Life is Knife – Audrey Lauro (sax) / Isabelle Sainte-Rose (cello) Yoko Miura (piano) / Lawrence Casserley (electronics) / Raymond McDonald (sax) Trio Blurb – Maggie Nicols (voice) / John Russell (guitar) / Mia Zabelka (violin)

Mark Browne (castrato saxophone / percussion) Sonic Pleasure (bricks / masonry / metal) Ian Smith (trumpet) Matt Hutchinson (piano) / Dave Solomon (drums) duo Katja Cruz (solo voice) John Russell (guitar) Roger Turner (percussion)

Mopomoso continues to present the best of improvised music – this month featuring four very different small group settings. Relentless Sebastien Branche (sax) / Artur Vidal (sax) Chris Burn (trumpets) / Matthew Hutchinson (piano) Kay Grant (voice) Satoko Fukuda (violin) / Henry Lowther (trumpet) / John Russell (guitar)

Mopomoso’s March concert brings you the best in free improvisation with a duo and two trios of impeccable musicianship from the UK, France, Italy and Spain. Roberto Sassi (guitar) / Ricardo Tejero (sax) From fiery explosions to delicate nuance this Italian / Spanish pairing draws influences from Jazz, Rock, Noise,Electronic and Contemporary music. Perfectly mixed in an integrated push/pull of inventiveness. Now resident in London they have become an integral part of the local scene.

With the very best from the world of free improvisation our February concert highlights both new and established collaborations from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and approaches. Olie Brice (bass) / Neil Metcalfe (flute) Growing out of out of quartet concerts in 2009 with drummer Tony Marsh and saxophonist Mark Hanslip, and then with Tony Marsh and Evan Parker, this duo greatly enjoyed playing together, and shared a desire to explore the possibilities of operating as an acoustic duo, allowing them to explore dynamic areas made impossible by amplification and free jazz drumming!

Continuing to celebrate the best in free improvisation Mopomoso starts the year in style with an international line up of from Switzerland, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK with their regular concert series and an extra CD launch concert. Sunday 16 January Rodrigo Montoya / Thomas Rohrer / Michelle Agnes / Marcio Mattos A remarkable group with some of Brazil’s finest improvisers, Montoya and Rohrer’s far from traditional work on the shamisen and rabeca respectively exhibit a keen sense of open exploration, Agnes on piano and Mattos on cello are a delight.

Following on from the success of Fête Quaqua and to coincide with this year´s London Jazz festival, Mopomoso host an extended concert with a distinctly Anglo-Japanese flavour, again under the banner of guitarist John Russell´s Quaqua (note the early start). With cutting edge music from a changing pool of some of the finest and most innovative improvisers around, playing in an environment where creativity is given full reign, this marks the UK debut appearances of violinist Hideaki Shimada and pianist Yoko Arai.

Premiere of episode six from Mopomoso TV featuring improvised music from around the world. Come and join us in the chat room

Stefano Giust (drums) / Noel Taylor (clarinet) / Steve Beresford (piano) A welcome visit from Stefano Giust – a tireless organiser and promoter of improvised music in his native Italy and founder of the Setola di Maiale label. A sensitive and creative improviser who also works as a composer for film and video he is joined by London based musicians Noel Taylor and Steve Beresford in this debut outing.

Third and final day of Fete Quaqua 2010. Sets in order of preformance.

Second day of Fete Quaqua 2010

First day of John Russell’s annual Fete Quaqua which took place on the 15th, 16th and 17th of August 2010. Originally used as a name for a weekly club for improvised music, the first Quaqua groups performed in the early 1980’s under the heading ‘Fete Quaqua’ at the now defunct London Musicians’ Collective building in Camden Town. The basic idea behind all Quaqua projects being to extend existing collaborations in juxtaposition with new groupings and thus provide a fertile ground for free improvisation.