A very warm thanks to Mike Hurley who not only demonstrated his abilities as, to quote Eoin Callery, a “sh*t-hot pianist”, but also demonstrated his generosity as a performer.

Thanks to Neil O’Loghlen for keeping Mike company on stage. And thanks, as always, to all who came to listen and play, including the evening’s Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of… Tony O’Connor and Han-earl Park, and Eoin Callery, Marian Murray and Kevin Terry for jumping into the (improvisative) deep-end.

Finally, Stet Lab gratefully acknowledges the support of the UCC Department of Music for coming through with this month’s venue.

[Mike Hurley:] “I have improvised in quite a free and gestural way since I was too young to know what free improvisation and free jazz were. …Like anything there was a fair bit of ‘trial and error’ when I was learning. …One prepares for an improvised show in a similar way to which one prepares for a surprise—it’s best not to worry about it.”

…Understanding personal differences is key, he says, to a successful collaborative improvisation, particularly as the process requires collective decision making and a trust in one another’s abilities.

Read the whole thing…

Catch Mike and the Stet Lab (ir)regulars tonight (Thursday, July 10th)! [Details…]

The evening’s second ‘rhythm section’ will be The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of… Tony O’Connor (bass guitar) and Han-earl Park (guitar).

Please note (yet again) the new venue!

It’ll be a unique and exciting event. We hope to see you there, participating as audience, performer or helper, and thank you for your continued support.

Stet Lab

featuring Mike Hurley
plus The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of…

Thursday, July 10th 2008

7:30pm [earlier start time!]

Ó Riada Hall [new venue!]
UCC Department of Music
Sundays Well
Cork, Ireland

€10 (€5)

Following the success of June’s convention, Cork’s monthly improvised music event—Stet Lab—continues its Summer 2008 season of on-stage mutations and hybrids on Thursday, 10th July, at the Ó Riada Hall, UCC Department of Music, Sundays Well. This regular, yet unique meeting between novice and veteran improvisers alike welcomes the co-founder of the Birmingham Improvisers Orchestra, Mike Hurley to the rostrum.

Stemming from the bright lights of Birmingham, Hurley is an exciting and innovative young pianist, capable of both furious extemporizations and the “angelic piano” (Downtown Music Gallery, NY), who has quickly established himself as an original voice in the free improvisation scene. A mover and shaker within the English improvised music community, according to the Birmingham Post, Hurley is “making quite a mark in the British free jazz arena, and has already played with such stalwarts of the scene as Lol Coxhill and the Pauls, Rutherford and Dunmall.” This is Hurley’s first performance at Stet Lab and will see him performing both as a soloist and with the local musicians. However, he is no stranger to the Lab’s style having founded his own fortnightly free improvisation event FiZZLE, and curates, in association with Birmingham Jazz, the quarterly Invention Convention.

Also performing at the event will be Stet Lab’s house band; a group of Cork-based improvisers appearing as The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of…. Audience members are welcome to participate in association with the programmed artists; please introduce yourself to the Stet Lab curator on the night.

Stet Lab gratefully acknowledges the support of the UCC Department of Music in providing a venue for this month’s event.

Please not that, due to circumstances beyond our control, there is unfortunately likely to be a last minute change of venue. Please sign-up to the list or subscribe to the news feed to stay up-to-date. [More info…]

One of the funkiest (musically and olfactorally) Lab, special thanks to the main fiddler, Murray Campbell, who was joined on the night by Marian Murray and Han-earl Park. Thanks also to the The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of… Eoin Callery, Susan Geaney, Tony O’Connor and Barry Twomey, kudos to all who participated (Melanie L. Marshall, Veronica Tadman and Kevin Terry), and the behind-the-scenes personnel, our photographer for the night, John Hough, and Amber Cone who managed the door.

Finally, a big thanks to all who came to listen, hang-out and generate a vibe (including the two dudes who added a touch of East European sophistication).

Please note the new venue!

We hope to see y’all there—it’ll be a good one.

Stet Lab

featuring Murray Campbell
plus The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of…

Thursday, June 12th 2008

9:00pm

upstairs @ Sláinte [New venue!]
Market Lane (off Patrick Street)
Cork, Ireland

€10 (€5)

Cork’s monthly improvised music event—Stet Lab—begins their Summer 2008 season of on-stage mutations and hybrids on Thursday, 12th of June, upstairs at Sláinte. A unique opportunity to witness the interaction between novice and veteran, and local and visiting, improvising musicians, the June Stet Lab will feature California-based multi-instrumentalist Murray Campbell.

One of the most popular visiting artists of Stet Lab (he was guest artist in December 2007), Murray Campbell takes a short break from his duties with Vermillion Lies to return to Cork. As a fiddler (of Scottish, Balkan and Bluegrass idioms), and a violinist and double reed player in Classical, music theater and performance art settings, Campbell has recorded with musicians from California, Scotland, The Netherlands and elsewhere, and performed on four continents. In addition, Campbell was long time musical and technical director of Jan Langedijk’s theater company De Daders (Amsterdam), co-creator (with Alex Fiennes) of the octaphonic spatialization system for Dialogues (Edinburgh), and co-founder of the Church of Sonology.

Also performing at the event will be Stet Lab’s house band; a group of Cork-based improvisers appearing as The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of….