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Andrew Bain

When a quartet of established, improvising musicians arrives on stage, there can be some expectation in our minds as to what might ensue. But in the case of live-recorded No Boundaries – with the combined acquired knowledge, intuition and invention of drummer/percussionist Andrew Bain, trumpeter/flugelhornist Peter Evans, alto saxophonist John O'Gallagher and electronics master Alex Bonney – we are prompted to explore spheres perhaps outside of our experience.

The final part in a trilogy of differentiated projects conceived by Andrew Bain (following 2015's 'Player Piano' concert in tribute to the late John Taylor, and then his 2017 Whirlwind release of original material, Embodied Hope), this immersive, continuous sequence of free improvisation was captured at the intimate listening venue of the MAC (Midlands Arts Centre) in Birmingham. "It evolved from a composition project I presented some time ago", explains Bain, Senior Lecturer in Jazz at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. "That set, entitled 'Frontiers' – with Gavin Bryars, Percy Pursglove, Hans Koller and myself – became the catalyst for this new work, which is in stark contrast to the more controlled basis of my previous outputs. I've known and worked with Peter since the early noughties in New York; and John and Alex were also a perfect fit. Crucially, I'm challenging the idiomatic instrumental make-up of the jazz ensemble where conventional boundaries and comparisons are usually already set."

Also fundamental to the unfettered intent of this collaboration is the fact that the artists had never previously worked together as a quartet, nor was there any premeditated conversation or rehearsal. Among a traditional chordless environment of sax, trumpet and drums (minus piano and bass), Alex Bonney's real-time electronics sample, manipulate and restate live sounds from different sections of the performance, contributing to an arresting, reverberant arc of originality.

Bain's solid percussive set-up, with rock snare drum, informs shifting atmospheres which take us into galaxies beyond perceived jazz territory, firing our own imaginations. Here, asteroid whistles echo in hyperspace as haunting trumpet and sax evocations abound, accelerating frenetically across rolling, hollow drums. Fluttering valves and mouthpiece sputterings converse with three-dimensional electronic bleeps and agitated snare as O'Gallagher's chromatic alto continuously ascends and descends against the expansive maelstrom of Bain's kit. From a moment's repose, repeated solo horn riffs and searing electronics crescendo dramatically, swept along by profuse percussion until cavernous, cathedral-like spaces invite an intense rock-out.

As Andrew Bain reminds us, free improvisation is far from an alien concept, but possesses its own language, like bebop or other styles.

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11
Interview

Andrew Bain: On Playing With(out) Boundaries

Read "Andrew Bain: On Playing With(out) Boundaries" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann


Scottish drummer and educator Andrew Bain has performed in a wide variety of projects, from playing with Dave Liebman during his years with the Guildhall School of Music Jazz Orchestra, or collaborating with the late Kenny Wheeler to having taken part in joint efforts with the likes of late pianist John Taylor and other modern British improvisors such as Iain Ballamy or Jim Hart. Among many other releases, he can be heard playing alongside the British saxophonist Tori Freestone on ...

3
Album Review

Andrew Bain: Embodied Hope

Read "Embodied Hope" reviewed by Roger Farbey


Edinburgh-born drummer Andrew Bain's musical roots grew out of spells with The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and The National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland and London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studied for his Bachelor of Music in classical and jazz percussion. He later moved to New York to study for his Master of Music Degree at the Manhattan School of Music in August 2001 and in subsequent years taught drums and jazz theory at the ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

No Boundaries

Whirlwind Recordings
2020

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Embodied Hope

Whirlwind Recordings
2017

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