Doors 6:45 PM, Music 7:30 PM – 1 set(s) of music
Line-up:
Alex Ward – Clarinet
John Edwards – Double bass
Mike Gennaro – Drum kit
About
First public performance in the UK for this collaborative trio which first played together in 2023, in a meeting subsequently released as their debut CD “ACTIVITY”.
“Joy of playing, intensity, authenticity – that’s what it’s all about… A very recommended album.” (Martin Schray, Free Jazz Blog.)
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.
Drummer Mike Gennaro burst into improvised music circles in 1999 with the release Port Huron Picnic (Spool), a disc with lauded Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson. Then still in his early twenties, Gennaro also made two appearances at the Toronto Jazz Festival, duetting with another trailblazing saxophonist — the inimitable John Butcher. Subsequent concert collaborations have included internationally acclaimed improvisers such as Juini Booth, Wilbert de Joode, Veryan Weston, Trevor Watts and Tobi Delius.
In 2022 a short German tour saw him performing in duo settings with Eric Boeren, Frank Gratkowski, and Matthias Schubert. Later that year, a week of recording sessions in Berlin produced the newly released INITIALS with Brad Henkel on trumpet and a trio recording with bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall and bassist Ben Lehmann entitled SECOND TAKE.
Alex Ward’s diverse musical activities since the early ’90s have straddled the worlds of free improvisation, contemporary composition and avant rock, and have seen him collaborate with such significant musical figures as Derek Bailey, Duck Baker, Lol Coxhill, Eugene Chadbourne, Thurston Moore, Joe Morris, Steve Noble, Evan Parker, Pat Thomas and Weasel Walter, amongst a host of others. He was an integral part of Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward’s acclaimed This Is Not This Heat project, and in 2021 he became a member of the legendary band Pere Ubu.
His work as a composer/bandleader has encompassed his own ensembles such as Predicate, Forebrace, the Alex Ward Quintet and Items 4, 6, 7 & 10, alongside collaborative projects such as his duos with Dominic Lash, Jem Doulton (as Dead Days Beyond Help) and Sean Noonan (as Noonward); while his solo releases have ranged from unaccompanied performances on clarinet and guitar to the layered studio creations found on 2021’s Gated.