A New Wave of Jazz Festival Day 1

Day 1

22:00 – 22:30
Tom Malmendier & Dirk Serries + Tom Jackson
21:25 – 21:55
Dante Boon
20:35 – 21:05
Benedict Taylor & Anton Mobin
20:00 – 20:30
Tonus (Colin Webster, Tom Jackson, Dirk Serries & Antoine Beuger)

A NEW WAVE OF JAZZ acts as a library, both in its design and in its choice of music, and succeeds in building a bridge between free improvisation, coming from the free jazz tradition, and minimal contemporary acoustic music. Not only do both hold the freedom, the respect and the creative capacity of every musician in service of the greater whole in high regard, they are also genres that can keep developing above all in a live setting, so that new cross-pollinations arise. This live ‘research’ is a very important element in building the label. The two-day festival is therefore an anthology of what already exists and is expected on the label, as well as a symposium for performers and composers to get to know each other and for the adventurous listener to immerse themselves in the varied offering of each evening.


Tom Malmendier, Dirk Serries & Tom Jackson

Tom and Dirk met during an improvisation in the Christuskirche in Bochum and decided to absolutely continue this.  An album has since been recorded, to be released next year on A New Wave Of Jazz.  Now at the festival in premiere as a duo (acoustic guitar and drums) with special guest Tom Jackson on clarinet.  Drummer and percussionist Tom Malmendier is a prominent member of L’oeil Kollectif, a group of driven young musicians from the Liège region who hold improvisation in high regard.  Very active in various formations, including his duo with bassist Farida Amadou.  Tom Jackson is an accomplished clarinettist active in modern classical music and free improvisation, a member of highly regarded ensembles such as Apartment House and Lontano and of orchestras such as New London Sinfonia, British Sinfonietta and the National Chamber Orchestra of Wales. 

Benedict Taylor & Anton Mobin

Award-winning composer & solo violist Benedict Taylor (UK) is one of the most productive and leading figures in free improvisation on viola. He also composes soundtracks for Netflix series and films. Founder of the CRAM collective. A master at reaching extremes on the slightly bigger but trickier brother of the violin, from subtlety to rapid interaction. Anton Mobin (1979, France) is a musician, improviser, radio activist, producer and sound artist, and above all the designer of his own instrument : the ‘prepared chamber’. A wooden box in which various objects are connected to each other and amplified by guitar pickups and electric contact microphones. His intuitive playing with this ‘prepared chamber’ is energetic, abstract, percussive or very refined. He and Benedict work together frequently and for the festival they present their newest album. High-calibre free abstraction.
 

Dante Boon

Dante Boon is a Dutch composer and pianist living in Amsterdam. On labels such as Wandelweiser (where he is also part of the collective) and Another Timbre, several recordings of him or of his music have already appeared, including Boon's first solo CD as a pianist in 2010 (four stars in NRC). His compositions have been performed at festivals such as the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Gaudeamus. Often written especially for him, Dante has already premiered more than 50 works across Europe, Canada and the US. For the festival he brings, among other things, an impression of the new album that will be released on A New Wave Of Jazz.

Tonus

The continuously rotating ensemble of Dirk Serries and the realisation of his eternal fascination with minimalism.  This time in a quartet line-up with a graphic score for wind instruments, part of his ‘Modulation Grid’ series : Tom Jackson (UK) on clarinet, Colin Webster (UK) on alto sax, Dirk himself on soprano melodica and Antoine Beuger (NL) on flute.