Monday 13 April 2015, 8pm
Alexander Hawkins is a pianist 'unlike anything else in modern creative music'. His work as a bandleader has been called 'some of the most vividly distinctive in modern jazz', whilst he also frequently appears alongside the likes of Louis Moholo-Moholo, Mulatu Astatke, Joe McPhee, Evan Parker.
His Trio with Neil and Tom has been running for many years, and in April they launch their new album, out on Hawkins own Alexander Hawkins Music label.
“Hawkins improvises with the strength and conviction that come from combining an advanced technique with a teeming imagination.” – The Guardian
“What made this trio especially riveting was how the players methodically traversed all the different ways in which three musicians can relate to each other, from complete lock-step to total disparity...This tension between a very tight compositional frame and exuberant freedom is one thing that made this gig so absorbing..If Hawkins really is the future of jazz pianism, the future looks bright.” – The Telegraph
Alexander Hawkins / piano
Neil Charles / bass
Tom Skinner / drums
Alexander Hawkins’ work ranges from his acclaimed solo performances (‘intensely intricate…powerful, technically brilliant and melodically inventive’) through to works on a much larger canvas, such as his Togetherness Music ('[a] masterpiece that can stand next to the best works of Mitchell, Braxton or Parker’). He collaborates regularly with all generations of creative musicians, including the likes of Anthony Braxton, Marshall Allen, Evan Parker, John Surman, Joe McPhee, Hamid Drake, Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid, Sofia Jernberg, Shabaka Hutchings, and many others. Further creative associations, with two very different icons of African music, Louis Moholo-Moholo and Mulatu Astatke, stretch back for well over a decade. He has been widely commissioned as a composer, including by the likes of the BBC, Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal, and numerous festivals. His performance schedule takes him to club, concert hall, and festival stages worldwide.
"Sounds like all the future jazz you might imagine without ever being able to conceive of the details" – The Guardian
Neil Charles is one of the most in-demand musicians on the scene, with a huge array of credits to his name, including Jack DeJohnette, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Mingus Big Band, Jose James, Jerry Dammers, Courtney Pine, and Terence Blanchard. His own projects have included Zed U, with Shabaka Hutchings and Tom Skinner, and the more recent ensemble Dark Days, dealing with the work of James Baldwin. Most recently, he has been heard across the international scene with Gabriels. As well as being known as a bass player with a huge sound and immaculate sense of time, he is equally renowned as a producer, going by the alias Ben Marc.
"Bassist Neil Charles went flying, from the first moment filling the space with the sound of his mighty wings Henning Bolte," – Europe Jazz Media Chart
Tom Skinner has been a mainstay of the scene since his first professional jobs at age 13. In this time, he has featured in countless high profile groups, including the Jazz Warriors, the Denys Baptiste Quartet, Byron Wallen’s Indigo, Jade Fox, and most recently, groups such as Shabaka and the Sons of Kemet, and The Owiny Sigoma Band. His also leads his own Hello Skinny project.
