there’s a bit of footage online from the Nick Malcolm Quartet tour, one here at the bebop club in Bristol (with the fantastic Corey Mwamba depping for Alexander Hawkins):
and another here, from Monmouth, playing Andrew Hill’s tune ‘Dusk’
The album has had a couple of nice reviews too, one here on Jazzmann, and one in jazzwise magazine, which isn’t online.
Edit: another review, on the LondonJazz blog: http://londonjazz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/cd-review-nick-malcolm-quartet-glimmers.html
The Catatumbo album has received some nice reviews, hopefully more to come but these are the one’s I’ve noticed so far…
thought I’d seen a couple more than that, but can’t find them now! will add to the list as more reviews are published…
Really looking forward to touring in September with Ken Vandermark and Mark Sanders. Got (almost) all the details sorted, here’s the dates:
24/09/12 – Manchester. Kraak Space, Stevenson Place (off Stevenson Square) M1 1DB. 7.30pm. £8 advance. www.buriedbones.co.uk (joint promotion with Noise Upstairs)
25/09/12 – Newcastle. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, NE1 2PQ. 8.30pm. £12 / £8 concs / £5 students advance from 0191 230 4474. www.schmazz.co.uk (joint promotion with Jazz North East)
26/09/12 – Birmingham. Hare & Hounds, 106 High Street, King’s Heath, B14 7JZ. 8.30pm. £8. www.jazzlines.co.uk
27/09/12 – London. The Vortex, 11 Gillett Square, Dalston, N16 8AZ. 8.30pm. £12. www.vortexjazz.co.uk
28/09/12 – Brighton. The Open House, 146 Springfield Road, BN1 6BZ. 8pm. £6. www.safehousebrighton.co.uk
29/09/12 – Dublin. Whelan’s Upstairs, Wexford St, Dublin 2. 8pm. €14/12 www.improvisedmusic.ie
The Catatumbo album is available to pre-order (ships early June, but you can get it before then by coming to our album launch…) Recorded live at the Vortex during our November 2011 tour, it’s been released in a rather gorgeous package by Babel. 180g vinyl, gatefold sleeve with fantastic artwork by Jethro Brice (my brother) and a glass mastered CD thrown in, or alternatively downloadable in most formats, from here:
you can also buy the CD separately, but it seems not at that website, so you’ll to come to a gig or email me if that’s your preference…
We’ll be launching the album properly with a gig at the Vortex, on 21/05/12
Nick, Mark Sanders and I did a really nice recording session last week, beautifully captured as always by Alex Bonney. Hopefully it’ll be an album at some point, details here as and when…
Nick and I also played Mopomoso at the weekend, John Russell’s monthly night at the Vortex. Mark wasn’t available, but we played with the great Roger Turner instead, something I’ve wanted to do for ages. here’s the evidence…
Nice review from Joe Higham, here:
http://cardboardmusic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/babs-diving-bells-and-art-of-sound.html
Fiona Talkington played a track of the album on ‘Late Junction’ on Radio 3 a couple of weeks ago, but I’m writing this too late to link to the programme….
Nice review here: http://www.theliminal.co.uk/2012/01/liminal-minimals-january-2012/
(although I should point out I’m not a member of the Loop Collective, unlike James and Alex)
BABs – Diving Bells (Mini-Loop Records)
BABs is the improvising trio of Loop Collective members Olie Brice on bass, James Allsopp on bass clarinet, and Alex Bonney on electronics. Thanks to an unconventional approach to how they play their instruments, combined with the use of real-time electronic processing, BABs investigate textural spaces far beyond the remit of a regular jazz trio. Diving Bells sees them taking the sea as a cue, not through a use of simplistic sound effects, but really thinking about the sonic properties of water, and diving down to explore its depths. As well as being very clever, Diving Bells is a transportive and strangely beautiful record. You can imagine a vessel creaking and groaning as it descends, finding strange lifeforms amongst the icy blackness on the sea bed, before ascending back to a calm, rippling surface. Diving Bells is a (sunken) treasure. (SM)
