The guitar/bass trio has either Uli Elbracht, orAndy Mackenzie on guitar, and Frank Grime on bass.
I have often worked, with Liz Fletcher, especially when she comes up North to sing, usually with Dave Green on bass, and Pat McCarthy on guitar.
And in the an improvising corner there is a string quartet - "Four Candles", a duo with Stephen Grew, and I also perform solo.
Influences
Mike Brecker, Nathan Milstein, Jimi Hendrix, JS Bach, Jack Goldzweig, Eric Dolphy, Robert Anton Wilson, Jan Garbarek, Mark Feldman, Lester Bowie, Didier Malherbe, Ralph Towner, Bela Bartok, Prince, P-Funk, David Butler, Jeff Beck, Jackie Mason, Frank Zappa, John Maynard Smith, Allan Holdsworth, ..>Daevid Allen, Andy Sheppard, Les Clark, Evan Parker, BB King, Esme Clark, Buddy Guy, Len Palmer, Eberhard Weber, Charlie Mariano, John Taylor, Pharoah Sanders, Stan Sulzman, Richard Gregory, Bill Evans, Karl Popper, John Coltrane, Arthur Blythe, Emperor Joshua Norton ...
I have been playing jazz on violin professionally since 1982. I cut my jazz teeth while living in Bristol and London in the 1980s, by sitting in everywhere.
From 1988 - 1992 I was a member of cult psychedelic jazz-rock band "GONG", touring extensively in France, Italy and the UK, and recording several albums.
Based in NW England since 1996, I play regularly on the thriving Manchester jazz scene. In 2003, I did a solo improvisation tour supporting the American "No-Neck Blues Band" (Paris, Amsterdam, London). Also performed with Bryan Glancy, supporting David Gray, amongst many other shows.
I also play with 'TOOLSHED,' an experimental fusion of techno and big band jazz led by Graham Massey, of 808 State. In 2004 I performed with Toolshed for a Radio Three broadcast from Belfast, as part of the BBC Music Live festival. I have also been seen with Lamb, Elbow, La Timbala, Salsa Pa'Gozar, Stephen Fretwell, & Liz Fletcher, amongst others. I still give both solo and collaborative improvised performances.
Current projects include a free improvising string quartet, a guitar bass and violin trio, and continuing to develop my approach to teaching violin, drawing on over twenty years of teaching experience combined with a knowledge of cognitive psychology, and a fascination with the mechanics of the instrument.
In October 2004, I recorded a series of improvised duets with US violinist Mark Feldman. These were broadcast in February 2005 on Radio 3's "Mixing it".
I was the solo Electric Violinist for the Jean-Claude Vannier concert at the Barbican on 21st October 2006, with Big Jim Sullivan, Vic Flick, Herbie Flowers and Dougie Wright, as well as the BBC Concert Orchestra and Crouch End Festival Chorus, reprised in Paris in October this year.
"IMPROVISATIONS SERIES 1" a cd of duo improvisations with Stephen Grew on piano is out now
Oh Graham, i would love it!!1 Promise i'll be wayyy at the front of the line to buy it when you do it! All my best-keep on creating-it's great to see you still "out there" doing your thing. It's very inspiring..Hope all is well with you All my best-Gary (N.J.)
A man is lying in bed in a Catholic hospital with an oxygen mask over his mouth. A young auxiliary nurse appears to sponge his face and hands.
"Nurse," he mumbles from behind the mask, "Are my testicles black?"
Embarrassed the young nurse replies, "I don't know, I'm only here to wash your face and hands."
He struggles again to ask, "Nurse, Are my testicles black?"
Again the nurse replies, "I can't tell. I'm only here to wash your face and hands."
The ward sister was passing and saw the man getting a little distraught so she marched over to inquire what was wrong.
"Sister," he mumbled, "Are my testicles black?"
Being a nurse of longstanding, the sister was undaunted. She whipped back the bedclothes, pulled down his pajama trousers, moved his penis out of the way, had a good look, pulled up the pajamas, replaced the bedclothes and announced, "Nothing is wrong with them!!!"
At this the man pulled off his oxygen mask and asked again, "Are my test results back???
Trespassers William (Seattle, US) are the duo of Matt Brown and Anna-Lynne Williams. "Subliminally sublime and pragmatically perfect, you would have to possess an ashtray for a heart not to feel this coursing through your soul" (DSD Music Magazine). A new EP, The Natural Order of Things, is set to be released on Gizeh Records. They will make a church performance with special guests.
Glissando (Sheffield, UK) “have the kind of atmosphere that can captivate and relax in equal measure- never before has tranquillity sounded so urgent. While track lengths of over 10 minutes may fail to hold the attention of the ADHD sufferers among us, with patience it plays like a majestic dream. And it's one you'll never want to wake up from." NME
Operations (Chris Anderson) is a Manchester based conceptual music producer and sound artist. He performs and records with an array of analog synths and effects, reel-to-reel tape and casette players, and guitars. Followers of Tim Hecker, Slowdive, Fennesz, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Stephen O'Malley, Type and 12K Records will surely nod in approval.
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this poem sung on myspace...
Poem 2 of 230, WalkaboutsVerse (please see my blog): WALKABOUT WITH MY PEN
Once drove an old sedan, up north, From a place in Sydney to Cairns; Then to Kuranda I went forth, By train, to look without set plans.
I browsed through the trendy market, With fresh fruits of tropical kind; Walked to the creek through lush thicket - Nature’s hand giving peace of mind.
I dined in a scenic cafe; Then, outside, as I wrote for yen, Some passing Kooris called-out: “Hey, You go walkabout with your pen.”
Request or question, I don’t know - Assured voices, elderly men. That’s now several years ago, And I’ve seen the world - with my pen.
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