<![CDATA[Alexander Hawkins's Blog]]> http://www.alexanderhawkins.com/blog.html en-us Mon, 12 May 2008 21:04:35 GMT <![CDATA[See you at the Vortex...]]> http://www.alexanderhawkins.com/blog.html?p=182


Here's something to whet the appetite: Orphy Robinson in duet with Don Cherry!
]]> Mon, 12 May 2008 21:04:35 GMT <![CDATA[May is busy!]]> http://www.alexanderhawkins.com/blog.html?p=181


First, as per the image (courtesy of the fantastic guitarist David Stent - check out a fascinating website he runs here), my ensemble has a sequence of dates, followed by a trip to the studio.



Orphy Robinson, steel pan; Otto Fischer, guitar; AH, piano; Hannah Marshall, cello; Dominic Lash, bass; Javier Carmona, drums, percussion.



The Cambridge date is a double bill with the Assembly Point Four, which features fantastic Cambridge-based players Michael Chilcott and Josh Ison.



Barkingside rides again on May 27th at the Oxford Univeristy Music Faculty - the burning question here, how will we come down from the insanity (and fun!) of this week's debut of Electric Barkingside, with Mr Ward on guitar, Dominic Lash on electric showing his metal credentials, and myself making silly noises on keyboards.



On May 29th, I'm incredibly excited to have the first chance to play with both Tony Marsh and Evan Parker - this is again at the Vortex. 'Thrash bass' Lash on upright. You can believe that when I'm not gigging this month, I will be practising like crazy for that one...



More as and when...
]]> Sat, 03 May 2008 14:47:31 GMT <![CDATA[Almost too good to be true...]]> http://www.alexanderhawkins.com/blog.html?p=179 this,



then one like this,



then they go and do this.
]]> Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:41:36 GMT <![CDATA[Nostromo]]> http://www.alexanderhawkins.com/blog.html?p=178


Not our usual instrumentation this evening - the Port Mahon has no piano, so I'm 'plugged in'...Rhodes, Organ...anything I can find to create happy mayhem. I'm very excited about it, in fact - we rehearsed with the electric instrumentation on Sunday, and the music went to some very interesting areas.



Hope to see you there!



Was going to post some thoughts here about Evan Parker's wonderful solo from the Rising Sun on Sunday, along with Stefan Keune and John Russell's as-always-fantastic duo...but each time I tried to get these thoughts out, they came totally mangled...it was to do with levels of perspective: how depending on the aspect one takes at any one time in the performance, it can be at once incredibly busy and incredibly spare, slow-as-treacle or classic improv whirligig. But I couldn't quite formulate the thesis! At any rate, it was an great, great gig. Listening to John Russell, I had that feeling you sometimes get listening to familiar players...thinking halfway through: 'actually, you are one of my very favourite players'(!) Everything he plays seems to have such a deep bluesiness (almost), and to be at the same time abstract as you like, and very personally melodic.



In other news, look at this absolutely awesome video of Stravinsky-conducts-Stravinsky. Quite something!

]]> Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:05:23 GMT <![CDATA[Evan Parker + John Russell/Stefan Keune]]> http://www.alexanderhawkins.com/blog.html?p=176 A quick plug for the next in our great monthly series at the Rising Sun Arts Centre in Reading. And it's a good'un...tomorrow, the great Evan Parker will play solo, and completing the double bill, the fantastic sopranino/guitar pairing of John Russell and Stefan Keune.


Guaranteed to be a wonderful night's music - please come along and support!










]]> Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:37:42 GMT <![CDATA[Barkingside]]> http://www.alexanderhawkins.com/blog.html?p=175


Our first couple of gigs on this Jazz Services tour - in Reading and Sheffield - were great fun, and I think (hope) we played some wonderful music.



Also on the bill is solo oboe from the fantastic Nick Benda. And of course, plenty of copies of the new CD.



Speaking of which, the reviews are just starting to come in. We had a nice write-up of both Barkingside and the Convergence Quartet recently at All About Jazz. Here's a Barkingside-specific one from Bagatellen by Derek Taylor. And rumour has it there'll be a couple more within the week or so...



If you don't want to listen to us this weekend (fair enough), then listen to this. I'm normally really sniffy about compilations, but I've had this one on nearly non-stop over the last week or so. UNBELIEVABLE. Was it Leonard Feather who made the comment about Ben Webster being the Clark Gable of the tenor saxophone - 'at once a brute and a hero'? This is along the same lines. Webster can be so unbelievably gentle and unbelievably powerful almost at the same time: the same is true of Curtis Mayfield. And the falsetto!!! It's a bit of an odd comparison in some respects, but the way he disappears into the stratosphere reminds me of the feeling I had when I first heard the Albert Ayler Greenwich Village recordings (my first Ayler). They'd finish the theme statement ('Truth is Marching In' is the one which stays with me the most), and then Ayler would disappear up, up , and further up into his altissimo, to this almost indeterminate, but completely perfect pitch.



And I hadn't realised that Mayfield was one of the few guys around this time and idiom writing his own material. They are incredible songs. 'I'm The One Who Loves You', 'Keep On Pushin'', 'People Get Ready' (of course), etc. etc. etc.



Incredible stuff. [Looking forward to checking out the William Parker Curtis Mayfield Project, which has just appeard on CD, I believe...]
]]> Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:37:22 GMT <![CDATA[Here's something]]> http://www.alexanderhawkins.com/blog.html?p=174 The first edition of a new online journal dedicated to free jazz and free improvisation (click on the relevant link on that page to download). There's some great stuff in here...I particularly enjoyed the piece about the Cecil Taylor/Anthony Braxton meeting in Italy (whilst at the same time disagreeing with a great deal of what the author says!).

 Extensive reviews, both of recordings and live gigs, as well as a long interview with the Westbrooks. Looking forward to issue 2. At 204 pages, this is a pretty major piece of work!
]]> Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:08:29 GMT <![CDATA[AEC + Cecil Taylor]]> http://www.alexanderhawkins.com/blog.html?p=173


First, here's the Art Ensemble of Chicago live in Warsaw, 1983. Two parts; the centrepiece of the first being Roscoe Mitchell's solo, with Jarman playing some extraordinary post-Dolphy stuff in the second. Don Moye is astonishing throughout - the power is almost overwhelming. And Malachi Favors gluing it all together...listen to the size of his sound at the end!



Part One

Part Two



Second, here's a mesmerising collaboration between the AEC and Cecil Taylor. Cecil in super-tonal, ballad mode - very beautiful. The chemistry with Bowie is phenomenal. And again, Favors is right on it.



CT/AEC




]]> Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:48:15 GMT <![CDATA[Another review...]]> http://www.alexanderhawkins.com/blog.html?p=172
albums at All About Jazz, by John Eyles:



http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=28528
]]> Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:12:35 GMT <![CDATA[Last night]]> http://www.alexanderhawkins.com/blog.html?p=171 ]]> Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:13:17 GMT