Geoff Eales Birthday Gathering with Maggie Nicols, Paul Jolly, Faradena Afifi, Julia Doyle, Ray Roughler Jones and Rowland Sutherland.
Geoff Eales
“as original as they come, listening to everyone but beholden to no single influence, Eales demands your attention with the force of his personality and keeps it with his musicianship” – Budd Kopman (Cadence USA)
Geoff Eales is one of the UK’s most eclectic composers, pianists and improvisers. As a leader he has 15 highly acclaimed albums to his name. He was classically trained and in 1980 was awarded a PhD in musical composition. However, he soon turned his back on academia in order to pursue the much more exciting career as a freelance musician, specialising in jazz. By pure accident he met legendary vocal free improviser Maggie Nicols at Café Oto just a year ago. They immediately connected and since then have developed an excellent working relationship. They plan to release two very different albums in 2024: a standards-based duo album containing “in the moment” sections of free improvisation, and a free-wheeling, experimental album in collaboration with others.
www.geoffeales.com
Maggie Nicols
Maggie Nicols joined London’s legendary Spontaneous Music Ensemble in 1968 as a free improvisation vocalist. She then became active running voice workshops with an involvement in local experimental theatre. She later joined the group Centipede, led by Keith and Julie Tippets and in 1977, with musician/composer Lindsay Cooper, formed the remarkable Feminist Improvising Group. She continues performing and recording challenging and beautiful work, in music and theatre, either in collaborations with a range of artists (Irene Schweitzer, Joelle Leandre, Ken Hyder, Caroline Kraabel) as well as solo.
Paul Jolly
Paul Jolly has been exploring Jazz and Improvisation since 1964, joining the People Band (with composer Mel Davis and percussionist Terry Day) in 1969. He has spent time as the Musical Director for the Intriplicate Mime Company, and embarked on major European tours with the People Band, Big Chico and Mummy and Loverly. He was a member of the cult 70’s band Sweet Slag. Alongside performing roles, he is executive & artistic production for “33” Records. As a composer he provided the music for the award winning Mike Figgis film “Stormy Monday”, with Sting, Tommy Lee Jones & Melanie Griffiths.
