Mopomoso
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: 144
Series:
- 25th Anniversary
- 2
- Afternoon Sessions
- 105
- Arch
- 1
- At The Red Rose
- 19
- Discover Plus
- 1
- Fête Quaqua
- 6
- I’Klectik Ballistik
- 1
- London Jazz Festival
- 3
- Mopomoso Christmas Party
- 5
- Quaqua Anglo Austria
- 1
Collaborators:
- Roger Turner
- 14
- Satoko Fukuda
- 10
- Henry Lowther
- 9
- Phil Minton
- 9
- Stefan Keune
- 7
- Kay Grant
- 6
- Lol Coxhill
- 5
- Hannah Marshall
- 4
- Evan Parker
- 4
- Luo Chao-yun
- 3
- John Edwards
- 2
- Yoko Arai
- 2
- Ken Ikeda
- 2
- Ute Völker
- 2
- Sabu Toyozumi
- 2
- Matt Hutchinson
- 2
- Guylaine Cosseron
- 2
- Jean Borde
- 2
- Henry Kaiser
- 2
- Chefa Alonso
- 2
- Tanja Feichtmair
- 2
- Sture Ericson
- 1
- Adam Linson
- 1
- Alice Eldridge
- 1
- Hugh Davies
- 1
- Jean-Jacques Duerinckx
- 1
- Will Connor
- 1
- Luc Houtkamp
- 1
- Mathieu Werchowski
- 1
- Anders Lindsjö
- 1
- Angelika Sheridan
- 1
- Dave Solomon
- 1
- Le Quan Ninh
- 1
- Neil Metcalf
- 1
- Stale Liavik Solberg
- 1
- Alexander Hawkins
- 1
- Matthieu Safatly
- 1
- Ola Paulson
- 1
- Tony Marsh
- 1
- Isadora Edwards
- 1
- Ketil Gutvik
- 1
- Philipp Wachsmann
- 1
- Stegan Keune
- 1
- Masaharu Shoji
- 1
- Urs Leimgruber
- 1
- Johnny Lapio
- 1
- Luo Chao yun
- 1
- Louis Moholo
- 1
- Richard Barrett
- 1
- Anders Uddeskog
- 1
- Jason Robinson
- 1
- Kresten Michael Osgood
- 1
- Gunther Christmann
- 1
- Harri Sjoestrom
- 1
- Lee Allatson
- 1
- Maggie Nichols
- 1
- Ute Wassermann
- 1
- Arthur Bull
- 1
- Matthew Ostrowski
- 1
- Satkoko Fukuda
- 1
- Albert Kaul
- 1
- Peter Urpeth
- 1
- Tania Chen
- 1
- Gianni Mimmo
- 1
- Paul Obermayer
- 1
- Raymond Strid
- 1
- Shabaka Hutchings
- 1
- Blanca Regina
- 1
- Ian Diplock
- 1
- ???
- 1
- Isidora Edwards
- 1
- Ute Volker
- 1
- Fang-Yi Liu
- 1
- Mike Gennaro
- 1
- Niklas Fite
- 1
- Elke Schipper
- 1