Emil Karlsen, originally from Norway, is a young drummer/improviser currently based in the UK. He is active on the improvised music scene establishing himself as a new, original voice.He is seen across the UK with various large and small ensembles ranging from being a solo performer to percussionist in the London Improvisers Orchestra. Apart from being a busy performer, he also run the label noumenon – a label for improvised music with a Scandinavian presence
https://emilkarlsen.com
Trumpeter Charlotte Keeffe’s unique approach and passion for improvised, experimental and jazz music has seen her performing regularly across the UK and internationally as a soloist and as part of several ensembles, duos and trios. Her music has been featured on BBC Radio 3, Resonance FM and Jazz FM and recent appearances with her quartet include Jazz In The Round and a sell-out performance at Lancaster Jazz Festival. Other recent highlights include being featured as a performer and composer/arranger on Sheffield based Martin Archer’s latest project, Anthropology Band, performances with Alex Ward’s Item 4 and regular appearances and conductions with the London Improvisers Orchestra. Inspired by the likes of Miles Davis and Polish artist Tomasz Stańko, Charlotte studied Jazz Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama before going on to become a scholarship recipient at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and a Help Musicians UK Award Winner. With her Quartet, Charlotte explores the relationship between her compositions and experimental improvisation, producing a unique musical experience inspiring creative freedom of expression. Bassist Ashley John Long, drummer Ben Handysides and guitarist Moss Freed join Charlotte in this latest
collaboration. Charlotte is also a performer with The Brass Monkeys, Moss Freed’s Union Division and Calum Gourlay’s Big Band. She took part in the Summer Studios Artist Residency 2019 with drummer Andrew Lisle and bassist Otto Willberg in Andrew’s trio project at The Sage, Gateshead. Charlotte played in Marin Alsop’s Taki Concordia Orchestra at the World Economic Forum 2019 playing to world leaders and celebrities including Sir David Attenborough.
She’s performed at several music festivals including Brecon Jazz as part ofSteve Waterman’s Big Band, Glastonbury and Wilderness alongside LianeCarroll, Charlotte Church, Laura Mvula, Kate Nash, Camille O’Sullivan andWill Young.
‘…Charlotte Keeffe’s blood-red, rasping flugelhorn and trumpet blew breathy cadences and messages as if her lungs were burning with an electricity all of her own.’ – Chris Searle, Morning Star
‘…characterful beautiful-toned flugelhorn…’ – Sebastian Scotney, LondonJazzNews
‘Fresh on the scene, trumpeter Charlotte Keeffe is a whirlwind of extended techniques and tactile puzzles, removing the mouthpiece to elicit a windy howl, using her left hand as a mute in the bell of the horn and revelling in restless possibilities.’ – Daniel Spicer, Jazzwise Magazine
charlottekeeffe.com
Shirley Smart: Originally trained in classical cello under Raphael Wallfisch at the Guilldhall School of Music, and Janos Starker in Paris, she subsequently moved to Jerusalem. She remained for 10 years, studying and performing a wide variety of world music from the Mediterranean and Middle East, as well as jazz, and became being highly involved with the jazz and improvised music scene. Since returning to the UK, she has quickly become known as one of the most creative cellists on the music scene and has worked with many leading jazz and world music groups, including Antonio Forcione, Gilad Atzmon, Neil Cowley, Julian Ferraretto, Robert Mitchell, Maciek Pysz, Maurizio Minardi, and AlicevZawadski.
Lauren Kinsella is an Irish vocalist based in London. Her work as a composer, improviser, collaborator and performer has been described as “truly captivating” (For Folk’s Sake), “stunning” (BBC Radio 3) and with “inventive curiosity and imagination” (Irish Examiner). Interested in the multiple relationships between music, art, poetry and dance, she loves to work with a broad range of artists. Her unique style of vocalisation involves exploring the different types of vocabulary connected with vocal and instrumental sound. From singing to speech, utterance to lexicon, syllabic deconstruction to stream of consciousness, Lauren’s work celebrates the human voice in multi-faceted ways. “A modernist, Kinsella is pushing vocal improvisation into new areas” (AllAboutJazz)
https://laurenkinsella.com
The afternoon will also feature a set by Benedict Taylor (viola) and Sam Andreae (saxophone)
