John Russell
Photo by Seán Kelly
He finds new tones in the same place, new relationships in the same gesture. A second trip across the fingerboard is always a different excursion. The harmonic is a transparent sound: silence and ambient sound pass through it. It accounts for Russell’s unhurried pace and his sense of order, even when he’s playing fast: there’s simply so much going on
―Stuart Broomer, Point of Departure
Born 1954, London.
John Russell got his first guitar in 1965 while living in Kent and began to play in and around London from 1971 onwards.
An early involvement with the emerging free improvisation scene (from 1972) followed, seeing him play in such places as The Little Theatre Club, Ronnie Scott’s, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Musicians’ Co-Op and the London Musicians’ Collective.
From 1974 his work extended into teaching, broadcasts (radio and television) and touring in the United Kingdom and, ever extensively, in other countries around the world . He has played with many of the world’s leading improvisers and his work can be heard on over 50 CDs and albums.
In 1981, he founded QUAQUA, a large bank of improvisers put together in different combinations for specific projects and, in 1991, he started MOPOMOSO which has become the UK’s longest running concert series featuring mainly improvised music.
A leading figure in the UK improvised music scene John Russell is internationally respected for his guitar playing and continuing work within the field. He initiated and is responsible for running Mopomoso which, apart from hosting the UK’s longest unbroken concert series of freely improvised music, also organises special events and workshops. In 2016 he co-founded Weekertoft, a label specialising in high quality releases of improvised music, with Dublin based pianist Paul G Smyth.
Links
Mopomoso Apperances: 136
Mopomoso Concert Series:
- 25th Anniversary
- 2
- Afternoon Sessions
- 103
- Arch 1
- 1
- At The Red Rose
- 14
- Discover Plus
- 1
- End of Year Celebration
- 1
- End of Year Show
- 2
- Fete Quaqua
- 1
- Fête Quaqua
- 4
- Fête Quaqua 2016
- 1
- I’Klectik Ballistik
- 1
- London Jazz festival
- 1
- London Jazz Festival
- 2
- Quaqua Anglo Austria
- 1
- Xmas Xtravaganza
- 1
Collaborators:
- Roger Turner
- 14
- Satoko Fukuda
- 10
- Henry Lowther
- 9
- Phil Minton
- 9
- Stefan Keune
- 6
- Kay Grant
- 6
- Lol Coxhill
- 5
- Evan Parker
- 4
- Hannah Marshall
- 4
- Luo Chao-yun
- 3
- Henry Kaiser
- 2
- Ute Völker
- 2
- Alex Ward
- 2
- Sabu Toyozumi
- 2
- Phil Wachsmann
- 2
- Chefa Alonso
- 2
- Matt Hutchinson
- 2
- Tanja Feichtmair
- 2
- Ken Ikeda
- 2
- John Edwards
- 2
- Guylaine Cosseron
- 2
- Jean Borde
- 2
- Yoko Arai
- 2
- Anders Uddeskog
- 1
- Arthur Bull
- 1
- Terry Day
- 1
- Ian Diplock
- 1
- Luo Chao yun
- 1
- Philipp Wachsmann
- 1
- Paul Obermayer
- 1
- Urs Leimgruber
- 1
- Alice Eldridge
- 1
- Hugh Davies
- 1
- Masaharu Shoji
- 1
- Albert Kaul
- 1
- Dave Solomon
- 1
- Gunther Christmann
- 1
- Lee Allatson
- 1
- Ola Paulson
- 1
- Stale Liavik Solberg
- 1
- Sture Ericson
- 1
- Alexander Hawkins
- 1
- Isidora Edwards
- 1
- Raymond Strid
- 1
- Will Connor
- 1
- ???
- 1
- Jean-Jacques Duerinckx
- 1
- Johnny Lapio
- 1
- Matthieu Safatly
- 1
- Shabaka Hutchings
- 1
- Tony Marsh
- 1
- Louis Moholo
- 1
- Maggie Nichols
- 1
- Mike Gennaro
- 1
- Tania Chen
- 1
- Blanca Regina
- 1
- Niklas Fite
- 1
- Ute Wassermann
- 1
- Kresten Michael Osgood
- 1
- Satkoko Fukuda
- 1
- Adam Linson
- 1
- Angelika Sheridan
- 1
- Elke Schipper
- 1
- Ute Volker
- 1
- Stegan Keune
- 1
- Fang-Yi Liu
- 1
- Jason Robinson
- 1
- Ketil Gutvik
- 1
- Mathieu Werchowski
- 1
- Matthew Ostrowski
- 1
- Neil Metcalf
- 1
- Gianni Mimmo
- 1
- Luc Houtkamp
- 1
- Anders Lindsjö
- 1
- Harri Sjoestrom
- 1
- Isadora Edwards
- 1
- Peter Urpeth
- 1
- Richard Barrett
- 1