Friday 15 September 2017, 7.30pm
Jon Gibson (b.1940) is an American minimalist composer and musician based in New York City. As a founding member, Gibson has been performing in the Philip Glass Ensemble since 1972. Along with his work with Glass, Gibson has performed on many of the early Arthur Russell records, the premier of In C by Terry Riley, Drumming by Steve Reich, as well as Reich’s 1967 composition Reed Phase, which Reich wrote especially for him. Other collaborators include Lucinda Childs, Ravi Shankar, Harold Budd, La Monte Young, and Walter de Maria.
Originally recorded for Philip Glass's private press label Chatham Square and tracked after hours at John Lennon's home studio, Visitations is a minimalist masterpiece. Gibson’s first release under his own name, Visitations is a departure from the structured repetition of his minimalist peers which takes the listener on an aural journey – spanning organic field recordings, flutes, percussion, synthesizers, and free-flowing textures.
With his new group, Gibson re-imagines the piece with modular synthesizers and a digital projection of 16 mm film entitled "One Way" depicting the California desert. In the film, which Gibson shot in the early 1970's, the seemingly never ending desert landscape of America cascades across the screen, perfectly reflects the expanse of Visitations and takes the audience inside a ritualistic road trip unlike any other.
The Jon Gibson Group is:
Jon Gibson
Jeremy Gibson
John Also Bennett
George Bennett
Britton Powell
Charles Hayward is an English drummer/singer/composer and was a founding member of the experimental rock groups This Heat and Camberwell Now. He also played with early European improv group Mal Dean's Amazing Band and gigged and recorded with Phil Manzanera in Quiet Sun as well as a short stint with Gong. Since the late 80's he has concentrated on solo projects and collaborations, including Massacre (with Bill Laswell and Fred Frith), Monkey Puzzle Trio and Albert Newton (with Pat Thomas and John Edwards). The project This Is Not This Heat has recently completed a 3 year series of performances in UK, Europe, US and Japan.
Throughout a nearly 50 year career Charles has developed idiosyncratic attitudes and insights into a wide range of soundwork, spanning improvisation, song, sound as sound, using order and chaos as creative energies. He curates a six monthly series of performances, workshops and installation called Charles Hayward Presents on behalf of Lewisham Arthouse for Albany Theatre. Recent releases include ‘Objects of Desire’ cassette on Blank Editions and the piano centred song cycle ‘Begin Anywhere’ on Klanggalerie & God Unknown Records.
“As impassioned and animated offstage as behind his massive drumkit, Charles Hayward radiates a genuine intensity. He first came to wide attention as drummer with the highly influential This Heat as the embers of Post-Punk simmered off into wilder experimental tangents. He has released a dozen solo and colaborative albums, and puts on rare solo live shows which pull the raw muscular percussion at the heart of Rock into new shapes with devastatingly powerful results.” – Freq
"Telepathic magic……. Hayward is one of the most life-affirming people who stalks this dark globe." - SOUND PROJECTOR
