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