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John Russell (musician)

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Occupation(s)
  
Musician

Years active
  
1970s–present

Role
  
Musician

Albums
  
News From the Shed

Instruments
  
Acoustic guitar

Name
  
John Russell

Genres
  
Free improvisation

John Russell (musician)
Similar People
  
John Butcher, Paul Lovens, Radu Malfatti, Hugh Davies

John Russell (born London, 1954) is an acoustic guitarist who has worked exclusively in the field of free improvisation since the 1970s. He has been active consistently during that time as a promoter of concerts of freely improvised music in London, providing hundreds of playing opportunities for both local and international musicians. Russell has appeared on more than 50 published recordings. He has been described as "…an acoustic guitar loyalist who always manages to combine a classical delicacy with the fire of rock".

Contents

Early years

John Russell was raised by his paternal grandparents in rural Kent, and his grandfather gave him his first guitar at the age of 11. At school, he taught himself guitar and formed a group to perform his compositions. He discovered free improvisation after King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp suggested that Derek Bailey and Sonny Sharrock were the two musicians doing the most to push the boundaries of the instrument. On moving to London at the age of 17, he quickly became involved with the free improvisation scene, playing at The Little Theatre Club (run by drummer and educator John Stevens), becoming a member of the Musicians' Co-op and starting to organise concerts. In 1975, he helped co-found the journal Musics. Russell took weekly lessons in conventional technique from Derek Bailey for about a year, then in 1977 he gave up the electric guitar to play the acoustic guitar exclusively.

Music

While his mature guitar technique inevitably overlaps with that of Derek Bailey, there are important differences. In a review of Analekta (Emanem, 2006) Nate Dorward writes: "Russell's debt to the instrumental vocabulary of Derek Bailey is clear throughout, especially in his attraction to wide intervals, his resolutely segmented, percussive attack, and his systematic variation of timbre and means of production (open string, fretted, harmonic, behind-the-bridge pling); it's in subtler matters of pacing and mood that his individuality comes through. He tends to dwell pensively, almost circularly, on chords or motivic cells that Bailey would have brusquely disposed of, and has a very different approach to group playing, preferring to merge into the larger ensemble sound (whatever the size of the group), and play with rather than against or aslant his musical partners.”

In 1983, he appeared in the Channel 4 TV documentary Jazz on Four: Crossing Bridges which looked at six innovators of jazz and improvised guitar. The other players were Brian Godding, Fred Frith, Ron Geesin, Hans Reichel and Keith Rowe.

Apart from solo playing, Russell can be seen playing in numerous one-off performances with musicians at his monthly Mopomoso club in London. He tours regularly, has a long-running trio with saxophonist John Butcher and violinist Phil Durrant and duos with Roger Turner, Stefan Keune, Phil Minton, Evan Parker and Luc Houtkamp. In 1981, he founded Quaqua, an ensemble that varies in size and draws from a large pool of improvisers. In 2009 he formed House Full of Floors with Evan Parker and John Edwards.

In the last few years Russell has ended his exclusive association with acoustic guitar by playing electric guitar in several live performances including as part of Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic ensemble and in a duo with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. In December 2014 Russell played in a concert with Evan Parker, Thurston Moore and others to celebrate his 60th birthday despite being under hospital supervision for a serious heart condition. After a quadruple heart bypass operation in March 2015 he was reported to be "well on the road to recovery".

His feature on the late Japanese improvising guitarist, Masayuki Takayanagi was broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Jazz on 3 on 22 February 2010.

Other notable improvising acoustic guitar recordings include Green Wood (Emanem, 2002) by Roger Smith and Velocity of Hue by Elliott Sharp (Emanem, 2003).

Acta records

In 1988 Russell helped establish Acta Records in association with John Butcher and Phil Durrant in order to release the trio's debut recording Conceits. The label went on to produce a number of vinyl LPs, CDs and cassettes with a focus on free improvisation.

