Thanks to Trevor Brent and everyone at Freedom of the City for a fantastic and welcoming festival; to Rob Mackay of the University of Hull-Scarborough Campus for being a wonderful, generous host—organizing the performance, housing and feeding the musicians; and to Jazz @ The Oxford for their open mindedness and enthusiasm. Special thanks to John Chantler and Hamish Dunbar at Cafe OTO for helping this itinerant musician step across the border, to John Coxon for the use of his lovely amplifier at FOTC, and to Seán Kelly for evolving into Mathilde 253’s official photographer!
Kudos to all the musicians involved: to Richard Barrett for pushing and pulling the music into new spaces, and for illuminating and exploring the possibilities of real-time interactive music; to Charles Hayward and Ian Smith—two musicians who never miss a beat—for the real rock-out (despite 1/3 of Mathilde 253 begin zombified by a cold); to Dom Lash, Phillip Marks and, in particular, to Mark Hanslip for inviting me to join in their spontaneous inventions and discoveries.
And finally, as always, thanks to all who came to watch/listen!
I’ve shut the CD store because of the move back to the United States. I plan to reinstate the purchase option, but I can’t say when at the moment. Some of these CDs are available from other sources, and these are indicated below.
Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar), Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn), Lol Coxhill (saxophone) tracks 6 and 7. Mathilde 253 is the real-time musical meeting between legendary avant-rock drummer Charles Hayward (This Heat, Massacre), “careful and crafty” guitarist Han-earl Park (Paul Dunmall, Kato Hideki), and mainstay of the London improvised music scene Ian Smith (Derek Bailey, London Improvisers’ Orchestra). Mathilde 253 was born out of an opportunity to explore the spontaneous mashup of avant-rock, African-American creative musics, European free improvisation and noise. Joined by the veteran iconoclastic saxophonist Lol Coxhill, this recording documents the weaving of physical virtuosity and humorous sound poetics, a patchwork of restraint, subtlety and recklessness.
Born out of an opportunity to explore the spontaneous mashup of avant-rock, African-American creative musics, European free improvisation and noise, Mathilde 253 (Charles Hayward, Han-earl Park and Ian Smith) debuted at Cafe OTO (London) in April 2010. Featuring special guest Lol Coxhill, the ensemble weaved a performance of physical virtuosity and humorous sound poetics; a patchwork of restraint, subtlety and recklessness.
A playful collision of personal, social and musical histories, Mathilde 253 is a site where tradition and idiom are not straightjackets nor limitations, but playgrounds for real-time (re)inventions and (re)configurations.
Special thanks to Ian Smith for the scheming and pre-performance guidance, and to Charles Hayward, Lol Coxhill and Ian who reminded me how much I’ve got to learn—I was performing in the presence of giants. Thanks to Fritz Welch, Lin Zhang of Grind Sight Open Eye, and Jamie Smith of Owlhouse Recordings for organizing the events (and feeding this itinerant musician), and to Stills Gallery, and Hamish Dunbar and Keiko Yamamoto at Cafe OTO for hosting the performances.
Kudos to all the musicians who were involved, in particular Neil Davidson and Sean Williams for two memorable duos; EdImpro for their generosity and sense of fun; Shiori Usui and Lin for the Asian noise; Jamie, Lee Allatson and Oliver Betts for the high-volume rock-out; and Heddy Boubaker for sharing the first leg of the trip.
Last but not least, thanks to all who came to listen/watch—it was a pleasure to share the journey.
