Tom Rainey Trio,  Hexagon Theatre, Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, 23/01/2020 – Part of Ideas of Noise Festival

Tom Rainey – drums, Ingrid Laubrock – tenor & soprano saxophones, Mary Halvorson - guitar

Tonight’s eagerly awaited performance by this New York based trio led by drummer Tom Rainey was the inaugural event of the Midlands based Ideas of Noise Festival, a celebration of experimental music taking place between 23rd January and 9th February 2020.

Curated by the Birmingham based musicians pianist Andrew Woodhead and violinist Sarah Farmer Ideas of Noise will present a wide ranging programme of events at a variety of venues in Birmingham, Coventry and Stourbridge. Woodhead also curates the Fizzle strand of improvised music events, the majority of which take place at The Lamp Tavern in Digbeth, Birmingham.

Tonight’s event was a co-production with Tony Dudley Evans of Jazzlines fame, whose independent promotional arm TDE Promotions organises jazz events at the freer end of the spectrum at a variety of venues around Birmingham.

Rainey, Laubrock and Halvorson are leading figures on the jazz and improvised music scene in New York City. They have been performing as a trio for over a decade and have released four albums together. beginning with “Pool School”, released on the Clean Feed label in 2010. Subsequent releases have appeared on the Swiss label Intakt and include “Camino Cielo Echo” (2012), the live set “Hotel Grief” (2015) and the latest release “Combobulated” (2019).

Rainey has also led the quintet Obbligato, featuring Laubrock, trumpeter Ralph Alessi, pianist Kris Davis and bassist Drew Gress, with whom he has released two albums. He has also worked extensively in bands led by the alto saxophonist Tim Berne and played this same space with Berne’s Big Satan trio, also featuring guitarist Marc Ducret, in February 2018. British readers may also remember Rainey’s collaborations with UK jazz musicians such as pianist Liam Noble, guitarist Phil Robson and saxophonist Julian Arguelles.

Originally from Germany Laubrock is well known to British jazz audiences, having lived and worked in London from 1989 to 2008, when she made the move to New York. Laubrock’s time in New York has been particularly creative and has seen her leading her own groups Sleepthief and Anti House, both featuring Rainey, as well as collaborating with both British and American musicians on a wide range of other projects. Her impressive discography now numbers in excess of twenty recordings as either leader or sidewoman.

Halvorson’s career has been even more prolific, with nine albums as a leader and in excess of thirty as a sidewoman. I know her playing best from the bands Thumbscrew (with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara) and Illegal Crowns, an international collaboration with Fujiwara, cornettist Taylor Ho Bynum and French pianist Benoit Delbecq. In 2017 I was lucky enough to witness a superb set from Illegal Crowns at the Vortex Jazz Club as part of that year’s EFG London Jazz Festival. The following year Halvorson was back at EFG LJF for a performance with trumpeter Dave Douglas’  Uplift band at Queen Elizabeth Hall, also seen by yours truly. Halvorson’s current project Code Girl finds her writing lyrics for the first time, her words given voice by singer Amirtha Kidambe.

Having enjoyed Halvorson’s distinctive guitar playing with both Illegal Crowns and Dave Douglas, and having also been impressed by the two Thumbscrew CDs I was keen to see her perform in the intimate environment of the Rainey trio. It seems that I was not alone, many others in the audience at a well attended event seemed to be aspiring guitar players eager to check out Halvorson’s style and technique. Virtually every seat in the intimate Hexagon Theatre (capacity 84) was taken, one of the best turn-outs I’ve seen for an improvised music performance here. The result was a warm and supportive atmosphere that brought out the best in the players.

As he introduced the trio Tony Dudley-Evans informed us that they would play a single seventy minute set. There was sheet music and Rainey called no tunes so we must assume that the material was entirely improvised. The drummer shares a similar sense of laconic humour as his sometime leader Tim Berne. “Fasten your seatbelts, we’re going to try to make something happen” said Rainey as he and his colleagues dived headlong into a thirty minute opening salvo.

Halvorson’s twinkling guitar arpeggios opened proceedings, the sit down guitarist treating her sound with live looping and utilising the processes of echo and delay to create a distinctive soundscape which formed the backdrop for Rainey’s arresting drum patterns, created by a combination of brushes and bare hands. Laubrock’s addition on tenor resulted in a solo of sorts as Rainey introduced such extended techniques as dampening his fingers before deploying them on his drum skins to produce an eerie but abrasive screech. Later he rustled a plastic bag filled with drum sticks, but these episodes were the exception rather then the norm. Overall Rainey preferred to examine the rhythmic and textural possibilities of the basic drum kit via more conventional means – sticks, brushes, mallets and hands, with no resort to the battery of small percussive devices that other free jazz drummers, Mark Sanders as an example, deploy during their performances. The clatter of sticks on rims was a frequently deployed device, with Rainey almost establishing a groove at times, as opposed to an implied pulse. Meanwhile Halvorson’s ethereal arpeggiated guitar sounded like radio transmissions from a distant star. Laubrock then re-entered the fray for another solo, her strident playing supported by Halvorson’s choppy guitar chording and Rainey’s powerful, polyrhytmic flow as the trio really began to build up a head of steam. A solo drum passage was followed by another bout of belligerent saxophone, underscored by Halvorson’s heavily distorted guitar and the leader’s dynamic drumming. The trio locked into something resembling an avant rock riff as the piece built to a furious climax. “So far, so good” grinned Rainey as the final notes died away.

