Matchless Recordings

Run by percusionist Eddie Prévost, Matchless contains contemporary and classic free jazz, improvisation and noise.

"How do we push beyond the merely presentational? Market acceptability is surely a too limiting artistic objective. Maybe, no objective at all. Contrary to what so many commentators and educators promulgate, there is always somewhere else to go, to explore, to enlarge and to enhance. Being content with one's lot is aesthetic (and maybe political death). There are no fixed objectives as characterised and circumscribed by systems and conventions. Within these digitally configured sounds you will hear cross generational responses to these questions. Nathanial Catchpole (b. 1980), John Edwards (b.1964) and myself (b. 1942) Negotiating the challenges of uncertainty. What might seem to be (on repeated listening) a fixed pattern, was, in performance, a series of questions and choices. How much should we push, pull, nudge and test anticipated responses? And, how much should we try the patience of our fellow musicians and our audience? These considerations are not necessarily barriers to playful activity. They are always - joyfully - limits to surmount and other horizons to be viewed." - Eddie Prévost. --- John Edwards / double bass Nathaniel Catchpole / tenor saxophone Edwin (Eddie) Prévost / drums and bowed tam-tam --- Recorded at a concert given at Network Theatre, London 21st December, 2014 by Giovanni La Rovere. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux. Design by Myah Chun. 

Catchpole / Edwards / Prévost – beyond the barrier

Apogee chronicles both a first-time meeting of AMM and MEV (Musica Eletronnica Viva), and one of the last performances of that longest-running version of AMM. apogee 1, 2 and 3 are studio recordings of the two groups together; the second pairs performances by each individual group: a thirty-nine-minute piece by AMM entitled 01.05.04, and a thirty-six-minute piece by MEV, also entitled 01.05.04 (perhaps mere date, but also May Day), both recorded at London's Freedom of the City Festival. MEV includes Alvin Curran, Frederic Rzewski, and Richard Teitelbaum. “AMM and MEV go back together almost as far as AMM itself. In 1969 or so, Earl Brown released an LP on Mainstream Records called Live Electronic Music Improvised which had AMM on one side and MEV on the other. It was a great and forward looking idea, but unfortunately the labels (on MOST but not ALL copies) somehow got reversed. That, if nothing else, tied us together for decades." - Richard Teitelbaum --- John Tilbury / pianoKeith Rowe / guitar & electronicsEddie Prévost / percussionAlvin Curran / electronicsFrederic Rzewski / pianoRichard Teitelbaum / keyboard --- 'apogee' 1, 2 and 3 recorded at Gateway Studios, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, England on 30th April 2004. '01.05.04' were recorded at Freedom of the City festival, Conway Hall, London on 1st May 2004 by Sebastian Lexer. Artwork designed by Ian Walters.  To buy the physical CD, head to to Eddie Prévost's CD store, Matchless Recordings.

apogee – Amm & Mev