Since first playing in East Berlin in 1987 (at Das Haus der jungen Talente), John Butcher has been a regular visitor to the city – both with his own groups and for valuable collaborations with many Berlin based musicians. This year, coinciding with his 65th birthday, Butcher has been invited for a 2 night residency at ausland, playing in established and new groupings.
Day 2
Presented by Ni Vu Ni Connu in association with ausland, the music will be recorded in preparation for a series of vinyl releases in 2020.
In the fall of 2007, François Tusques and Sunny Murray meet for a duo concert at Le Triton des Lilas...This long expected reunion - more than 25 years after their last encounter - takes place within the framework of the documentary film Sunny's time now. While both musicians might have toned down their revolutionary ardour, this ultimate encounter is a musical treat, a assortment of recent compositions by Tusques, studded with reminiscences of free jazz ‘standards’ such as the famous Portrait d’Ericka Huggins (from the seminal album intercommunal music, recorded by Daniel Caux in 1971 for the Shandar label).
intercommunal dialogue 1&2 is the first in a series of previously unpublished concerts that we are releasing in honor of the great Sunny Murray, who has passed away in December 2017.
Ein Porträt des Berliner Missverständniswissenschaftlers Wolfgang Müller
Right in time for Johansson’s 75th anniversary, Ni-Vu-Ni-Connu will release two new records in December.
puls plus puls is a duo concert with Jan Jelinek (electronics) recorded during the SYN/CUSSION Festival at Radialsystem in Berlin in 2017.
grau-grün-welk-satt is a solo set recorded at SÅJ Studio in Berlin in 2017 that reconnects with Johansson’s seminal first solo record Schlingerland.
Diedrich Diederichsen has written the liner notes for both albums.
Ni-Vu-Ni-Connu is currently preparing the vinyl release of Sunny Murray concerts recorded during the shooting of the documentary film Sunny’s time now.
The series will start with Intercommunal Dialogue, a duet with François Tusques recorded at Le Triton des Lilas in November 2006, to be released in autumn 2018. Liner notes by David Faroult.
Next up is A story to sing! Traditional avant-garde music with the Sunny Murray trio, with Tony Bevan and John Edwards plus Springheel Jack (John Coxon and Ashley Wales), recorded in 2006 at the legendary Red Rose Comedy Club in Finsbury Park, London. Liner lotes by Bill Shoemaker. Projected release in December 2018.
More gigs with Bobby Few, Khan Jamal, Sonny Simmons, Richard Raux and others to follow…
To celebrate the memory of the one and only Sunny Murray, who passed away in November 2017, the festival Musiques (Re)belles – Jazz libre at Berthelot #2 will be showing Sunny’s time now at Théâtre Berthelot in Montreuil/Paris on 21 October 2018. The screening starts at 5 pm and will be followed by a duo concert with Bobby Few (piano) and Jérôme Sanz (drums).
And just for the record, Sunny’s time now was shown in May this year at the Anthology Film Archives in New York as part of the Vision Festival.
At the invitation of the Goethe Institute in Beijing, Blue for a Moment was screened in different venues across the city as well as in Tianjin. The screenings were followed by performances and/or concerts by Sven-Åke Johansson and Axel Dörner, who shared the stage with young Chinese musicians.
This trip gave rise to a close collaboration with the curator of the project, the artist and musician Yan Jun, with whom we are currently working on the development of a film project about the new Silk Road.
Wednesday 24 May 2017
CINEMA PARIS
Kurfürstendamm 211, 10719 Berlin
17 March 2017
Centre Culturel Régional Opderschmelz
Dudelange (Luxembourg)
An evening of musical exploration and discovery featuring Antoine Prum’s new documentary Blue for a Moment, a portrait of the Berlin-based Swedish avant-garde composer, musician, poet and visual artist Sven-Åke Johansson, followed by a series of live performances with Alexander von Schlippenbach, Rüdiger Carl and Barcelona Series.
Ni-Vu-Ni-Connu is releasing a hand-signed collector's box (ed. of 250) with 7 recordings illustrating the extraordinary musical scope of Sven-Åke Johansson, one of the major figures on the European free improvisation scene. Johansson's stubborn refusal to be categorised into any musical genre has enabled him to work with successive waves of musicians and help shape the musical landscape of Berlin and beyond.
A music documentary by Antoine Prum
LUX/UK 2014, 128 min., Stereo
2 DVD & 1 CD
Taking the Dog for a Walk maps the scene of British Improvised Music, past and present. Alternating with extended music sequences, the conversations led by stand up comedian Stewart Lee gravitate around the idiosyncrasies of improvisation, from playing in front of the proverbial ‘four men and a dog’ to pursuing a career in a milieu where success is not measured by mainstream criteria.
17 January 2015
Centre Culturel Régional Opderschmelz
Dudelange (Luxembourg)
A unique evening featuring Luxembourg filmmaker Antoine Prum’s latest music documentary, followed by a series of live performances by some of the world’s leading figures in Free Improvised Music.
Monday 24 June 2014, 6 pm
Rio Cinema
107 Kingsland High St, London E8 2PB
The world premiere of Taking the Dog for a Walk is part of
the London’s East End Film Festival 2014.
A director’s cut of 128 minutes will be screened on this occasion.
Many of the musicians who have participated in the film will attend.
Raise your glasses! Shooting for Just Not Cricket! has (finally) ended in London. A relieved crew is having their last drinks together (from left to right: Nikos Welter, Gilles Laurent, Tony Bevan, Antoine Prum, Boris Kremer, Carlo Thiel).
Michael Rosenstein’s moment notice on pointofdeparture.org
Colin Green’s deep listening weekend on freejazzblog.org
Martin Schray’s deep listening weekend on freejazzblog.org
Filming has commenced on a documentary on the Swedish musician, composer, artist and writer Sven-Åke Johansson.
During the Just Not Cricket! festival in Berlin we started shooting a documentary charting the British scene of free improvisors. The feature-length film, which will comprise portraits, interviews and concert footage, is currently in post-production.
Don’t get caught out and secure your copy now! A luxury box set of 4x180g LPs documenting a three-day festival of British Free Improvised Music with a unique line-up of 16 musicians from different generations.
