s o f t s p e a k e r s

BREVE

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:16:13 +0000

This release with John Taylor and Matt Penman – BREVE – has been two years in the making and has finally made it up. I feel as if I’ve just crossed the finish line of an ultra marathon and can now collapse in peaceful but aching samadhi. The 2007 and 2008 concert of this trio are ready for download here.

Enjoy the whole concert on Plushmusic

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:59:13 +0000

Excuse the pause in operations, readers- it was one of those weeks. Here is some footage from a solo concert I gave in Krefeld last year to welcome you back:

Frozen Clowns

admin — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:44:44 +0000

The world is at peace as my old bike splutters and coughs along the majestic winding Rhein. Everything is white and the distant carnival drums are muffled and mute. The further I go, the deeper the silence becomes, until the only sound remaining is the low rumble of the barges ploughing upstream. My ears are almost iced over but it is a fair trade off for the silence I now enjoy. Although I can still see the peaks of the cathedral when I turn around, the scenery has become wild and the forest spills over into this great river with no sign of man in between. I can even pick out some sheep huddled together in the distance. All this isn’t just about respite from the thumping drunken fury of the Carnival but about picking up a Mk 6 Soprano from a distant cottage way down the Rhein. The thought of that gorgeous horn urges me on.
After several miles my tempo shifts from andante to largo and the quietude becomes even deeper. I stop to throw a frozen stone into the river and watch the shapes spill over. I sing some overtones to the river spirit, revelling in the white around us. High above, an unknown bird defecates, adjusting its position carefully to use the breeze. He misses me by around a meter and continues to fly on, oblivious to the patterns in the water. The moment of Samadhi now has a slight feeling of danger to it as a long line of gargling Geese now fly over, cutting the sky in two.
Across the other side of the Rhein my glass eyes make out some frozen monks and vikings, their legs protruding from the snow, their last cry of “alaaf” reverberating underground. Beyond them in a glen, a circle of Armenians clad in green robes practice long tones on their Duduks while one of them roasts sweet potatoes over a gas flame. I decide to wear my contact lenses next time to be sure.
As my breaths deepen I can feel the world around me slowing down with me and the blanket of snow and ice amplifies this feeling. Perhaps instead of exploding or imploding we will simply wind down and freeze over, an entire planet of frozen clowns.

root70 RBB

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:46:33 +0000

Last week we recorded with Root70 in the old RBB radio studios in Berlin. These are beautiful old rooms that have a fantastic sound and are well suited to the kind of old-school sound Nils was after. No separation walls or headphones and a direct-to-tape method meant the session was a smooth one. I made this little film on that snowy day:

admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:46:49 +0000

For some time now I wanted to put up my favourite track from Coptic Dub in it’s entirety: Dagaz eterna. Dagaz is the rune of day and contains a universe of meaning within itself. Aspects of the rune which led to the title of this piece are the inevitability of dawn, the turning moebius strip, and the meditation on ceaseless light.

Hurdy Gurdy

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:46:37 +0000

Yesterday I played a nice concert with a Hurdy Gurdy player from Barcelona, Marc Ergea. Marc, a philosopher by trade, has been working to expand the possibilities of the instrument and I loved to play within the textures of this intriguing sound maker. I was fascinated to hear how he translates the ars magna of Raymon Llull (an intriguing system of interlocking wheels that revealed attributes of the logos) into musical structures and about his secret recipe for cod with figs, something that will hopefully accompany our next meeting… Here is Marc playing on this thousand year old turning wheel tickling the taunt gut in perpetuity:

Koelsch

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:44:54 +0000

During last week’s tour I organised a jazz night at Rote Platz in Cologne. Alongside some broken glasses and Russian conversation here are a couple of softbop tracks from that night:
As part of my duties to the City of Cologne and the contract I once signed I am obliged to perform at least once during carnival. As I am unable to play on one of the parades as I usually love to do I have been cajoled into playing this evening in a tour of the South City with the band Schmakes. For those who havn’t heard the delectable vocals of the Cologne dialect before here you go:

Sleek Lady for Sale

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:04:19 +0000

I am parting with one of my dear lady friends. She is beautiful in every way and is sounding better than ever with the ripe old age of 78. I have played her now for a few years and am looking for a new owner for her as I am after a new bass clarinet. She has a round and robust sound and is in mint condition, recently overhauled. I played her on the root70 52nd St album and on the Breve concert with John Taylor. Here she is in detail.

root70 recording

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:32:16 +0000

We spent the weekend recording in the beautiful old studios of the East German Radio in their huge wooden chambers. Nils had the team of sound nerds come down from Hamburg with their tape machines and vintage mics and we had a nice session surrounded by snow and ice. On this track I left the camera running and our dear drummer comes in late through the song at 2′52”. It’s 24, a blues that shifts through all 24 keys, a little sneak preview of the album to come out in June. In my heart I’ve been carrying around Roscoe and Zerfu with me through the white alps and empty plains of another tour as freight trains shunt us from one weak coffee to the next.
Roscoe:
Zerfu:

White Blues

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:11:57 +0000

The Blues program has been keeping me busy over this last week and I havn’t had much of a chance to write on this slate. Now we are deep in the alps somewhere and about to blow some light blue notes as the snow piles up outside and another promoter pours out the jazz stories and schnaps in abundance. On the way to the beginning of this tour I did manage to stop by Bach’s grave in Leipzig for a fleeting moment and listen to Gareth play on his childhood violin- how wonderfully the african spirit comes out through the tiny wooden body. Shortly after I captured our sweet drummer trying to find the right position for sleeping on a German regional train, no easy task by any means…