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: 137
Mopomoso Concert Series:
- 25th Anniversary
- 2
- Afternoon Sessions
- 102
- Arch 1
- 1
- At The Red Rose
- 14
- Discover Plus
- 1
- Fête Quaqua
- 4
- I’Klectik Ballistik
- 1
- London Jazz festival
- 1
- London Jazz Festival
- 2
- 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
- Evan Parker
- 4
- Hannah Marshall
- 4
- Luo Chao-yun
- 3
- Matt Hutchinson
- 2
- Henry Kaiser
- 2
- Tanja Feichtmair
- 2
- Chefa Alonso
- 2
- John Edwards
- 2
- Ken Ikeda
- 2
- Ute Völker
- 2
- Sabu Toyozumi
- 2
- Guylaine Cosseron
- 2
- Jean Borde
- 2
- Yoko Arai
- 2
- Gunther Christmann
- 1
- Neil Metcalf
- 1
- Peter Urpeth
- 1
- Philipp Wachsmann
- 1
- Albert Kaul
- 1
- Masaharu Shoji
- 1
- Ola Paulson
- 1
- Anders Lindsjö
- 1
- Jean-Jacques Duerinckx
- 1
- Niklas Fite
- 1
- Urs Leimgruber
- 1
- Ute Wassermann
- 1
- Harri Sjoestrom
- 1
- Jason Robinson
- 1
- Raymond Strid
- 1
- Matthew Ostrowski
- 1
- Tony Marsh
- 1
- ???
- 1
- Adam Linson
- 1
- Fang-Yi Liu
- 1
- Isidora Edwards
- 1
- Lee Allatson
- 1
- Will Connor
- 1
- Isadora Edwards
- 1
- Ketil Gutvik
- 1
- Kresten Michael Osgood
- 1
- Luo Chao yun
- 1
- Alice Eldridge
- 1
- Anders Uddeskog
- 1
- Arthur Bull
- 1
- Satkoko Fukuda
- 1
- Sture Ericson
- 1
- Angelika Sheridan
- 1
- Blanca Regina
- 1
- Luc Houtkamp
- 1
- Shabaka Hutchings
- 1
- Hugh Davies
- 1
- Matthieu Safatly
- 1
- Ian Diplock
- 1
- Louis Moholo
- 1
- Maggie Nichols
- 1
- Richard Barrett
- 1
- Tania Chen
- 1
- Alexander Hawkins
- 1
- Mike Gennaro
- 1
- Paul Obermayer
- 1
- Ute Volker
- 1
- Johnny Lapio
- 1
- Dave Solomon
- 1
- Gianni Mimmo
- 1
- Le Quan Ninh
- 1
- Stale Liavik Solberg
- 1
- Elke Schipper
- 1
- Mathieu Werchowski
- 1
- Stegan Keune
- 1