Mopomoso Live August 18th 2024 Vortex Jazz Club, London

Mopomoso LIVE at the Vortex Sunday 18th August 2024

International Free Improvised Music

upstairs at the Vortex Jazz Club, 11 Gillett Square

London, N16 8AZ

United Kingdom

Caroline Kraabel (saxophone) & Veryan Weston (piano)

Neil Metcalfe (flute) Barry John Edwards (guitar), Colin Somervell (bass)

Mark Hewins (guitar), Alex Ward (clarinet)

(not necessarily playing in this order)

More info on the performers:

Veryan Weston

Best-known for his work with such British musicians as saxophonist Lol Coxhill,.vocalist Phil Minton and Trevor Watts who he is still working with in the ‘Dialogues’ duo as well as their current trio – ‘Eternal Triangle’ having recently released two CDs - “Gravity” and in Netherlands “Moving On”. Own projects have included research in to pentatonic scale relationships with various compositions reflecting this research called ‘Tessellations’.

Caroline Kraabel

Active groups: duo with cellist Khabat Abas, Transitions Trio (with Charlotte Hug and Maggie Nicols, OTO-Moers Quartet, with Bex Burch, Simon Camatta and Raïssa Mehner, Fit To Burst, with Sarah Washington and John Edwards; a duo with Pat Thomas and the Poetry Quartet with Rowland Sutherland, John Edwards and Sofia Vaisman Maturana. She has performed and recorded with improvisers including Robert Wyatt, Louis Moholo, Cleveland Watkiss, Hyelim Kim, Annie Lewandowski, Susan Alcorn, Mark Sanders and Veryan Weston (the trio CD – Playtime, and a duo CD project on Emanem - Five Shadows.

They recently reunited with a very successful duo performance celebrating the life of Martin Davidson in London at the beginning of this year.

Mark Hewins

Mark Hewins has worked extensively with various Canterbury scene musicians, including Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper. His collaboration with Dean continued when they both played as members of Soft Heap with Pip Pyle and John Greaves. He has also played with Gong Global Family which featured Hopper, Chris Cutler and Daevid Allen and was Gong’s guitar player on their 30th Anniversary tour. He has toured with Lou Reed and played guitar in the Bob Geldof band. In addition, he had a long collaboration with Casio USA, when he wrote software and sound samples for their professional and domestic music instruments.

Trevor Watts asked him to join Amalgam after Keith Rowe left.

Alex Ward

Alex is a composer, improviser and performing musician (primarily on clarinet and guitar) based in London. He leads various ensembles under the heading of the Item Series to perform his compositions for improvising musicians, and he is a member of many other groups including legendary rock band Pere Ubu.

Barry John Edwards

Born in Chester, Barry John Edwards, also known as Bazmatronics is a musician, composer and improviser based in Wales, U.K. He is a graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in jazz and regular contributor to the improvisational scene in both the U.K and Spain. Barry is known for his music contribution to the Netflix series Spy Ops.

Neil Metcalfe

Neil Metcalfe has been active on the London improvising scene since the 70’s.

He has played with, amongst many others:

Evan Parker, Roscoe Mitchell, Paul Dunmall, Lol Coxhill and Tony Marsh and was a member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, considered by many to be the flagship European Improvising Ensemble.

His current output includes CDs with Paul Dunmall, Alison Blunt, Hanna Marshall and the Runcible Quintet.

Colin Somervell

Colin is as happy performing melodic free improvisation or playing in neo rembetica bands (Trio Tekke) and is also in demand as a free jazz musician. He shows an interest in both lyrical and free/collective improvisation, with an approach that uses technique and conceptual approaches in accessible and embraceable ways.

Mopomoso Live

Mopomoso LIVE is the UK’s longest running concert series (Est’d 1991) dedicated to freely improvised music! It takes place at the Vortex, Dalston, London, UK. Come & join us, always on the 3rd Sunday of every month - for an afternoon full of captivating musical meetings.

Don’t forget - the best way to experience the world of free improvisation is to see/hear it LIVE!