"After having listened carefully to the whistle of the blackbird, he tries to repeat it as faithfully as he can. A puzzled silence follows, as if his message required careful examination; then an identical whistles re-echoes. Mr Palomar does not know if this is a reply to his, or the proof that his whistle is so different that the blackbirds are not the least disturbed by it and resume their dialogue as if nothing had happened. They go on whistling, questioning in their puzzlement, he and the blackbirds.” - Mr Palomar (Italo Calvino)
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Tom Chant / tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
John Edwards / double bass
Eddie Prévost / drums
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Tracklisting:
1. twirls of modulation - 16:10
2. a bridge thrown over the abyss - 11:04
3. gripped by anguish - 14:31
4. a converation without head or tail? - 13:46
5. the blackbird's whistle - 11:21
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Recorded at Gateway Studios, Kingston-upon-Thames, London by Steve Lowe on October 17th 2003.
Available as 320k MP3 or 16bit FLAC.
Eddie Prévost began his life in music as a jazz drummer. A recurring interest in this form has been maintained, although always with an experimental ethos. Along the way he has maintained his fifty-year plus experimental credentials with AMM and numerous other improvisation projects, including his now twenty-year long weekly workshop. But drumming has generally been backgrounded to his experimental percussion work. More though, is to be expected of his drumming in 2020 on forthcoming multi-CD album: The Unexpected Alchemy. A part of this Krakow festival recording features the drums and saxophone trio of Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake, and Eddie Prévost. His most recent released recordings include AMM’s: An Unintended Legacy, and a duo with John Butcher - Visionary Fantasies, both on Matchless Recordings. Also, a solo percussion LP on the Earshots label called Matching Mix. Later, in 2020 he meets with Jason Yarde and Nathan Moore, while in March concerts and recording will hear him drumming with US guitarist Henry Kaiser and saxophonist Binker Golding.
And, early 2020 should see the publication of his fourth book: An Uncommon Music for the Common Man: a polemical memoir.
“Prévost's free drumming flows superbly making use of his formidable technique. It’s as though there has never been an Elvin Jones or Max Roach.” - Melody Maker
“Relentlessly innovative yet full of swing and fire.” – Morning Star
John Edwards is a true virtuoso whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Peter Brötzmann, Mulatu Astatke and many others.
"I think John Edwards is absolutely remarkable: there’s never been anything like him before, anywhere in jazz." - Richard Williams, The Blue Moment
Currently active groups include the Cinematic Orchestra, the Eddie Prévost Trio, Sucette - a computer music duo with Ben Drew, Marseille Figs - a country, pop, free-jazz racket and the London Improvisers Orchestra of which he appears on four albums - "Proceedings," "The Hearing Continues," "freedom of the city 2002" and “Responses, Reproduction & Reality.”
Throughout his career Tom has also promoted various clubs. The first was the Lobster Club run with artist and designer friends, which ran intermittently for many years from the early 1990's in South London and also produced a magazine called Half-Baked. The second was Loop - a film and music event, run with Jason Swinscoe from the Cinematic Orchestra and Ben Drew, and lastly, Audit - an electronic and improvised music club run with Ben Drew.
Tom has been a director of the London Musicians Collective, a piano and saxophone teacher, and sometimes writes music.
