Recording at Vortex Jazz Club in London in 2018, the As You Hear trio of renowned London and European free jazz pianist Veryan Weston with two younger generation improvisers, Pei Ann Yeoh (violin) and Beibei Wang (drums & percussion), here presenting a sophisticated concert of group improvisation, each collective improvisation named for a spice or seasoning.
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Sample The Album:
Pei Ann Yeoh-violin
Veryan Weston-piano
Beibei Wang-drums, percussion
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UPC: 5905279364444
Label: Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!)
Catalog ID: FSR 07 | 2019
Squidco Product Code: 27790
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2019
Country: Poland
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Vortex Jazz Club, in London, UK, on August 16th, 2018, by Alex Bonney.
"The best live improvisation requires a consummate range of skills and personalities, all of which hold true from this gig by the trio of Veryan Weston, Pei Ann Yeoh and Beibei Wang. As well as a good dose of chutzpah and bravery, they possess a great breadth of skill and understanding of music of all genres and eras, from nearly anywhere in this world, in addition to an empathy and awareness of each other to create music 'on the fly'. There was also the confidence to believe that the result of their gig at the Vortex was worth recording and releasing.
The co-operation and trust of the musicians for each other is evident from the first note. There are no periods where the musicians seem to be holding out for new inspirations. And, while it was great to experience the first time live, the purity of the recording repays repeated listenings, as nuances are clarified. They react to each other fast that makes the whole evening flow.
So at some stages it may be just a brief percussion figure, at others just a lyrical snatch on the piano or violin that leads to a new stage in the evening. Listen out even for a small snippet of 'Happy Birthday', to celebrate the birthday of Beibei's father that night.
This album is helped by two further features. A sympathetic ambiance created by the audience at the Vortex that night, and a great recording by Alex Bonney, perhaps helped by the fact that he himself is an excellent musician with a strong understanding of the instruments involved and of the style of music being performed. Many of the best new recordings made at the Vortex or by the musicians from this scene seem to have the hand of Bonney!
We have two different generations of musician involved here. The 'father figure' is Veryan Weston, who has been a stalwart energising presence on the London scene for many years, playing with relative youngsters Beibei and Pei Ann. It is through the existence of musicians like Veryan, open-minded with a broad understanding of musical history and a consummate risk taker, which has encouraged musicians like Beibei and Lei to make their homes here.
The music epitomises to me part of the thrill of the scene here. Although from two generations, it's certainly no "master-pupil" situation. Musicians listening hard to each other, no preconceptions and the ability to change what is going on in an instant. The audience joins them on a special journey, and by the joy of having a recording, it is one that can be repeated often."-Fundacja Słuchaj
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Pei Ann Yeoh "Pei Ann Yeo is a young violinist from Malaysia, currently doing a Ph.D. in Music at King's College London. She is also doing research on "how gender and race are treated in jazz performance." She was born in Kuala Lumpur and has received her Fellowship Diploma from Trinity College London in both Solo Piano and Violin Performance. Following that, she pursued a Bachelor of Music at Queensland Conservatorium, Australia and Masters of Music at Birmingham Conservatoire, majoring in jazz violin performance. She is comfortable in Classical and Jazz styles. Between 2011 and 2015, she held Visiting Tutor posts at several local universities in Malaysia. Pei Ann considers herself a minority in the sense that she is "a female musician in the male-dominated art form of jazz." However, although Pei's being a minority gender-wise might be considered a disadvantage, her academic and artistic achievements demonstrate otherwise. She has given performances internationally and also been a member of the Organising Committee of TedxGoodEnoughCollege 2017." ^ Hide Bio for Pei Ann Yeoh • Show Bio for Veryan Weston "Born in 1950, and moved from Cornwall to London in 1972 and began playing as a freelance jazz pianist as well as developing as an improviser at Little Theatre Club. ^ Hide Bio for Veryan Weston • Show Bio for Beibei Wang "Genre-defying percussionist Beibei Wang is an acclaimed international virtuoso multi-percussionist,composer with both Chinese and British musical education background. Beibei has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the classical music world, receiving international praise for her projects. Her music spans many genres, ranging from classical, contemporary, experimental, traditional ,improvisation, electronic, jazz, pop. By exploring new possibilities and challenging assumptions from all fields, she and her collaborators have developed genre-defying projects, pushing boundaries, including Dance theater, Multimedia opera, Body & Sound live painting, Film installation, delighting audiences the world over. She received double Master Degrees from the Central Conservatory of Music (China) and the Royal Academy of Music (UK). In 2014, she was listed in the top 50 Chinese musicians in the "Sound of East" project by the Chinese Ministry of Culture. In 2015, she was endorsed by the Arts Council ,England receiving an Exceptional Talent visa from British Government. She has been giving masterclass/workshop across UK,Europe,US and China. Following a successful recital at SOAS ,University of London, Beibei now leads a traditional Chinese percussion programme to promote and preserve traditional Chinese percussion at SOAS. In this year, She was invited and started teaching and directing Chinese music ensemble in University of Birmingham. At same time, she was featured on the front cover of China Music Life magazine and in iD China Magzinge in 2017. Most recently, she was invited by Boston Modern Orchestra Project(BMOP), featured as soloist in a world premiere of new percussion concerto The Legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl written expressly for her by Anthony Paul De Ritis in Boston, US. The recording will be released in late 2018 on BMOP's record label, BMOP/sound. Since 2008, at the invitation of Grammy and Oscar winner, world renowned composer and conductor Tan Dun, Beibei was featured as soloist in his Organic Music Trilogy (Water Concerto, Paper Concerto and Earth Concerto), premiered the Earth Concerto at 2009 Grafenegg Music Festival in Austria with world renowned conductor Kristjan Järvi and Tonkünstler-Orchester. Beibei has embarked upon a number of hugely successful international tours featured as soloist at many international music festivals, including the Edinburgh International Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Bach Academy Musikfest Stuttgart, Colour Scape Music Festival, collaborating with numerous leading Orchestras worldwide, including: the BBC Symphony Orchestra (UK),China Philharmonic, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Germany),Orchestra dell' Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Italy) the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Canada), New Japan Philharmonic, BMOP etc, as well as conductors, including:Kent Nagano, Tan Dun, Kristjan Järvi, Muhai Tang, Gil Rose etc. Beibei is also an active world music researcher. She travels worldwide studying and collecting ethnic music ,including traditional percussion and dance ANHUI FLOWER-DRUM LANTERNS in China, Indian tabla, middle-east percussion, Irish Bodhran, Brazilian percussion, Japanese Taiko, Korean traditional percussion. Since 2011 ,She was invited by Mrs.Merhi Mardashahi ,president of Dialogue Among Civilizations Association, featured as one of the soloist representing China ,toured internationally in World Orchestra of UNESCO. In 2017, Beibei was invited by world-renowned conductor Kristjan Järvi, collaborating with his ABSOLUTE ENSEMBLE ,Korean traditional music legendary master drummer Kim Deok Soo and Korean Ensemble Sinawi to give concert for PyeongChang Winter Olympics. In 2018 , She was invited by world renowned conductor Maestro Muhai Tang ,joining in Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, touring in the most iconic concert halls across Europe, including Barbican Centre(London), Berliner Philharmonie(Berlin), Elbphilharmonie(Hamburg) , BOZAR (Brussels), etc. Most recently , she was invited by Belgium based Taiko group Araumi Daiko again, collaborating with Japanese artists from Kodo, touring Belgium. Beibei is a passionate composer and performs her own original composition in recitals and concerts across Europe. Her multi-percussion set up solo NOISY WORLD was premiered in Nantes ,France in 2016. Her multi-percussion solo DRUM DANCE was premiered in Chemnitz ,Germany in 2016. Her musical installation KILLING PIANO was collaborating with renowned pianist Belle Chen, premiered in 2016 in London. Her multimedia music theater WU XING were touring cross UK, China and Korea in 2017. Her original composition DOUBLE HAPPINESS for percussion duo was broadcasted on BBC Radio 3 Late Junction in 2018. Most recently, She was commissioned by Shanghai Fashion Week, writing film score for THE CITY-film installation,collaborated with producer/director Zhao Tong from HEXAGON COLLECTIVE and choreographer and dancer/model Anna Herrman." ^ Hide Bio for Beibei Wang
11/20/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
1975-85: Residency & fellowship for Digswell Arts Trust (Hertfordshire). Activities included:
Collaborations with visual artists (potter-Elizabeth Fritsch and fine artist Steve Cochrane).
Work on written theoretical material, commissioned by The Digswell Arts Trust.
Co-ordinating music workshops, supported by Eastern Arts Association.
Co-founded and composed for young local group - Stinky Winkles, voted 'Young Musician of 1979' by Greater London Arts Association and won first prizes in France, Spain and Poland.
Collaborations with Lol Coxhill, music for Derek Jarman Film. First released recordings.
Throughout 1980s and early 90s worked with Eddie PrŽvost Quartet, Trevor Watts' MoirŽ Music and Lol Coxhill and Phil Minton. Major festivals have included Zurich, Berlin, Nickelsdorf, Karlsruhr, Warsaw, Wroclaw, San Sebastian, Bombay, Vancouver, Nancy, Aukland, Nevers, Washington, Lille, Houston, Le Mans, Strasbourg, Bologna and Victoriaville.
Ensemble projects with Minton:
Duo - Ways, Ways Past, and....Past - diverse songs, originals & improvisation structures.
Songs from a Prison Diary - French commission for 25 singers with poems by Ho Chi Minh.
Naming the Animals -a quartet with Lianne Carol and Ian Shaw, words by Adrian Mitchell.
Mouthfull of ecstasy - with John Butcher, Roger Turner, texts from Joyce's Finnegans wake.
Makhno - for chamber choir commissioned by Taktlos Festival 1997.
4Walls - a quartet with songs and improvisations with Luc Ex and Michael Vatcher.
Other recent duo collaborations with:
Trevor Watts - improvisations with a feeling of form, where rhythm and melody sit comfortably with more abstract moments. A major current project.
Caroline Kraabel - duets that explore acoustic phenomena related to two instruments and how these sounds interact in specific acoustic spaces.
Jon Rose - improvisations using different acoustic keyboards and violins with selected tunings derived from science, history and the imagination.
Hugh Metcalfe - Films by Hugh, images of objects, animals, humans, holidays, journeys, unfold, transform, collide and provide the basis for accompanying duet improvisations.
Local activities:
(1995-6) playing in rhythm section for 'Changes' jazz club in North London with British jazz artists.
Awarded A4E National Lottery support to give series of workshops/concerts with John Edwards & Mark Sanders titled 'Playing Together' in East Anglia (1998).
Helped coordinate and arrange the Lindsay Cooper Song Project (1999). European festivals - Taktlos (Zurich), Angelica (Bologna, commissioned arrangement of "Oh Moscow" for orchestra), Moers (Germany) and Roccella Jonica (Italy)"
11/20/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
11/20/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Masala 26:28
2. Galangal 14:40
3. Berbere 25:04
4. Five Spice 6:43
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Trio Recordings
Collective Free Improvsation
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Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!).