It's a real honour to share this music performed by three of OTO's most treasured musicians - John Tchicai, Tony Marsh and John Edwards. This was the first set of the trio's residency at Cafe OTO in 2010, returning on blistering form after an initial two-day stint in 2009.
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John Tchicai / saxophones, flute
John Edwards / double bass
Tony Marsh / drums
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Recorded live at Cafe OTO on 27 September 2010 by James Dunn. Mastered by Andreas [LUPO] Lubich at Calyx, Berlin. Photograph by Nicholas Lativy.
Special thanks to John Coxon for his assistance in making this recording possible.
Available as 320k MP3 or 24bit FLAC.
John Edwards is a true virtuoso whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Peter Brötzmann, Mulatu Astatke and many others.
"I think John Edwards is absolutely remarkable: there’s never been anything like him before, anywhere in jazz." - Richard Williams, The Blue Moment
Tony Marsh was a vital presence in London's improvised music scene right up until his shock passing in April 2012. He played regularly with Evan Parker, John Edwards, Paul Dunmall, Nick Stevens, The London Improvisers Orchestra and many others as well as making an understated but essential contribution to dates with visiting musicians including Peter Brötzmann, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith and Roscoe Mitchell. The Guardian's Richard Williams nails it when he descibes Tony's "marvelous ability to erase the boundary between time and no-time" and "an exquisite feeling for percussive texture".
Born in Copenhagen in 1936, Tchicai moved to New York in 1963 for a three year stint that saw him join Archie Shepp's New York Contemporary Five start up the New York Art Quartet and perform on seminal free jazz recordings by John Coltrane (Ascension) and Albert Ayler (New York Eye and Ear Control). Back in Denmark he continued to perform and record including work with Cadentia Nova Danica, Instant Composers Pool, MEV, John Lennon (!), Irene Schweizer, Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith.
Tchicai passed away in 2012 at the age of 76.
"Tchicai has an acute sense of space and a tight control of harmonics, switching from rich overtone to flat cadence within a single note." Mike Hobart, The Financial Times
