{"id":37014,"date":"2015-06-12T01:39:08","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T23:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/modisti.tk\/15\/?p=37014"},"modified":"2015-12-31T16:47:50","modified_gmt":"2015-12-31T14:47:50","slug":"john-russell-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/john-russell-with\/","title":{"rendered":"JOHN RUSSELL &#8211; WITH&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/modisti.tk\/15\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/John-Russel-with.jpg\" alt=\"John Russel - with\" width=\"350\" height=\"351\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-37015\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/John-Russel-with.jpg 350w, https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/John-Russel-with-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/John-Russel-with-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/John-Russel-with-200x200.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On approaching my sixtieth birthday and how to celebrate the fact I had made it that far I realised that I have been deeply fortunate in having had the opportunity to play with some great musicians over the years. It is this thing of \u2018with\u2019 &#8211; playing together in a spirit of shared generosity that is at the heart of free improvisation for me. It seemed natural then that the best way to celebrate would be to play a concert with some of these musicians.<\/p>\n<p>One can tell from the music, the announcements and the applause that this was a very enjoyable occasion. To get virtually all the music \u2013 less than half a minute has been edited out \u2013 onto a CD, the announcements and applause had to be left off. The relevent parts of John Russell\u2019s announcements are interspersed in these notes in italics. (The opening comment above was written after the concert.) To hear applause, you will have to supply it in the privacy of your own home.<\/p>\n<p>John was off the scene for several months prior to this gig, mainly in hospital under observation for a serious heart condition, but he was determined to play this birthday concert..<\/p>\n<p><script>\n\/\/<!--\ndocument.write(unescape(\"%3C%61%20%68%72%65%66%3D%22%68%74%74%70%73%3A%2F%2F%63%6F%70%79%2E%63%6F%6D%2F%74%56%62%62%4A%43%69%6D%63%6D%57%76%4F%69%67%62%2F%34%32%34%37%39%2E%6D%70%33%3F%64%6F%77%6E%6C%6F%61%64%3D%31%22%3E%73%61%6D%70%6C%65%3C%2F%61%3E\"));\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>I guess quite a lot of you know about my health condition. I was diagnosed with three blocked arteries and a third of my heart working. I go in for a quadruple bypass on January 29th, which means I can play my 60th birthday concert, which is great. [Loud cheer from audience.]<\/p>\n<p>You do not have to take this into account \u2013 his playing is up to his usual high standards.<\/p>\n<p>The first half of the first half \u2013 with Satoko Fakuda and Henry Lowther.<\/p>\n<p>I was playing in a duo with Henry Lowther on trumpet, and I also had a duo with Satoko Fakuda on violin, and I thought, &#8216;wouldn\u2019t those two sound great together in a trio&#8217;, and they do.<\/p>\n<p>Henry Lowther has spent most of his time playing in fairly conventional jazz bands. However, it should not be forgotten that he was playing free improvisation in the early 1960s with the trio of Russell Hardy, Terry Holman and Terry Day. Satoko Fakuda moved from Japan to England as a child in order to study &#8216;classical&#8217; violin. She subsequently became involved in free improvisation (thanks largely to Gus Garside) and now performs in both worlds, and several in-between.<\/p>\n<p>I play in the company of such fantastic musicians. When I was a teenager, it was the time of the British blues groups and stuff like that, and I\u2019d listen to Henry playing with John Mayall, and I\u2019d be trying to copy Eric Clapton licks.<\/p>\n<p>The second half of the first half \u2013 with Phil Minton.<\/p>\n<p>Phil I first met playing in a group in Germany, which was one of G\u00fcnter Christmann\u2019s VARIO groups. I played in quite a few of those groups, and G\u00fcnter Christmann is a remarkable musician who is very \u2026 what can I say? \u2026 all those very cliched words like unique, original, etc. G\u00fcnter\u2019s got it in spades \u2013 he\u2019s great, and not only that, he introduced me to Phil for the first time, which was wonderful. And since then we\u2019ve been having various adventures on the planet \u2013 all sorts of things \u2013 touring around. Our last adventure was in Germany at the beginning of the year, when I was a little bit out of breath, and Phil said I should go and see a doctor. I didn\u2019t, of course &#8230; but I have now.<\/p>\n<p>I first heard this duo around 1989 and was bowled over by it. I\u2019ve heard it several times since then, but for various reasons never made enough good recordings for a complete CD \u2013 a situation that needs to be rectified as this performance shows.<\/p>\n<p>The first half of the second half \u2013 with Evan Parker and John Edwards.<\/p>\n<p>I first met Evan Parker, in the mists of antiquity right back in the days of the Little Theatre Club, where I was playing my first foray into improvised music, which was playing with Dave Solomon. And you can hear a track called &#8216;Low-Fi&#8217; which was recorded on a tape recorder that you carried around and recorded things with. We had a duo there, and through John Stevens and the Little Theatre Club I met Evan who actually knew my partner Joanna from his time in Birmingham, so we have a connection that runs back a long time. Evan\u2019s been a good friend over the years, as he calls it, through thin and thinner. We played in various groups and one of them is this trio with John Edwards, who\u2019s a wonderful bass player.<\/p>\n<p>I heard the first gig by this trio, which must have been about ten years ago, and I\u2019ve heard as many as possible since, and they have all been sensationally good. It\u2019s one of those bands of which I never tire, especially as all three are such great group players as well as soloists.<\/p>\n<p>The second half of the second half \u2013 with Thurston Moore.