Wednesday 7 November 2018, 7pm, OTO Project Space
Believing he would surely find adventurous trio partners in the UK, the American saxophonist Jack Wright checked out the playing of many, and for the Oto concert asked Mark Sanders, and Olie Brice (with whom he had once played in NY) to join him. This will be the first meeting of these three. Long associations are invaluable for what they can do, but a first-time collaboration puts the pressure on musicians to adapt to the situation in ways they cannot foresee. Of course no sound bites exist of their trio, and anyway none would do justice to the bites into sound yet to be heard.
Jack Wright is a free improviser (Philadelphia area) who disdains association with existing American scenes and is not to be compared with any other saxophonist. At 76, he has proven to be unmarketable, and finds in that a freedom to be cherished and not regretted. One of the originals of American free improvisation in the 80s, he was then playing blow-your-brains-out free jazz but found that boring, acceptable, and lacking the energy it professes. Wright has shifted quite a few gears and is now in his top form. He does not hesitate to disappoint audiences looking for the art-crowd comfort zone. He utilizes the freedom that the now-classic free jazz and free improv genres only claim: each instant of playing is fresh, twisting all he has done into new gestalts. Without the excitement of that he would quit. His vocabulary keeps expanding and he uses it all, one long Joycean sentence (with strange ellipses), whether playing alone or with partners. His book of 2017, The Free Musics (available from The Wire and Amazon), is both philosophy of music that articulates his own playing approach and historical-sociological analysis that puts the mass of players at the center of the story.
Mark has worked with a host of renowned musicians including Derek Bailey, Henry Grimes, Mathew Shipp, Evan Parker, Roswell Rudd, in duo and quartets with Wadada Leo Smith and trios with Charles Gayle with Sirone and William Parker.
In situations using composition Mark works in a number of projects including Christian Marclay’s Everyday for film and live music and John Butcher’s Tarab Cuts - both projects have performed major festivals throughout Europe and Brazil. He has performed works by guitarist John Coxon in Glasgow and Sydney playing with the Scottish and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. With New York’s ICE Ensemble he has performed John Zorn’s The Tempest in London and at Huddersfield New Music Festival.
Mark also works in the groups of Paul Dunmall including Deep Whole Trio with Paul Rogers, and the ensembles of Sarah Gail Brand, including a long-standing duo. He has a lengthy discography including a solo album, has performed internationally and played at major festivals including, Nickelsdorf, Ulrichsburg, Womad and notably at Glastonbury with legendary saxophonist John Tchicai.
"ubiquitous, diverse and constantly creative, drummer Mark Sanders always outdoes himself, whether playing with restraint or erupting like a dynamo." Bruce L Gallenter, Downtown Music Gallery. NY
Olie Brice is a double bassist, improviser and composer. Raised in London and Jerusalem, he now lives by the sea in Hastings.
Olie Brice leads and composes for two groups, a trio (with Tom Challenger & Will Glaser) and an Octet (with Alex Bonney, Kim Macari, Jason Yarde, Rachel Musson, George Crowley, Cath Roberts & Johnny Hunter). Both of these groups were featured on the critically acclaimed double album ‘Fire Hills’. Previously Brice lead a quintet – “one of the most interesting and satisfying bands on the current UK scene” – which released two albums, ‘Immune to Clockwork’ and ‘Day After Day’. He has also composed a piece for improvising string quartet, ‘From the Mouths of Lions’, which will be released in 2024.
Brice is a committed free improviser, who has performed, toured and recorded with many of the leading names in the music. Frequent collaborators include Mark Sanders, Paul Dunmall, Rachel Musson, Tobias Delius, Cath Roberts and Luis Vicente, and he has also appeared with the likes of Evan Parker, Tony Malaby, John Butcher, Ingrid Laubrock, Ken Vandermark, Eddie Prevost and Louis Moholo. He is part of several ongoing improvising ensembles including Somersaults (with Tobias Delius & Mark Sanders) and The Acrylic Rib (with Albert Cirera & Nicolas Field).
Brice is also in demand as a bass player in creative ensembles led by many artists, including Dee Byrne’s Outlines and Out Front (Nick Malcolm’s quintet playing the music of Andrew Hill and Booker Little). He regularly performs at venues and festivals across Europe. Brice has been the recipient of Arts Council England funding multiple times and in 2021 received a composition commission from Jazz South.
“Brice makes the entire body of his bass sing. He has the ability to deliver a fractal line that is as purposeful as any by the great jazz bassists, but to do so within an entirely abstract setting” - Brian Morton, Point of Departure
