After humbly letting the Cafe OTO audience know that “It’s a pleasure to be back,” Peter Brötzmann launched the quartet’s first night with an earth-shattering blast on alto sax, which he then built on with liquid, register-scaling runs and fluttering bass tremors [...]
Poet Peter Urpeth and saxophonist Evan Parker go back a long way, some 40 years, to when Urpeth joined Parker as pianist in an improvising trio. Their evening at the intimate Hundred Years Gallery celebrated Urpeth’s new book of poems, [...]
Free-thinking mezzo soprano Loré Lixenberg, champion of contemporary opera and experimental music, was the prime mover behind two Anglo-French concerts by experimental electronics composers at Cafe Oto, under the umbrella, FR/UK U!, of which this was the first. Primarily an [...]
Acclaimed jazz pianist/composer, Alexander Hawkins, with master of the soprano saxophone, Roberto Ottaviano made for a great combination, an occasional duo nurtured over several years, in a programme sharing an appreciation of Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron. Ottaviano has referred [...]
The first and final nights I attended of percussionist Valentina Magaletti’s landmark three-night residency at Cafe Oto, which she also curated, opened with strong solo sets from Marlene Ribeiro and Laila Sakini, respectively, captivating the listener with their skilfully layered [...]
The final date of LCMF 2022 included three standout solo performances – from Pat Thomas (piano), Elaine Mitchener (voice), and Joëlle Léandre (double bass) – and a fitting finalé from Tom Foulsham which used the nearby Thames as its canvas. [...]
In many ways this was an evening for Roscoe Mitchell, programmed around him and for him, leading up to the master saxophonist’s scintillating solo performance. Tyshawn Sorey’s ’For Roscoe Mitchell’ was central to the LCMF Orchestra’s rich repertoire for the [...]
In its own understatedly riotous way, the Sun Ra Arkestra, led by the explosive, single-mindedness of Marshall Allen, triumphantly burned up Earth with consummate musicianship and its infectious communality of spirit. Appropriately, the current twelve-piece, with its roots in its [...]
Pianist/composer Myra Melford’s ‘Fire and Water’ project takes its title from a series of vibrant, abstract drawings by the artist, Cy Twombly (1928-2011), ‘Gaeta Set, For the Love of Fire and Water’ (1981), subsequently reproduced in a limited edition book [...]
Mezzo-soprano Loré Lixenberg’s vocal interpretation of the works for player-piano of American composer Conlon Nancarrow (1912 – 1997) was ingenious, compelling and – in the face of its high-risk technical demands – carried off with a delightful lightness of touch. [...]
