Alexander Hawkins

Really sad. I never played with Abram, but had the pleasure of hanging out with him a couple of times fairly recently. Beside his playing, truly a nice guy - and (I can vouch because we shared a pupil) a complete inspiration as an educator.

I've never met David, but he's a friend of Hazel Miller and Ogun, certainly. He does the layout/design for them too I believe!

pm sent!

Thanks Clifford - really appreciate it!

Thanks for posting that!

Hmmm...not sure now! He sat in with John Edwards, Mark Sanders, and Shabaka Hutchings at Freedom of the City the other day, and has been on the road with NHAM (Tony Bevan, John Edwards, Michael Zerang), but I have a feeling that tour may have finished only last night...

Yep - Jeb's over here in the UK at the moment!

I've seen that trio (Haste) live a couple of times...Veryan/Hannah/Ingrid are a perfect set of foils. They also appear together in Sol6 and Sol12 - larger groups also featuring guys like Tony Buck and Luc Ex...some fun takes of unlikely material in those bands! Hannah is really a *wonderful* 'cellist...a completely fearless improviser. My personal first call on that instrument over here!

Hi everyone - thank you so much for all the birthday wishes - I'm flattered...it's been a fun day! Sure - and thank you for the interest ...so just officially released (but been around for a while now) is the new Ensemble recording... ...very proud to have a duo with Louis Moholo-Moholo appearing on Ogun in the Autumn - most likely (although tbc) September... ...Decoy is back - most likely for a November release - in quartet with Joe McPhee: this is a live recording, on vinyl! There is also another Convergence Quartet recording in the can...all mixed and ready to go, although we're just trying to pin down label details...but worth looking out for soon! And one or two sideman things too - so exciting times

I don't know the stuff at all, but I do know that Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead) works a lot with the Britten Sinfonia here in the UK...might be worth checking out, but I'm afraid I don't have any sense of what it sounds like

A very nice review of the gig also from the Guardian!

You're totally right - great guy. There's actually a new album from the quartet coming in late Autumn/early Winter...we don't do it often, but wow, I love playing with Joe! Actually - would be interesting to hear him play duo with Han! (Having said that, there aren't many people Joe wouldn't sound great with; or that Han wouldn't sound great with!)

Steve - wow, I'm flattered...could it have been Joe by any chance? I had the huge privilege of playing with him again last Sunday over in Berlin...as well as a master instrumentalist, genuinely one of the nicest people I have had the pleasure of meeting! Pete - in fact, no, although now you say so, I can see that! It's not a phrase borrowed from anything as such...just a habit I have of starting with an idea, then toying around with the wording until it 'sits' a certain way, by way of titling things from time to time! Although come to think of it, the title of the group's first record - 'no now is so' - is taken from someone else...

A slightly different tip, but Urban Blues, by Leroy Jenkins' Sting, is wonderful...great writing!

Thanks for the link! That's very kind of them

Thank you!

Just to say - if anyone is in London tomorrow night (Sunday 22nd), we launch the new Ensemble album at The Vortex...would be great to see anyone there!

For anyone in London: we launch the record at The Vortex tomorrow night!

Really gutted about this - Tony was a wonderful guy, and of course, it goes without saying, player. I had the privilege of playing with him several times in Evan Parker's groups. We also used to play as a duo a little bit...and in fact the last time we played was in Austria last year, when I played church organ. Anyone interested should definitely check out a great record he made with Veryan Weston on organ on Evan Parker's Psi label, called 'Stops'. It was always completely humbling to play with Tony. He had absolutely unflinching commitment to the music at all times - anyone who has ever seen him play will tell you about that 'place' he would seemingly disappear to when the music was really happening...eyes closed, and all bets were off at that point! He knew a lot about sound, but nothing about compromise. He was as interactive as anyone, but no way could you *make* him go to a certain area musically - it was always improvise at all costs. One of the things which makes this especially shocking is the amazing energy he always had whilst playing; there was never any inkling that anything was wrong, and on the contrary, he could really make you *work* like few others whilst playing. It was only a month or so ago that I saw him in trio with Roscoe Mitchell and John Edwards in one of the most breathtaking gigs I've ever been lucky enough to witness. Anyway, RIP Tony.

Thanks for the reminder on this one...just put it on again. Big Eddie Costa fan here!

So - due to a slightly unlikely series of events, this album is actually officially only released this coming Monday, April 9th...so just upping this should anyone be curious! We've recently had some very kind reviews. I believe we get 4 stars in the current Downbeat. There's also this in The Guardian; this in Jazzwise; this in Point of Departure; this in Ni Kantu; this in the Jazzmann; ...and a few others I think! There are copies available in various formats from the label...and I also have a handful! Anyhow - plenty of samples available on the label's page there...so I hope it may appeal to at least some

The cadenza on that performance always blows me away. Extraordinary.

Just stumbled across this link - which includes a couple of fascinating interview transcriptions with Andrew Cyrille and Tony Oxley about Cecil and his music...

Adrian - yes, it's a really wonderful place, both to play and listen. The atmosphere can be *really* electric in there! A real privilege to interview him - not only was he a great guy, but I really came away with serious food for thought about music in general...which is perhaps more than you could typically ask for a 45-minute chat with someone... And Mark - indeed, packed, which was great!

Can I recommend a programme on the BBC this evening? It's a recording of Roscoe Mitchell, who played in London last weekend at Cafe Oto...I was there for both nights of his two-night residency, and it was a really special gig...a trio with John Edwards on bass, and Tony Marsh on drums. Here's a link. [i was also lucky enough to spend some time with Roscoe on the second day, and there's a portion of an interview I did with him in the middle of the programme.]