Monday 8 November 2021, 7.30pm

John Edwards / N.O. Moore / Eddie Prévost / Alan Wilkinson (quartet)

No Longer Available

Launch show for the quartet of John Edwards (Double Bass), N.O. Moore (Guitar), Eddie Prévost (Drums) and Alan Wilkinson (saxophone) to mark the release of new CD 'EMPoWered' on Brooklyn's 577 Records. Edwards, Moore and Prévost have comprised a longstanding trio, known for their vigorous riffs and unconventional introspection. But in this release, their group expands to include saxophonist Alan Wilkinson, adding a deeply resonant, full-bellied sound to their otherwise discrete and dynamic in-the-moment compositions.

John Edwards

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

N.O. Moore

N.O. Moore is an electric guitarist with a parallel interest in electronics and drum machines. As an improviser, he has played with people such as Eddie Prévost, John Butcher, Rachel Musson, John Edwards, Sue Lynch, Alan Wilkinson, Steve Noble, and Steve Beresford. He can now be heard on a number of recordings, including Nous (with Prévost and Jason Yarde) on Matchless, and The Secret Handshake with Danger (with Henry Kaiser, Binker Golding, Olie Brice, and Prévost) on 577. He has recently launched the DXDY Recordings label to present improvised and electronic musics: dxdyrecordings.com

Moore is interested in the relationship between automation and autonomy, and how this affords fabrications of human sensibility and affect. His first album of purely electronic music will be released by Orbit577 later in 2021.

‘Moore shifts fluidly from argumentatively fractured jazz licks to spacey atmospherics to mad cat hisses; the appositeness of his contributions belies the sparseness of his recorded discography’ The Wire (Bill Meyer)

‘Moore unpacks an impressive bag of tricks.’ Jazzwise (Daniel Spicer)

‘Guitarist N.O. Moore would likely attract some attention in any fit company, for he brings a highly personal conception to an instrument often sullied by redundancy.’ Freejazzblog (Stuart Broomer)

Eddie Prévost

A founder-member of AMM (1965-2022)

[Eddie Prévost’s] is one of the greatest metallurgists that music has produced. […] sparks delicately arcing through the air, of slow lava ingesting its surroundings, of the shifting grind of tectonic plates across each other, of the rustle and glint of a firebird darting between shadows, and of ore smashing into the surface of the earth; but perhaps this language is overwrought: all that needs to be remarked upon is Prévost's industry, his diligence.”
Nathan Moore — liner note to AMM’s ‘Indúsria’
Matchless Recordings mrcd105.

But beyond this work Prévost has also maintained a relationship with the jazz drum-kit.

“His free drumming flows superbly making perfect use of his formidable technique, but his most startling feature is his stylelessness. It’s as though there has never been an Elvin Jones or a Max Roach.” - review of a set with saxophonist Lou Gare, Melody Maker (27.03.1975)

“Prévost, meanwhile, was simply miraculous; it was fascinating to watch him and to compare his approach with that of a Kern or a Nilssen-Love. I can only say that he was possessed of an uncanny, burning intentness that navigated the ensemble through passages of stark, sculpted beauty, grave concentration and full-on, bristling energy.”
Blue Tomato, Vienna 2012. In concert with Marilyn Crispell and Harrison Smith. Richard Rees-Jones

“An excellent release from one of the finest percussionists around, jazz or otherwise.” review of Prévost’s solo CD ‘Collider’
Matchless Recordings mrcd106 – Brian Olewnic, Squidsear (2022).

“Relentlessly innovative yet full of swing and fire.” – Morning Star

Alan Wilkinson

After leaving Art College in Leeds in the late 1970s Wilkinson became involved in the music scene in the City playing in a variety of bands, whilst pursuing his passion for improvisation, promoting and playing alongside some of the great and upcoming names at his club night 'The Termite Club'. It was during this period that he joined forces with the drummer Paul Hession and the tragically deceased bassist Simon Fell to form the trio Hession/Wilkinson/Fell, described in The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette, as "a band that outdoes the old Brötzmann groups for sheer firepower". In the late 80s he was invited to tour with Company by Derek Bailey and subsequently featured in 2 London Companys one of which he co-curated. When he relocated to London in 1990 he was already a figure on the scene and has continued to play and promote the music through various club nights, especially flimflam at Ryans Bar N16, running since January 2001. Playing in innumerable ad hoc settings in the UK and beyond notable collaborators have included Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Akira Sakata, Thurston Moore, Chris Corsano, Eddie Prevost, Charles Hayward, Talibam! and Jason Spaceman. Long standing groups include a trio with John Edwards and Steve Noble, Norwegian group Akode, and a trio with Alex Ward and Jem Doulton.

"At its highest points, this session unleashes some of the most preposterously powerful energy jazz heard since Peter Brötzmann's Yatagarasu trio with Takeo Moriyama and Masahiko Satoh" - Daniel Spicer, The WIRE