"Born in Norway October 27 -1945 . He has been one of Europe's leading bass player for more than 30 years. Andersen started out as a member of Jan Garbarek Quartet(67-73) . The group also included Terje Rypdal and Jon Christensen.In the same period he also worked with Norwegian singer Karin Krog and played in the rhythm section for visiting American musicians such as; Phil Woods, Dexter Gordon, Hampton Hawes, Johnny Griffin, Sonny Rollins, and Chick Corea. He also worked with Don Cherry and George Russell in this years.

In 1972-74 he visited New York several times and worked with Stan Getz Quartet, Sam Rivers trio, Sheila Jordan, Steve Kuhn and Paul Bley. In 1974 Arild Andersen formed his own quartet. The band toured Scandinavia and Europe and recorded 3 albums for ECM with this band. He also had a band together with singer Radka Toneff in the late 70-ties and early 80-ties.

In1980 Arild Andersen put together a band that included Kenny Wheeler,Paul Motian,and Steve Dobrogosz(Lifelines-ECM). In -81 he had a band with Alphonse Mouzon, Bill Frisell and John Taylor (A Molde Concert ,ECM). This band also toured Europe in -83, this time with John Abercrombie on guitar.

1982 he formed "The Arild Andersen Quintet" with Jon Christensen dr. Jon Balke p, Tore Brunborg sax, Nils Petter Molvær tp. The band changed name later to "Masqualero". This band was in the forefront of European jazz for 10 years ,the last years as quartet without piano. Masqualero toured USA, Canada, East and West Europe and made four albums ,one for the Norwegian label "Odin " and three for ECM. Three of the albums won the Norwegian "Grammy"award.

Arild Andersen released in 1993 a trio recording with Ralph Towner and Nana Vasconcelos,"If You Look Far Enough" on ECM.

Over the last years Arild Andersen has also spent time investing the possibility of combining traditional Norwegian folk music with improvised music. He started in 1988 a collaboration with singer Kirsten Braaten Berg, one of the leading artists in Norwegian folk music. This lead to the successful work "Sagn" premiered in -90 and performed more than 40 times including Town Hall, New York, Germany and Scandinavia. "Sagn" was recorded -91 on The Norwegian label "Kirkelig Kulturverksted" and later released on ECM. In 93 he premiered a new work called "Arv", also recorded on Kirkelig Kulturverksted.

In 1994 he wrote music for a theatre version on the Nobel prized trilogy "Kristin Lavransdatter" by Sigrid Undset. This also lead to several performances of the concert version of the music and a recording for Kirkelig Kulturverksted. Arild Andersens work " Hyperborean" , commissioned by " The Molde International Jazz festival" premiered in 95 .This was a 9-piece band including the Norwegian string quartet Cikada. The music was recorded in October-96 and was released in September 1997 by ECM.

1998 he formed a trio together with German trumpeter Markus Stockhausen and French percussion-player Patrice Heral. This trio+ Terje Rypdal as a guest, made a CD called "Karta", released sept 2000 by ECM.

1999 Andersen started a trio with English drummer John Marshall and the Greek piano player Vassilis Tsabroupolos. They released two cd's on ECM, Achirana 2000 and The Triangle 2004.

In 2001 he played concerts at The Molde International Jazz Festival with Pat Metheney who was "Artist in Recidence" and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilsen-Love.

June 2002 he premiered the music to Sophocles Greek Drama " Electra " at the Herodes Theater in Athens. This performance was a part of the Athens Olympic Games cultural issue. The cd of the music was released as "Electra" by ECM 2005 .

In 2004 he started a colaboration with Hungarian Gutarist Ference Snetberger which led to a Quartet recording "Joyosa" 2004 and a Trio Recording "Nomad" 2005.

In 2002 he became a member of the Dahl/Andersen/Heral trio which recorde two cd's for Stunt records in Denmark . "The Sign" and "Moonwater".

In 2005 Arild Andersen was "Artist in Residence" at The Molde Jazz festical with 5 concerts during the week including one Soloconcert, Electra, Snetberger trio and a special project with Kudsi Ergunner and Nana Vasconcelos.

In 2005 he also wrote a commission work for a duo with Saxophonist Tommy Smith. This was called " Independency " and led to the formation of his new trio with Paolo Vinaccia on drums and Tommy Smith on saxophone. This trio made a live recording at the club Belleville in Oslo autumn 2007. It was released 2008 on ECM " Live at Belleville ". It got raving reviews around the world and this trio is Arild Andersens main project these days with concerts around the world.