Mopomoso

In the mid-1980s Russell founded the improvised music club Mopomoso with help initially from pianist, trumpeter and composer Chris Burn. The club promoted around 300 regular monthly concerts at the Red Rose Club in London until the venue's transfer of ownership in January 2008. The club relocated to The Vortex Jazz Club later that same year and its monthly promotions are ongoing.

Performers at the club include established as well as younger players, local musicians and international guests. Notable players have recently included: Evan Parker, Richard Barrett, Lol Coxhill, John Butcher, Louis Moholo, Phil Minton, Veryan Weston, Roger Turner, Tim Hodgkinson, Maggie Nicols, Tania Chen, Sabu Toyozumi, Steve Beresford, Gino Robair, John Coxon, Alexander Hawkins, Caroline Kraabel, Cleveland Watkiss, Lawrence Casserley, Trevor Watts and Max Eastley.

Mopomoso special promotions include an annual Christmas event featuring a large number of improvising musicians playing over the course of an afternoon and evening in various combinations; occasional workshops; and Fete Quaqua where a large pool of musicians is assembled to play in different groupings over the course of three evenings in a similar manner to Derek Bailey's Company Week.

In 2013 Sound and Music took the club on a seven date tour of England.

Selected discography

John Russell has performed on over 50 published recordings. Besides those listed, Russell also appears on recordings by Lol Coxhill, Terry Day, Hugh Davies, Gunther Christmann, Jon Rose, Chris Burns' Ensemble and various Evan Parker projects as well as a number of CDs of recordings from the "Freedom of the City" festivals. A full discography is maintained at European Free Improvisation Pages.

With various improvising groups

  • Teatime (1975), Incus – with Gary Todd, Dave Soloman, Nigel Coombes, and Steve Beresford
  • Artless Sky (1979), CAW – with Roger Turner and Toshinori Kondo
  • Vario II (1980), Moers Music – with Maarten Altena, Gunter Christmann, Paul Lovens and Maggie Nicols
  • The Fairly Young Bean (1981), Emanem – with Maarten Altena and Terry Day
  • Wild Pathway Favourites (1988), Ladder Rung – with Martin Archer and others
  • News from the Shed (1989), Acta – with Butcher/Durrant/Lovens/Malfatti/Russell
  • Ohrkiste (1992), ITM Classics – with Radu Malfatti's Ohrkiste
  • London Air Lift (1996), FMP – with Evan Parker, John Edwards, Mark Sanders.
  • Three Planets (2003), Emanem – with Ute Volker and Mathieu Werchowski.
  • The Mercelis Concert (2006), Inaudible – with Jean Demey and Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg.
  • Vario-44 (2006), Edition Explico with John Butcher, Roger Turner, Thomas Lehn, Dorothea Schurch and Gunter Christmann
  • Analekta (2006), Emanem – in various duos and a nine-piece Quaqua, all recorded at Mopomoso
  • House Full of Floors (2009), Tzadik Records with Evan Parker, John Edwards and Aleks Kolkowski
  • With… (2015), Emanem, 60th birthday concert with Thurston Moore, Evan Parker, etc.
  • Solo recordings

  • Home Cooking (1978), Incus
  • From Next to Last (2002), Emanem
  • Hyste (2009), psi
  • With Butcher/Durrant/Russell

  • Conceits (1987), Acta
  • Concert Moves (1992), Random Acoustics
  • The Scenic Route (1998), Emanem
  • Roger Turner Duo

  • Birthdays (1996), Emanem
  • The Second Sky (2001), Emanem
  • Stefan Keune Duo

  • Excerpts and Offerings (2000), Acta
  • Frequency of Use (2002), Nurnichtnur
  • Within , trio
  • 2015: Pieces Of Solitude (Va Fongool), with Natalie Sandtorv and Stale Liavik Solberg
  • Songs

    Strakt
    Kickshaws
    Inkle
    Trophy
    News From the Shed
    Travelogue
    Crooke's Dark Space
    Weaves
    Meantime
    Sticks and Stones
    The Clipper
    Pepper's Ghost
    Reading the River
    Coracle
    Everything Stops for Tea
    Trellis
    The Gabdash
    Whisstrionics
    Truncated

    References

    John Russell (musician) Wikipedia