As well as being a respected improvising musician in his own right, with ensembles including THE SEEN, The Sealed Knot, IST, Oceans Of Silver And Blood, The Scotch Of St. James and more, Mark Wastell has been releasing non-mainstream music of all stripes on his Confront Recordings imprint since 1996. Furthermore, he ran his independent music retail outlet Sound 323 from premises in Highgate in London for many years where - in the shop's basement space - he also hosted concerts of improvised music by practitioners such as Derek Bailey, Steve Beresford, Nmperign, Burkhard Beins, Tim Hodgkinson, Henryk Rylander, Tom Chant, Dom Lash and many others. My own interest in the shop began in 2005 when I got off the Tube opposite, rang the doorbell for the first of many times and after making a few cd selections to purchase, harangued Mark into agreeing to stock one of the first releases on my own DIY label; a 7" by cellist Bela Emerson.
Today, Mark hosted a full six hours of non-stop improv fare - duos of musicians with work published on Confront Recordings interspersed with films made during previous Confront events. The audience seemed to be a 50/50 mix of musicians and enthusiasts, opportunities to catch up with friends "post-pandemic" [...watch this space - Ed.] , for me, giving the event the feel more of a family gathering than "just another" gig to attend in The Smoke. In fact, the audience was rather larger than Mark possibly expected as initially everything was to be presented in the chapel at the rear of St Margaret's House; after the first performance by Steve Beresford and Clive Bell, the live performances moved into the hall in the adjacent building, with the film screenings in the chapel itself.
Steve Beresford and Clive Bell
Steve Beresford and Clive Bell set the tone perfectly for the day's activities; an exquisite blend of Steve's ceaseless experimentalism on the chapel's upright piano and the bag of objects and devices he brought with him amplified through a 3 watt amp, and Clive's beautiful playing of a curious double-horned wind instrument I must find out the name of the next time I'm in the same room as him. Halfway through their extemporisations, Steve throws in a snippet of melody from a jazz standard on the piano (possibly - I was outside in the warmth of the sun at the time, listening through the open doors) which elicits an audible wave of glee from the listeners.
Lockdown has given musicians the time and opportunity to try new things in isolation, and so it has been for double-bassist Dom Lash who bought himself a Fender Telecaster guitar and an overdrive pedal and spent his time developing a very interesting and personal approach to electric guitar over the last year or so. His duet with saxophonist and composer Simon Rose was possibly the highlight of the day for me, although this may not be the last time I use that phrase in this piece of writing. Solid body guitars are not usually the first choice for players who position themselves within the "jazz idiom" - even at the very fringes, where we are today - but Lash uses the Telecaster's basic yet unique design super-effectively; the biting, percussive nature of the instrument highlighted by the sheer power in his contrabass-trained hands. Simon Rose's playing, in contrast, is fluid and shimmering; a warm glow of sunlight on the craggy rockface of Lash's guitar. Dom boots the overdrive pedal on and off sporadically for emphasis on particular notes.
Jennifer Allum and David Toop
Violinist Jennifer Allum and the uncategorisable David Toop - who no doubt today is away from his current book-writing project in order to play some flute - present a quiet, beautiful, still duet that gently issues forth like a soft westerly breeze off a lake on a spring morning. Allum's extended techniques extract the full potential from her instrument while Toop hovers strangely close to silence in the most engaging ways. In contrast, Alan Wilkinson's and Douglas Benford's maximalist quietude produces some of today's most unexpected moments of beauty. Quite rightly considered one of the UK's premier saxophonists, halfway in, Wilkinson breaks out what I think I'm right in thinking was a bass clarinet - my apologies if that's completely wrong Alan, I was standing right at the back of the hall - whose lower register kicks their improvisation up a gear. Throughout their set, Douglas Benford busies himself with a hand-pumped harmonium while simultaneously selecting objects from a variety of percussion instruments laid out at his feet.
Phil Durrant and Martin Vishnick
Phil Durrant and Martin Vishnick traded musical tics and splutters on mandolin and classical guitar respectively. I've seen Phil perform before; usually on modular synth equipment of varying types and so was pleased to have the opportunity to see him tackle the mandolin. Their performance was very lively and consisted of two distinct improvisations, both employing a wealth of extended techniques and creative interplay.
For the latter part of the day, live electronics began to emerge, beginning with Luigi Marino's control surfaces, software and feedback strategies running through a powered monitor - presumably for optimal bass response - in a duo with violinist and member of The Ligeti Quartet, Mandhira de Saram. I've previously seen Marino using multiple bowed cymbals to create dense layered sound, and here, he uses technology to similar effect. Mandhira's violin work blends very well and it is apparent that they are both having fun developing their sounds in real time. My set with the Zurich-based multi-disciplinary artist Jason Kahn was very enjoyable; today Jason used only his voice - a strategy he used the previous day when we performed acoustically outdoors in the Sussex countryside with percussionist Ken Hyder and saxophonist Tim Hodgkinson. I utilized the remains of my long-suffering acoustic twelve-string guitar with transducers to produce a "playable" feedback system. Jason was at the very end of his first UK tour since the onset of the pandemic. Slowly, slowly the world opens up again.
Saxophonist John Butcher - now bearded - and double-bassist Olie Brice present a muscular free jazz weaving magical auras of trepidation, activation energy and release. Butcher's playing is always exhilarating to witness, meanwhile Olie Brice underpins and builds structures here, demolishes there, in fun, technical and fascinating ways.
Facing a long and most likely tedious drive back to Brighton, I regretfully make my move back to the car during Sylvia Hallett and Chris Dowding's set. Having watched them set up, however, I was expecting an esoteric combination of violin and trumpet experiments with digital technology with Chris' trumpet exhibiting a particular Jon Hassel-esque quality during their soundcheck. However, as I was leaving, I stopped to listen in the dark of the gardens of St Margaret's House as the pair wove an enchanting web of detourned melody; a folk influence here, a lament there; a twinkling of DSP artefacts trailing from each flourish mirroring the retina-bloom of the fairy lights hanging from the canopies at the rear of the Café. Beautiful.
I particularly liked that throughout the entire event, the visual artist Gina Southgate was painting the musicians; working swiftly and effortlessly, producing an amazing body of work.
A big shout-out also to the excellent fresh coffee and vegan menu in the Café and the tireless George Paris, Programme Manager at St Margaret's House, and of course the weather, which thankfully stayed warm and clement throughout the entire event allowing everyone the space and freedom to wander around the site at leisure without fear of getting rained on. If this is the bar for gig-going in outside-Lockdown times, I'm all for it. And I'm really looking forward to attending the next milestone in the Confront Recordings journey.
Photos and text by Paul Khimasia Morgan, October 2021.
