This quartet came together for the first time at OTO in December 2009 and established an instant rapport with a roof-raising set of ecstatic improvisation before returning for a triumphant two-day residency in 2011 that was subsequently released on OTOroku. We're thrilled to have them back.
"a show that surpassed all expectations to become one of the very best things I’ve seen this year." The Liminal
"There’s not one slack moment.... This could be an awesome proposition as a long-running concern, though they’d have to excel themselves to top this." Tim Owen, The Jazzmann...
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This quartet came together for the first time at OTO in December 2009 and established an instant rapport with a roof-raising set of ecstatic improvisation before returning for a triumphant two-day residency in 2011 that was subsequently released on OTOroku. We're thrilled to have them back.
"a show that surpassed all expectations to become one of the very best things I’ve seen this year." The Liminal
"There’s not one slack moment.... This could be an awesome proposition as a long-running concern, though they’d have to excel themselves to top this." Tim Owen, The Jazzmann
"While at first you might be startled by the amount of music being played here (and there are a lot of statements and forms to take in, from all-stops-out freedom to a revelatory calypso), Hawkins, Edwards, Noble and McPhee have created a performance—and a record—for the ages. It will take a number of listens for the music on Oto to sink in, but once it does, it won't be forgotten." Clifford Allen, AllAboutJazz
JOE MCPHEE
Since his emergence on the creative jazz and new music scene in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Joe McPhee has been a deeply emotional composer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist, as well as a thoughtful conceptualist and theoretician.
McPhee’s first recordings as leader appeared on the CjR label, founded in 1969 by painter Craig Johnson . These include Underground Railroad by the Joe McPhee Quartet in 1969, Nation Time by Joe McPhee in 1970, and Trinity by Joe McPhee, Harold E. Smith and Mike Kull in 1971.
By 1974, Swiss entrepreneur Werner X. Uehlinger had become aware of McPhee’s recordings and unreleased tapes. Uehlinger was so impressed that he decided to form the Hat Hut label as a vehicle to release McPhee’s work. The label’s first LP was Black Magic Man, which had been recorded by McPhee in 1970. Black Magic Man was followed by The Willisau Concert and the landmark solo recording Tenor, released by Hat Hut in 1976. The earliest recordings by McPhee are often informed by the revolutionary movements of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s; for example, Nation Time is a tribute to poet Amiri Baraka and Joe McPhee & Survival Unit II at WBAI’s Free Music Store, 1971 (finally released as a Hat Art CD in 1996) is a sometimes anguished post-Coltrane cry for freedom.
During the 1990’s, McPhee finally began to attract wider attention from the North American creative jazz community. He has since been performing and recording prodigiously as both leader and collaborator, appearing on such labels as CIMP, Okkadisk, Music & Arts, and Victo. In 1996, 20 years after Tenor, Hatology released As Serious As Your Life, another solo recording (this time featuring McPhee performing on various instruments). McPhee also began a fruitful relationship with Chicago reedman Ken Vandermark , engaging in a set of improvisational dialogues with Vandermark and bassist Kent Kessler on the 1998 Okkadisk CD A Meeting in Chicago. The Vandermark connection also led to McPhee’s appearance on the Peter BrotzmanChicagoOctet/Tentet three-CD box set released by Okkadisk that same year. As the 1990s drew to a close, McPhee discovered two like-minded improvisers in bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen- TRIO X.
"He is a stellar improviser, relishing his sound materials so caringly and for so long, the kind of player that invites you to really step outside of whatever mix you're and think and feel for a while." Hank Shteamer, Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches
DECOY
"this…might just be the best new band to emerge this year…a band that redefine the words “shock and awe”… this is an improvising trio that rocks and swings so hard it’s dangerous…it made me want to dig out all those records, watch those films and set the controls for the heart of the sun. That’s how good it is."
Duncan Heining, Jazzwise
Decoy is the stunning organ trio featuring Alex Hawkins, John Edwards and Steve Noble. Hawkins - whose early training as a pipe organist encourages him to exploit the full potential of the Hammond Organ and Leslie speaker is joined by arguably one of the greatest rhythm sections in music who combine a gift for unstoppable rhythmic propulsion and beguiling sonic abstraction - from furious swing to metallic klang and slapped strings.
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