Arild Andersen received " Prix du Musicien Européen" 2008 from the "Academie du Jazz " in France.

In 2010 he visited Japan for the first time and his trio was claimed by the Japan press to be the highlight of the "Tokyo International Jazzfestival 2010".

In october 2010 he did four concerts with Scottish National Jazz Orchestra under direction of Tommy Smith . The music was a celebration of ECM with songs recorded on the lable over the years like Keith Jarrett´s My Song, Chick Corea´s Crystal Silence , Dave Holland´s May Dance and more . The Glasgow concert was released on ECM spring 2012 called " Celebration" . January 2014 he released "MIRA" on ECM a new cd with his trio with Paolo Vinaccia and Tommy Smith March 2018 he released a Live trio recording in Austria " In House Science" on ECM."

-Arild Andersen Website (http://www.arildandersen.com/biography/)
11/18/2024

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"Clive Bell studied the shakuhachi (Japanese flute) in Tokyo, and the khene (Lao mouthorgan) in Laos and Thailand. In 2005 he took part in the British Council Beijing project 'Sound & the City' alongside Brian Eno, David Toop and Peter Cusack. Recently he has worked with Okeanos (contemporary music group), Jah Wobble, Karl Jenkins, Complicite Theatre, Sylvia Hallett, David Ross, dance music producer David Harrow, jazz pianist Taeko Kunishima, and the BBC Singers.

He has played on the majority of Jah Wobble's recent albums, plus records by David Toop, Frank Chickens, Paul Schutze, Jeff Beck, Bill Laswell, Karl Jenkins, Taeko Kunishima and Philip Clemo. He has composed music for theatre shows by Complicite, Kazuko Hohki, the Whalley Range All Stars and IOU. Clive Bell's solo shakuhachi CD is on the ARC label and was reissued in 2005. Three recent duo albums are Sleep It Off (with Mike Adcock), The Geographes (with Sylvia Hallett) and Mystery Lights (with David Ross). He writes for The Wire magazine."

-Faster Than Sound (http://www.fasterthansound.com/clive-bell/)
11/18/2024

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"Mark Wastell Born 1968; cello.

Much of Mark Wastell's relationship with his chosen instrument is concentrated on the tactile, textural and sonic possibilities of both violoncello and bow. He is increasingly interested in working with extreme elements drawn from frequency, timbre and pitch.

His early activity was consciously and subconsciously influenced by a variety of improvising musicians including John Stevens, Barry Guy, Phil Durrant and John Russell. Subsequent exposure to contemporary composers lead to a greater understanding and appreciation of the works written for strings by Feldman, Cage, Nono, Lachenmann and Sciarrino. The use of live electronics and music concrete by Tudor, Parmegiani, Xenakis and others was another important early influence.

Wastell's current instrumental material primarily focuses on using abstract principles of space and texture - encompassing elements of new London silence, pro-instrument minimalism, new complexity and electro-acoustics. Because of the very nature of his chosen instrument, he tends to favour 'chamber' style ensembles and is a member of a number of regular groups:

• Chris Burn's Ensemble, with John Butcher, Rhodri Davies, John Russell, Matt Hutchinson

• Derek Bailey's Company - with, for example, Will Gaines, Simon H. Fell and Rhodri Davies

• Evan Parker's String Project, with Peter Cusack, Hugh Davies, Rhodri Davies, Phil Durrant, John Edwards, Kaffe Matthews, Marcio Mattos, John Russell

• Assumed possibilities, with Chris Burn, Rhodri Davies and Phil Durrant

• The Sealed Knot, with Burkhard Beins and Rhodri Davies

• Necessaire with Alessandro Bosetti, Ignaz Schick and Burkhard Beins

• IST with Simon Fell and Rhodri Davies

• Quatuor Accorde with Tony Wren, Phil Durrant and Charlotte Hug

• Broken Concort, a duo with Rhodri Davies

Mark Wastell has also performed with many other leading musicians including John Zorn, Keith Rowe, Peter Kowald, Hugh Davies, Roger Turner, Veryan Weston, Lol Coxhill, Mark Sanders, Axel Dorner, Hans Koch, Phil Minton, Max Eastley and Steve Beresford.

As a soloist he has played at the Micro-classical Festival (London 1996), LMC Festival (London 2000) and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (2000). He has travelled extensively with various groups, performing on tour and at festivals in the USA, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Greece. Other work includes the launch in 1996 of his own record label, Confront Recordings. Wastell is also joint co-ordinator of the concert venue All Angels, together with Rhodri Davies."

-European Free Improv (EFI) (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mwastell.html)
11/18/2024

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