Sunday 14 February 2016, 8pm
Joe McPhee and Chris Corsano have provided some of the absolute stand-out moments at OTO, and it's fantastic to welcome them back for two nights. Opening each night with a duo set, followed by a trio with John Edwards the first evening, and Eddie Prévost / Orphy Robinson for a very special triple-percussion quartet on the second night, prepare for the kind of radically intuitive and joyously intense interplay that comes along very rarely indeed.
“...starting quietly with discreet noises, taps and rattles, breathy ghost notes, they soon started to stretch out across the territory available. Which given the majestic pedigree of Joe McPhee and the younger Corsano's awesome technique is a wide, wide open space. McPhee is a master of multisonics on his instruments and Corsano uses an expanded kit and often electronics to buttress his rhythmic muse.” – Sounds and Texts
Joe McPhee grew up in New York, is a multi-instrumentalist and plays since the late 60ties within the creative and free jazz music world. His play is energetic, demanding and breathtaking sensitive - still with over 80 years! He learnt to play trumpet as a kid and - inspired by John Coltrane, Albert Ayler and Ornette Colemann - he thought himself saxophone in his thirties. McPhee's first recording was with Clifford Thornton in 1967 on the album "Freedom and Unity". He became involved and known in Europe in the midd 70ties and since the 90ties he also plays with a younger generation from Chicago and New York. He played/plays regular for example with Ken Vandermark, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Mats Gustafsson, Dominic Duval, Jay Rosen, Jeb Bishop, The Thing, Clifton Hyde, Jérôme Bourdellon, Raymond Boni, Joe Giardullo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_McPhee
CHRIS CORSANO is an upstate NY-based drummer who has been active at the intersections of collective improvisation, free jazz, avant-rock, and noise music since the late 1990's. Corsano is one of the greatest drummers working today, developing a percussive language of extraordinary amplitude and infinite resources. His collaborations stretch from free jazz greats (Joe McPhee, Evan Parker, Paul Flaherty & more) to noise mavens (Jandek, Bill Nace, C Spencer Yeh etc) and pop superstars (Björk). Capable of generating narrative out of permanent ecstasy, Corsano never ceases to be profoundly affirmative and imposing of his language, and being an absolute and charismatic virtuoso, he simultaneously is one of the most noble and generous improvisers of the few last decades.
A move from western Massachusetts to the UK in 2005 led Corsano to develop his solo music - a dynamic, spontaneously-composed amalgam of extended techniques for drum set and non-percussive instruments of his own making: e.g. bowed violin strings stretched across drum heads, modified reed instruments, and stockpiles of resonant metal. In February 2006, Corsano released his first solo recording, The Young Cricketer, and toured extensively throughout Europe, USA, Australia, and Japan. In 2009, Corsano returned focus to his own projects, including a duo with Michael Flower, Vampire Belt (with Bill Nace), Rangda (with Richard Bishop and Ben Chasny) and his solo work, further expanded in its use of contact microphones and synthesizers. In 2017, he received the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artist Award.
Corsano's dedication to collective improvisation has led to collaborations with many kindred spirits and his appearance on over 150 records and 1000 live performances. He's worked with, among others: Paul Dunmall (released by ESP-Disk), Joe McPhee (Roaratorio), Okkyung Lee (Open Mouth), Earth Ball (Upset The Rhythm), Nate Wooley (No Business & Astral Spirits), Jim O'Rourke & Akira Sakata (Drag City), Merzbow (Family Vineyard), Jessica Rylan (Load Records), John Edwards, Nels Cline, Heather Leigh, Ghédalia Tazartès and Sunburned Hand Of Man.
https://chriscorsano.bandcamp.com/music
John Edwards grew up in London and started experimenting with the bass guitar before he switched in his twenties to play double bass. He is deeply rooted in the creative free jazz and improvisation genre. Since the 80ties he is as soloist and in many groups and ensembles in Europe active and became one of the most renowned bass players. He played/plays regular for example with Peter Brötzmann, Joe Mc Phee, Phil Minton, Maggie Nichols, Evan Parker, Roscoe Michtell, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Mark Sanders, Caroline Kraabel, John Butcher, Pat Thomas, Irène Schweizer, Hans Koch, Florian Stoffner, Gabriele Mitelli, John Dikeman.
"I think John Edwards is absolutely remarkable: there’s never been anything like him before, anywhere in jazz." - Richard Williams, The Blue Moment