The second improvisation was shorter, clocking in at around fifteen minutes. The piece opened gently with an absorbing dialogue between Rainey’s brushed drums and Halvorson’s spidery guitar patterns, the latter further complicated and enhanced by the guitarist’s creative use of her array of foot pedals. Laubrock subsequently joined the debate, having made the move to soprano saxophone. Halvorson gradually faded away leaving Laubrock to engage in dialogue with Rainey, the saxophonist’s melodic phrases answered by the similarly tuneful patter of bare hands on skins and cymbals. Halvorson’s distorted slide guitar and Laubrock’s bat like sax squeaks and overblowing steered the music deeper into avant garde territory before Rainey’s powerful drumming and Halvorson’s distorted jazz chording brought the piece to some kind of resolution.

A passage of solo guitar from Halvorson seemed to herald the start of the next piece as she proceeded to loop, layer and distort the spidery tracery that she had first sketched. I assume that this was meant to be the introduction to the next group improvisation, but barely a minute had gone before it became apparent that there was a problem with Halvorson’s amp as the sound became increasingly distorted – and not in an intentional, or even good, way. This was a great pity as the audience had already been drawn inextricably into Halvorson’s web. The brief performance still initiated a warmly appreciative round of applause. Halvorson tried various different leads in various different sockets, but to no avail. “I think it’s blown a tube” she concluded sadly. “Anybody got a spare tube?” Rainey asked the audience, with all those guitar players in the audience I suppose there was half a chance.

By now we were forty five minutes into the promised seventy minute set and the trio decided to battle on regardless. The fourth improvisation, which lasted for around six or seven minutes, began with Rainey establishing a rolling drum pattern via the deployment of one mallet and one brush, shadowed by Halvorson’s inevitably distorted guitar. Laubrock then entered on tenor as the music gathered power and momentum, with Rainey switching to sticks.

The final piece began with the sounds of Rainey’s shimmering cymbals and Laubrock’s warm toned tenor, the saxophonist inserting a mute into the bell of her instrument to soften her sound. The mute was removed as Laubrock embarked on an unaccompanied saxophone passage, with Rainey subsequently joining her in an engaging dialogue. The drummer nodded to Halvorson to turn her amp off and the guitarist now joined the conversation, deploying an acoustic guitar sound, which worked well alongside Laubrock’s tenor and Rainey’s brushed drums. A Halvorson solo was followed by a passage of unaccompanied drumming, with Rainey eventually giving Halvorson the nod to turn her amp back on. This was the signal for a climactic closing section as the trio ramped up the tension and the volume to create a dark, murky, wilfully distorted sound with Halvorson’s mesmeric wall of fuzzed up guitar and Laubrock’s visceral tenor sax squalling the perfect foils for Rainey’s thunderous drumming.

Despite the technical problems the audience at the ‘mac’ gave the trio a rapturous reception, the warmth of which ensured that an encore was inevitable, taking the set well over the scheduled seventy minute mark. “You guys are gluttons for punishment” joked Rainey drily as the trio rounded things off relatively gently with a concise improvisation featuring Rainey’s stick and mallet patterns and Laubrock’s use of the tenor’s key pads as auxiliary percussion.

Even allowing for the technical difficulties this had been a hugely impressive set from a trio who know each others’ playing inside out and who trust each other implicitly. Although the music was almost frighteningly intense at times there were also moments of genuine, other worldly beauty with the trio exhibiting a shrewd control of dynamics, allied to an equally astute command of colour, mood and texture. This is a band that have been honing their approach for ten years, but are still capable of finding something fresh to say on each musical outing.

Technical issues aside it all made for a terrific start to the Ideas of Noise Festival and both Andrew Woodhead and Tony Dudley-Evans must have been delighted with the evening’s events.

The Ideas of Noise Festival continues with the rest of the programme as detailed below;

Thursday 30th January

BCU PARKSIDE/ROYAL BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY JAZZ RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

MICHAL WRÓBLEWSKI SEMINAR + PERFORMANCE (MORNING)
Acclaimed Czech saxophonist/composer presents a seminar on his practice in which he investigates the purpose of improvisation in music, and time consciousness during the process of improvisation. Followed by a lunchtime duo concert with Mike Fletcher.

THE WOODMAN, EASTSIDE, BIRMINGHAM
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY JAZZ RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
EXPERIMENTAL{SOUND}WRITING WORKSHOP (AFTERNOON)
Experimental writing workshop linking words and music and documenting interdisciplinary art forms. Led by Riffs Journal with internationally renowned musician/writer Nate Wooley. This is followed by an interactive workshop/performance with Mike Fletcher and Nicolas Pillai’s writing/saxophone duo. Bring your instruments!

