edition. - أحمد [Ahmed]

أحمد [Ahmed] — Oslo

notes

Footage shot during [Ahmed]'s soundcheck at Victoria Nasjonal Jazz Scene ahead of their performance for the Oslo Jazz Festival later the same evening.

Camera/Sound/Edit: John Chantler

Opening music is 'Lotus Blossom' by Billy Strayhorn performed by Antonin Gerbal (Piano) and Joel Grip (Double Bass). [Ahmed] play a spontaneous arrangement of 'Farah 'Alaiyna (Joy Upon Us)' by Ahmed Abdul Malik.

Seymour Wright

"En mycket radikal saxofonist" - Evan Parker

Seymour Wright of Derby, hans första soloalbum anses allmänt vara ett definierande dokument för 2000-talets "intertextuella" saxofon och nu när hans saxofon (för det mesta) inte längre är i bitar har han spelat i flera ofta överraskande och alltmer märkliga sammanhang - från de pågående extrema vridningarna av lll人 (vid ett tillfälle tillsammans med Otomo Yoshihide) och lll人lll (med Yuki Yamamoto, Howard Slater och Ute Kanngiesser), lavaflödet från xomlatesc tbobnhis fyradagars residens på London Jazz Festival och robop-debuten för CYNTHIA, till duetter med Ute Kanngiesser (en sällsynt offentlig, mångårig veckotidning), Daniel Blumberg (Hebronix) och saxofonisten John Butcher. I allt större utsträckning har han också framfört och spelat in musik i mer jazzliknande sammanhang, och har utforskat aspekter av det tidiga NYAQ och en viss jazztradition i Steve Nobles nuvarande grupp och framfört Ahmed Abdul-Maliks musik i أحمد, en nybildad kvartett med Pat Thomas, Joel Grip och Antonin Gerbal. Denna pågående bana, genom det underliga, gör att hans musikskapande och samarbetsvilliga kreativitet blir alltmer offentlig.

Improvising bassist, Joel Grip, makes music at the countenance of the other.

Anchored to a spontaneously fermented musical approach, his music reverberates and transforms within a collective body of timing and sound.

Photo: Fabio Lugaro

Pat Thomas

Pat Thomas is a composer and pianist, widely recognised as a leading figure in contemporary improvised music.

He is renowned for his distinctive, percussive style of playing, and for weaving a wide range of influences like reggae, jungle, and Sufi philosophy into compositions and performances.

Of the course of his career he has collaborated with a wide range of jazz and improv luminaries, from Mike Cooper, Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, and Evan Parker, to more recent avant-figureheads like Moor Mother and Matana Roberts.

As well as an ongoing solo practice, current group projects include أحمد [ahmed] (with Seymour Wright, Antonin Gerbal, and Joel Grip), Black Top (with Orphy Robinson), and duos with Mariam Rezaei, Mark Fell, and Tyshawn Sorey.

Photo: John Chantler

Antonin Gerbal

Antonin Gerbal is a percussion player, improviser and composer, active in the field of contemporary musics – from jazz to non-idiomatic languages.

He has studied music at Paris Conservatory and philosophy at EHESS. In 2009 he co-founded Umlaut France, an organization which runs the eponymous label and organizes concerts and festivals in Paris and Berlin. Antonin Gerbal is mainly using percussion elements to develop multiple accesses to musical languages in jazz, improvised or written music. He has collaborated with many international artists and played in United States, Japan, Russia and Europe.