets.com/event/260499 

On the door: £9 waged, £7 concessions

 Doors 7:30pm, start 8:15pm

 

Tinnitus Jukebox and Singing Knive Records are hosting an evening of free improvisation and left-field music from three European groups.

Upcoming Discus concerts in March

Discus Music, a label run by musician and composer Martin Archer, have been in touch to spread the word about two concerts in Sheffield in March featuring Northern Line group Engine Room Favourites and Coastguard Allstars.