John Russell
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"
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"
But Everything Now Left Before It Arrived
*2023 stock. 300 copies limited edition* Guitarist John Russell, a leading figure on Britain's improvised music scene, passed away on January 19, 2021. Born in December 1954, Russell started performing improvised music in London in his late teens, and for many years he toured and gave concerts not only in the UK and Europe but throughout the world. Known as a Japanophile, Russell traveled to Japan for the first time in 2001, and subsequently visited the country many times, including as recently …
Serpentes
*2022 stock* "There is no doubt - Serpentes is the first serious candidate for the list of the best albums of 2019" — Spontaneous Music Tribune
JJ Duerinckx, sopranino saxophoneJohn Russell, guitarMatthieu Safatly, cello
Ditch School
*2022 stock* “the music has kept me at the edge of my seat each time I’ve listened.” — The Free Jazz Collective
"absorbing and vivid... guitar and piano in a beautiful collision... astonishing" — a Jazz Noise
John Russell, guitarPaul G. Smyth, piano
On Sunday
* Edition of 300 * Beautiful registration of a 2010 concert by this exceptional trio, 3 musicians renowned in the world of free improvisation: John Russell (guitar), Stefan Keune (sax) and Kris Vanderstraeten (percussion) at L'Archiduc in Brussel (Belgium).
Mopomoso Tour 2013 - Making Rooms
4-disc boxset with 20-page booklet documenting Mopomoso's triumphant UK tour in 2013.
disc 1 – Evan Parker / John Russell / John Edwards – Chasing The Peripanjandra
disc 2 – Pat Thomas – Naqsh
disc 3 – Alison Blunt / Benedict Taylor / David Leahy – Knottings
disc 4 – Kay Grant / Alex Ward – Seven Cities
"On this evidence, 'Making Rooms' already seems certain to feature prominently in many an end-of-year list of best releases. Yes, a future classic." — All About Jazz
"'Making Rooms' has a connect…
Walthamstow Moon ('61 Revisited)
On November 17th 1961, John Coltrane played at the Granada Theatre in Walthamstow. On November 23rd, 55 years later, free jazz legend Evan Parker made this six track recording in the same space with John Russell and John Edwards. This recording has personal resonances for Evan: he attended Coltrane's performance 55 years ago at the Granada. Evan Parker: "John Russell, John Edwards and I are going to record in that same cinema. It has had the usual chequered life of classic old cinemas of the…
With ...
British free improvising guitar master John Russell's 60th birthday gig at London's Cafe Oto is celebrated in a duo with Phil Minton, a trio with Henry Lowther & Satoko Fakuda, in a trio with Evan Parker and John Edwards, and in a duo with Thurston Moore. John was off the scene for several months prior to this gig (Dec, 2014), mainly in hospital under observation for a serious heart condition, but he was determined to play this ... "On approaching my sixtieth birthday and how to celebrate the fa…
After-Dinner
“I am very pleased that this recording is ‘seeing the light of day’ as my memories are of a very friendly and easy going meeting. There was no competition or showing off of licks but rather a general and generous sharing of the playing space by two musicians meeting for the first time. Two different approaches brought together by a common love of all things guitars.” John Russell
Conceits (1987/1992)
A reissue of the first LP by the exceptionally fine improvising trio of John Russell (guitar), Phil Durrant (violin and trombone) and John Butcher (saxophones). This group came into being in 1984 after Russell and Durrant had spent the previous two years performing in private with another saxophonist. For this debut LP, made in 1987, they performed eleven short pieces. This CD has been expanded by the inclusion of a previously unissued extended concert performance made a few years later. The str…
A Duo(s)
In case you weren't there, Bocian present documentation of a pretty unhinged Cafe Oto session between gifted improvisers, Mats Gustafsson (reeds), John Russell (guitar) & Phil Minton (voice). Just imagine stumbling in on this one unprepared - a trio of blokes bleating, parping and yanking like Reeves & Mortimer after three days on the sauce. Of course, that description does a disservice to their well-honed extended technique and dexterity, but we'd defy anyone to keep a totally straight face at …
The cigar that talks
Michel Doneda (saxophones), John Russell (guitar) and Roger Turner (percussion). Recorded at Studio Honolulu in France (2009). 'What story can a non-figurative music tell if not that of the men that made it ? The memory is adjusted to the shape of the present, the space is open to the need to communicate; the transparency of brass, steel and wood, of the flesh and of the soul, through which passes the evidence of an unfinished ancestral sound. The substance is fleeting and the incessant gestures…
Translations
The dialog of two improvising guitarists who, since 2004, have explored "timbres, interspersed with fragments of chords, rhythms and melodies, parallel plays in imitation or opposition". All the pieces that make up this CD are presented here in their entirety. They reflect our mutual explorations discussed in confidence, freedom and exigency since 2005. Dialogues of timbres, interspersed with fragments of chords, rhythms and melodies, parallel plays in imitation or opposition... Conversation…
Hyste
A sequence of six duo improvisations on tenor saxophone & church organ recorded at St Peter’s, Whitstable in 2009.
Birthdays
Adventurous acoustic guitar & percussion improvisations by two of the finest musicians around. A remarkable range of sounds without any amplification or other electronics, captured in a digital recording that reveals every nuance. "The whole CD sounds incredibly crisp and fresh. One of the best CDs of improvised music I ever heard." (Luc Houtkamp from an unsolicited email.) 69 minutes.
Analekta
Three duos and a Quaqua. Russell's monthly Mopomoso concerts usually end with him playing a duo - this CD contains three examples. The guitarist's first duo with tenor saxophonist GARRY TODD was in 1975 and appeared on a long deleted Incus LP - this is a reunion 30 years later. An ongoing duo has been that of Russell and jazz trumpeter HENRY LOWTHER - not as unlikely as it may seem. CHEFA ALONSO, who plays soprano saxophone and percussion, is a new encounter for the guitarist. Also included is t…