CONTAGIOUS (Sabine Ercklentz / Andrea Neumann / Mieko Suzuki) + Alan Wilkinson / Steve Noble / John Edwards (trio)

About

Sabine Ercklentz / trumpet, electronics Andrea Neumann / inside piano, mixer Mieko Suzuki / electronics, turntable CONTAGIOUS is a solid blending of avant-garde experimentation and electronic music. They aren't just a trio, they are a whole organism. The guts from the inside of a piano, the tonearms of turntables, the puffing of a trumpet, the pulse of various effect processors and the interaction of Andrea Neumann, Sabine Ercklentz and Mieko Suzuki grow together, forming an entity, which is continuously developing. Their drive is improvisation. Their ideal state is the constant tension between action and reaction, between electronics, acoustics and experiment. Not coincidentally, the tracks on the two Contagious albums were named after hermaphrodites in the animal world. Neumann, Ercklentz and Suzuki play together like a living creature, which overcomes binary opposites and is ambivalent in the best sense of the word: as enigmatic as it is alive. After leaving Art College in Leeds in the late 1970s Wilkinson became involved in the music scene in the City playing in a variety of bands, whilst pursuing his passion for improvisation, promoting and playing alongside some of the great and upcoming names at his club night 'The Termite Club'. It was during this period that he joined forces with the drummer Paul Hession and the tragically deceased bassist Simon Fell to form the trio Hession/Wilkinson/Fell, described in The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette, as "a band that outdoes the old Brötzmann groups for sheer firepower". In the late 80s he was invited to tour with Company by Derek Bailey and subsequently featured in 2 London Companys one of which he co-curated. When he relocated to London in 1990 he was already a figure on the scene and has continued to play and promote the music through various club nights, especially flimflam at Ryans Bar N16, running since January 2001. Playing in innumerable ad hoc settings in the UK and beyond notable collaborators have included Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Akira Sakata, Thurston Moore, Chris Corsano, Eddie Prevost, Charles Hayward, Talibam! and Jason Spaceman. Long standing groups include a trio with John Edwards and Steve Noble, Norwegian group Akode, and a trio with Alex Ward and Jem Doulton. "At its highest points, this session unleashes some of the most preposterously powerful energy jazz heard since Peter Brötzmann's Yatagarasu trio with Takeo Moriyama and Masahiko Satoh" Daniel Spicer, The WIRE Steve Noble is London's leading drummer, a fearless and constantly inventive improviser whose super-precise, ultra-propulsive and hyper-detailed playing has galvanized encounters with Derek Bailey, Matthew Shipp, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Stephen O'Malley, Joe McPhee, Alex Ward, Rhodri Davies and many, many more.