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
- Phil Minton
- 9
- Henry Lowther
- 9
- Stefan Keune
- 7
- Lol Coxhill
- 5
- Evan Parker
- 4
- Hannah Marshall
- 4
- Luo Chao-yun
- 3
- Sabu Toyozumi
- 2
- Matt Hutchinson
- 2
- Jean Borde
- 2
- Ken Ikeda
- 2
- Ute Völker
- 2
- Guylaine Cosseron
- 2
- Yoko Arai
- 2
- Tanja Feichtmair
- 2
- Henry Kaiser
- 2
- John Edwards
- 2
- Chefa Alonso
- 2
- Ketil Gutvik
- 1
- Peter Urpeth
- 1
- Angelika Sheridan
- 1
- Johnny Lapio
- 1
- Gianni Mimmo
- 1
- Gunther Christmann
- 1
- Isidora Edwards
- 1
- Alice Eldridge
- 1
- Anders Lindsjö
- 1
- Raymond Strid
- 1
- Maggie Nichols
- 1
- Masaharu Shoji
- 1
- Ute Wassermann
- 1
- ???
- 1
- Alexander Hawkins
- 1
- Ian Diplock
- 1
- Shabaka Hutchings
- 1
- Tania Chen
- 1
- Adam Linson
- 1
- Le Quan Ninh
- 1
- Luc Houtkamp
- 1
- Ola Paulson
- 1
- Urs Leimgruber
- 1
- Elke Schipper
- 1
- Jason Robinson
- 1
- Richard Barrett
- 1
- Isadora Edwards
- 1
- Niklas Fite
- 1
- Harri Sjoestrom
- 1
- Luo Chao yun
- 1
- Mathieu Werchowski
- 1
- Satkoko Fukuda
- 1
- Kresten Michael Osgood
- 1
- Neil Metcalf
- 1
- Paul Obermayer
- 1
- Louis Moholo
- 1
- Will Connor
- 1
- Anders Uddeskog
- 1
- Arthur Bull
- 1
- Mike Gennaro
- 1
- Hugh Davies
- 1
- Jean-Jacques Duerinckx
- 1
- Matthieu Safatly
- 1
- Philipp Wachsmann
- 1
- Stale Liavik Solberg
- 1
- Fang-Yi Liu
- 1
- Matthew Ostrowski
- 1
- Stegan Keune
- 1
- Albert Kaul
- 1
- Dave Solomon
- 1
- Sture Ericson
- 1
- Tony Marsh
- 1
- Ute Volker
- 1
- Lee Allatson
- 1