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Tom Ward

Tom Ward aka Madwort is a musician, programmer and composer from Yorkshire, currently based in London. He moved south in 2004 to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he was privileged to play in projects with such luminaries as Hermeto Pascoal, Django Bates and John Taylor. Since then, Tom has continued his musical development with workshops at the SIM school in New York with Ralph Alessi and Steve Coleman, with the F-IRE Collective in London with Barak Schmool and Stephane Payen, and by learning traditional music with local musicians in the Gambia. He is primarily a saxophonist – equally at home on alto, tenor or baritone saxes – but also likes to branch out into the worlds of the clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, piano and drums. Tom draws on a range of influences to inform his music, from the Fula flute players of West Africa to modern saxophone players such as Tim Berne, Evan Parker and Steve Coleman. During his time in London he has enjoyed playing mostly improvised music with all sorts of groups from around the city. He is also a professional computer programmer with an interest in electronic music.

Tom’s current focus is on his projects the Madwort Saxophone Quartet and Madwort’s Mechanical Mindset. The former features four saxophones, including Chris Williams (Led Bib, Let Spin) on alto, and the latter is a more usual “saxophone with rhythm section” quartet featuring Dave O’Brien (F-IRE Collective) on electric piano. Although some of the core thematic material is shared between the two projects – Tom derives melodies, rhythms, pitch classes, etc from the date of composition using mathematical equations – the differing line-ups allow Tom to explore different freedoms, approaches and challenges.

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Album Review

Sérgio Tavares/Nuno Trocado/Tom Ward: Vestiges

Read "Vestiges" reviewed by Mark Corroto


A new trio is born and its inaugural document, Vestiges, is a smorgasbord of free improvisation from noisy shred to minimal electronics. Made up of the Portuguese bassist Sérgio Tavares and guitarist Nuno Trocado and UK-resident saxophonist Tom Ward, the three deliver nine improvised pieces as they investigate differing approaches to instant composing. The musicians had worked together as part of Cotovelo (Carimbo Porta-Jazz, 2018), a theatre piece featuring spoken word and music. Each player has an interest in jazz, ...

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Concerts

Jun 18 Tue

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Vestiges

Self Published
2019

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Vestiges

From: Vestiges
By Tom Ward

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