Set 1
Phil Durrant – octave mandola
Charlotte Keeffe – trumpet & flugelhorn
Colin Webster – alto & baritone saxophones
Set 2
Laura Cioffi – flutes
Stephan Barrett – clarinet
Lara Jones – saxophones
Set 3 will be a sextet.
Doors 7:30 | music 8pm | entry £5
Phil Durrant : Born near London in 1957, Phil Durrant is a multi-instrumentalist improviser/composer/sound artist who currently performs solo and group concerts. As a violinist (and member of the Butcher/Russell/Durrant trio), he was one of the key exponents of the “group voice approach” style of improvised music. In the late 90s, his trio with Radu Malfatti and Thomas Lehn represented a shift to a more “reductionist” approach.
Recently, he has been performing solo and duo concerts with Bill Thompson, Mark Wastell, as well as his seven-piece group ‘If Herbie Went West Coast’, using a modular synthesizer system. As a mandolinist, he has been performing with guitarist Martin Vishnick, mandolinist Richard Scott and drummer Emil Karlsen. Durrant still performs regularly with the acoustic/electronic group Trio Sowari (with Bertrand Denzler and Burkhard Beins) and Mark Wastell’s The SEEN.
London based saxophonist Colin Webster is quickly establishing himself on the European avant garde scene. Collaborating with some of the key figures in improvised and experimental music, Webster is known for working from extreme sonic palettes – from minimal to maximal, constantly pushing boundaries.
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
Stephan Barrett is a musician and improviser whose work often involves a focus on the production of site-sensitive works utilising materials gleaned on walks conducted in London’s peri-urban landscapes, the sonic resonance of objects and the maritime imaginary.
He performs as a duo with Helen Frosi under the moniker Postcards from the Volcano, with Adam Kinsey as Littoral Transmissions and with Dan Strange as Georges Kaplan Presents as well as part of larger ensembles including the London Improvisers’ Orchestra and Apocalypse Jazz Unit.
As an improviser Stephan has performed at Full of Noises Festival, Fort Process, Hundred Years Gallery, Harts Lane Gallery, Iklectik, A.P.T. Gallery, Café Oto, New River Studios, the Vortex and Arch1. He has created radio works for Radiophrenia, SonicaFM and Wandsworth radio amongst others and currently produces regular shows as part of Littoral Transmissions for Resonance Extra and Threads Radio. He has released two albums with saxophonist Dan Strange under the name Georges Kaplan Presents… and his solo album ‘sea . forest . wind’ is available on Visible Near Midnight records.
Lara Jones : A member of award-winning trio J Frisco (Jazz North Introduces) and 4 piece Beyond Albedo (Northern Line), Lara Jones is a saxophonist, improviser, composer, educator and collaborator based between Leeds and London.
Performance highlights include a headline show at Vortex Jazz Club and a performance at ‘Jazz in the Round’ and London Jazz Festival Kings Place with J Frisco, a solo saxophone and electronics show at Cafe Oto including a collaboration with electronic performer/composer Jo Thomas and notable concerts as co-director of the Northern Contemporary Collective (a versatile ensemble of musicians, artists and dancers that utilise unusual spaces, improvisation, cross art forms and deliver educational workshops) at Sounds Like THIS Festival, Leeds.
As a soloist, Lara has recently been awarded a place on Manchester Jazz Festival’s latest Hothouse Programme which commissions her to write a series of new audio-visual based works for saxophone and electronics and has been selected for Brighter Sounds mentorship programme. She has performed alongside Marc Almond at Royal Festival Hall and been involved with Gabriel Prokofiev’s Nonclassical events, and Richard Sanderson’s Linear Obsessional Records.
In her career to date, she has supported artists including Courtney Pine, Novelist, Roller Trio, Portico Quartet, Matthew Bourne, Elliot Galvin, Laura Jurd, Run Logan Run, collaborated with Shiva Feshareki as a part of Brighter Sounds Both Sides Now Residency and performed around the UK at events including Sofar Sounds, Gateshead International Jazz Festival, Manchester Jazz Festival, Lancaster Jazz Festival, Preston Jazz & Improvisation Festival, Marsden Jazz Festival and London Jazz Festival.
Her compositional activity has led to participation in projects Postcards from Eyemouth (Dr. Jacob Thompson-Bell and Dr. Nick Katuszonek) and Penisular Arts ‘Music of Motions and Presence’ (Dr. Federico Visi and Marco Frattini). She was one of three from the Northern Contemporary Collective to write and perform the music for four plays for the collaboration ‘Airplays’ between BBC Radio Leeds and Yorkshire Playhouse that one an 02 media award for best entertainment. She recently worked on a commission for theatre company ‘Riptide’ in which she has written and recorded the music for an immersive app experience.
She has a BA in jazz and classical performance from Leeds College of Music.
www.larajonesmusic.com
“Fantastic. Adventurous, full of warmth!” – Corey Mwamba