NATE WOOLEY SOLO (EVENING)
Nate Wooley works as an interpreter, improviser, and composer within the contemporary conjuncture of contemporary classical, jazz, noise, and electronic music. Expect a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat concert from this multifaceted trumpet player.

*Please note workshops and performance are upstairs, if you would like assistance please send us a message via the Contact page

Friday 31st January, 5pm - 11pm
THE TIN MUSIC AND ARTS, COVENTRY
SOUND OBJECT SEEING
A festival-within-a-festival where music and art collide.  Where the visual plays a fundamental part of the process and performance. Audiences are taken on a journey where the experience of listening and watching constantly shifts and is re-appraised.

Andrew Spackman curates a feast of audio-visual delights including:

MAMMOTH BEAT ORGAN
(SAM UNDERWOOD/GRAHAM DUNNING)
DRAWING ORCHESTRA
SAD MAN VS ARTIST RETIRED (RA)
WASTE PAPER OPERA COMPANY
Interdisciplinary theatre collective Waste Paper Opera premiere their new work Syrup Tracing: or, on the significance of rising and/or falling, inspired by Cyrano de Bergerac’s Voyage to the Moon (1657), one of the earliest science fiction novels ever written.

Saturday 1st February, 2pm-11pm

CENTRALA GALLERY, BIRMINGHAM
PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH JAZZLINES, WORKSHOP 24 AND MAC MAKES MUSIC

FESTIVAL LAUNCH PARTY
Kicking off the full day of events are performances from the Jazzlines Ensemble as they share the results of an exciting Ideas of Noise Residency, plus film screening of our brand new 3-Mile Radius project with mac Makes Music’s SWITCH Ensemble and Workshop 24. Then stick around for a high-octane evening of sound and visuals featuring a who’s who of the Midlands’ finest noise-makers, including AV duo Deathly Pale Party and a lineup of special guests curated by local noise hero and Dorcha/Youth Man bassist Meesha Fones.
DEATHLY PALE PARTY
MEESHA FONES CURATES
*Please note: some of the evening performances are upstairs, if you would like assistance please send us a message via the Contact page

Sunday 2nd February, 2pm - 6pm
CLAPTRAP THE VENUE, STOURBRIDGE
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FIZZLE

PERCY PURSGLOVE/PAUL DUNMALL/OLIE BRICE/JEFF WILLIAMS
Four of the most exciting figures on the British Improv/Jazz scenes combine in a brand new project led by bassist Olie Brice

WORDS FOR ION
A programme of stories and performance by authors from the area, introduced by local writer Richard Bruce Clay.

WASTE PAPER OPERA COMPANY
Second performance of Syrup Tracing: or, on the significance of rising and/or falling. Expect a radical re-imagining as the innovative pop-up Opera Company make use of Claptrap’s unique upstairs space

Friday 7th February, 8pm-11pm
THE EDGE, DIGBETH, BIRMINGHAM
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CELEBRATING SANCTUARY BIRMINGHAM
GERMA ADAN/MILLICENT CHAPANDA/STELLA ROBERTS/NATALIE MASON
Building on last year’s success, IoN and CSB present a brand new intercultural collaboration from four Birmingham based musicians.  Combining folk influences from Haiti, Zimbabwe, UK and America with strings, percussion, synths, electronics and vocal explorations, come and hear some never-heard-before music from some of the region’s most exciting musicians.

Saturday 8th February, 12pm-10pm
ST PAUL’S CHURCH JQ, BIRMINGHAM
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ROYAL BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE ORGAN DEPARTMENT

VYAMANIKAL (KIT DOWNES/TOM CHALLENGER)
Named after the ancient Sanskrit term for flying machines - ‘Vaimānika Shāstra’, the duo celebrate music-making at its most meditative and transient, where the primordial moans and whistles of remote organs meld with gossamer saxophone.

LAUREN REDHEAD/ALISTAIR ZALDUA
An innovative duo performance combining Church Organ and Electronics, Redhead and Zaldua present vox humana, a programme of Interactive Music for Organ and Live Electronics by women composers.
ANDREW WOODHEAD - PENDULUMS

In a brand new IoN commission, Birmingham-based composer/pianist Andrew Woodhead premieres an immersive, mixed-media work for bellringers and improvising ensemble.

Sunday 9th February, 4pm-7pm
MOSELEY COMMUNITY HUB, BIRMINGHAM

WASTE PAPER OPERA COMPANY
Waste Paper’s final performance of Syrup Tracing: or, on the significance of rising and/or falling promises to be a truly special homecoming for the Birmingham-founded group.

NEW NOISE COLLECTIVE
Composer/Vocalist/Curator extraordinaire Georgia Denham returns with fresh offerings from ODNI, Vallé and a smorgasbord of Birmingham’s newest and most innovative visual artists. This unique affair promises to be an electrifying chance to see the very best of emerging experimental talent.

*Please note some performances on Sunday may be upstairs, contact us if you require assistance or further information

Website: http://www.ideasofnoise.com

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