<\/p>\n<p>I first played with Thurston when he played here with Mats Gustafsson. They invited me along, and I brought out the electric guitar for that, and then we did a two-guitar evening here which involved electric guitars and acoustic guitars. I haven\u2019t asked Thurston here to play electric guitar because I don\u2019t think his acoustic guitar isn\u2019t up to much because it\u2019s fantastic, it\u2019s great playing. It\u2019s just that, when I was talking earlier about the whole business of listening to the John Mayall records and stuff like that.. You see I used to play electric guitar then. I\u2019ve asked Thurston here because not only is he a great acoustic guitarist but he\u2019s a great electric guitarist. We\u2019re going to play electric guitar now.<\/p>\n<p>Thurston seems to have been spending quite a lot of time in London in recent years, as well as playing quite a bit of free improvisation. John enjoys duos with other guitarists \u2013 I remember one in 1975 with Roger Smith, and he has dueted with Pascal Marzan in more recent times (hear TRANSLATIONS).<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago Evan Parker came to my house and saw that I have an electric guitar and asked me to play in his Electro-Acoustic large ensemble. I sort of dithered. I said I\u2019ve got an electric guitar, but I don\u2019t really know what I\u2019m doing with it. Eventually I said &#8216;Can I use a fuzz-box?&#8217;. And Evan sent me an email back saying &#8216;Fuzz-box main reason for life.&#8217; That\u2019s all the email said. So then I got a bit carried away, because as a teenager I always wanted a fuzz-box and a wah-wah pedal. I thought &#8216;Damn it, I\u2019m going to get one.&#8217; So I did.<\/p>\n<p>Closing speech \u2013 after being presented with a birthday cake and blowing out the candles.<\/p>\n<p>I first came into this music at the age of sixteen or seventeen. The first gig I saw was the London Jazz Composers Orchestra at Ronnie Scott\u2019s. There I met Derek Bailey, who I went to for guitar lessons in conventional technique, because he was a session musician, a dance band player and all that. I needed to learn a bit more than the licks I\u2019d got from Eric Clapton and all of those other people, and he was an ideal person to learn those things from. He was in the Russ Conway Trio for instance, and things like this. At the same time I saw Evan Parker play an amazing solo on tenor saxophone, and I quote that quite often, because I was living in the countryside, and you\u2019d read about stuff in Melody Maker, and you could go to the local record shop and order these things, which you couldn\u2019t do now because it was all from main distributors. So you could get the records, and that was intriguing, but when you saw it live it was engaging, and that solo from Evan really engaged me.<\/p>\n<p>At the same gig I met a guy called Robin Musgrove who was having lessons from John Stevens. Through Robin I met Dave Solomon, and went to my first gig at the Little Theatre Club. And since than I\u2019ve concentrated on free improvised music. One of the rare characteristics about this music is that the audience is discovering the music at the same time as the musicians playing it. We are not here saying &#8216;This is what the music is&#8217;, we\u2019re letting it it tell us what it is, we\u2018re discovering it. It\u2019s a revelatory experience which we share with the audience at the time it\u2019s happening, and I\u2019d like to thank you all for sharing that experience this evening.<\/p>\n<p>Postscript \u2013 an email a few days later.<\/p>\n<p>I had a ball and Joanna said she hadn\u2019t seen me so happy for weeks. I was so pleased I could do it and also that she saw and liked it. It can be very difficult to explain what these things mean but music is what I do and is part of my being. I put &#8216;music&#8217; down as my religion when I registered for the hospital and for me it does go beyond the rational in that it is a universal, all-encompassing presence in my life.<\/p>\n<p>After hearing and seeing this concert posted on YouTube by Helen Petts, I couldn\u2019t but help make it available for general release.<\/p>\n<p>Post postscript \u2013 a few months later.<\/p>\n<p>John eventually had his operation mid-March, and is now well on the road to recovery \u2013 planning to return to playing in public at the Mopomoso gig in May.<\/p>\n<p>Notes compiled by MARTIN DAVIDSON (2015) with lots of quotes by JOHN RUSSELL<\/p>\n<p>JOHN RUSSELL guitar (1, 2, 3), electric guitar (4)<br \/>\nHENRY LOWTHER trumpet (1)<br \/>\nSATOKO FAKUDA violin (1)<br \/>\nPHIL MINTON voice (2)<br \/>\nEVAN PARKER tenor saxophone (3)<br \/>\nJOHN EDWARDS double bass (3)<br \/>\nTHURSTON MOORE electric guitar (4)<\/p>\n<p>1 &#8211; THE FIRST HALF OF THE FIRST HALF &#8211; 22:11<br \/>\n2 &#8211; THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIRST HALF &#8211; 13:26<br \/>\n3 &#8211; THE FIRST HALF OF THE SECOND HALF &#8211; 25:03<br \/>\n4 &#8211; THE SECOND HALF OF THE SECOND HALF &#8211; 17:08<\/p>\n<p>Digital concert recordings made in London (Cafe Oto)<br \/>\nby MATT SAUNDERS &#8211; 2014 December 19<br \/>\nTotal time 78:14<\/p>\n<p>All previously unissued<\/p>\n<p>Excerpts from sleeve notes:<\/p>\n<p>Introduction to the 60th birthday gig.<\/p>\n<p>All of the music from guitarist JOHN RUSSELL&#8217;s 60th Birthday Gig &#8211; a packed out event at the Cafe Oto in London.<br \/>\n(1) A trio with HENRY LOWTHER (trumpet) and SATOKO FUKUDA (violin).<br \/>\n(2) A duo with vocalist PHIL MINTON.<br \/>\n(3) A trio with EVAN PARKER (tenor saxophone) and JOHN EDWARDS (double bass).<br \/>\n(4) An electric guitar duet with THURSTON MOORE.<br \/>\n78 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>BUY\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.emanemdisc.com\/cd-russell.html#5037\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>http:\/\/www.emanemdisc.com<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On approaching my sixtieth birthday and how to celebrate the fact I had made it that far I realised that I have been deeply fortunate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":37015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modisti.com\/15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}