Mark Wastell
A Life Saved By A Spider And Two Doves
As George Lewis recently said, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between improvised and composed music. It’s a distinction he would like to see dropped. For much of its length this delicately nuanced recording could quite easily be a formal electroacoustic composition, an impression strongly reinforced by the fact that Evan Parker sounds curiously unfamiliar in this new grouping. He’s well used now to working with electronics, but this was a first convocation of this quart…
A Thousand Sacred Steps
We owe this session to a touch of happenstance and a measure of forethought. Chris Abrahams was in London with The Necks for a residency at Café Oto, the capital's enterprising and valuable haven for adventurous music. Mark Wastell asked him whether, if he had any spare time whilst in the city, he’d be interested in doing a studio session as a duo.
The two have met a number of times over the years (including once in Berlin when Chris came to hear The Sealed Knot, the trio which Mark inhabits wit…
Live At I-And-E Festival
Long anticipated vinyl re-issue of a concert that took place at the I-and-E Festival at Trinity College, Dublin in 2006 by Keith Rowe (legendary AMM guitarist and one of the founding fathers of European improvised music) and Mark Wastell (pivotal London based experimentalist). The duo had formed the previous year for a show at ErstQuake Festival in New York and this was to be their second, and only, other performance together. "Keith Rowe and Mark Wastell - This last performance balanced the eve…
Sound Mirrors
The UK’s network of crumbling sound mirrors - an early form of radar - supply cues for blues experimenter Mike Cooper and pivotal improvisor Mark Wastell (Company) in an inquisitive collaboration on Wastell’s Confront Recordings. The strange, austere relics of WWI were erected between 1916 and the 1930s and are found dotted along the South East and North East coastline of England, sometimes in farmer’s fields who’ll let you in for a look if you ask nicely (out to my guy in Boulby).With Cooper ma…
The Map Is Not the Territory
Max Eastley: arc (electro-acoustic monochord)Fergus Kelly: invented instruments, found metals, electronicsMark Wastell: tam tam, metal percussion, piano frameRecorded at Studio 3, Stoke Newington, London on 8th March 2017 by Rupert Clervaux. Edited, mixed and mastered by Fergus Kelly. Produced by Mark Wastell.
There is no Love
Few copies, sold out at source. Additional contribution from Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixer) recorded by Steve Bates and David Sylvian, Montreal. Tubular bell and concert bass drum recorded by Matthew Sansom, Surrey University, 2006. Original text by Bernard Marie Koltès. Compositional structure by Mark Wastell. Mixed and mastered by Rupert Clervaux. Personnel: Rhodri Davies - lap harp, table harp, vibraphone, radio; David Sylvian - voice, vocal treatments, electronics; Mark Wastell - tam ta…
Tales Of Hackney
Arild Andersen (double-bass, electronics), Clive Bell (Thai mouth organ, shakuhachi, pi saw, shinobue), and Mark Wastell (percussion, shruti box). This genre defying trio release their debut offering, Tales Of Hackney. Quick to capture the energy and undeniable empathy of their celebrated live performances at Cafe OTO on September 24, 2017, the troika reconvened the following day for an intense ten-hour east London studio session. The beguiling, often meditative results see Andersen deploy his u…
All Angels
Just when I thought I had collected all the recordings I could of Mark Wastell playing cello he unearths another gem from his vault, himself and Nikos Veliotis playing acoustic cellos. I started following Mark and the London/Berlin scene only about 6 years ago. I would be hard pressed to pick any other improvising cellists if had to choose a duet to hear. Lachenmann, Xenakis and Scelsi are my favorite cello composers and I imagine these two fellows are avid fans too. I missed out on the lowercas…
Quartet
The newly formed quartet is making its debut performance at the gallery. Alan Wilkinson (alto saxophone), Olie Brice double bass,Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Wastell (cello). Mark Wastell Quartet is combining the unavoidable and reverential influence of the great jazz pioneers of the 20th century with the sophisticated integrity of the modern day improviser.
Live At I'klectik
"This was my first trip to series of improvised music curated by Sue Lynch at The Horse at Cafe I'Klectik in SE London. What a treat! The evening opened with a sensitive and controlled duo of Hutch Demouilpied (trumpet, flute), Keisuke Matsui (guitar, electronics) this was followed by an intense and beautiful trio of Maggie Nichols (vocals), Caroline Kraabel (alto saxophone) and Charlotte Hug (viola, voice).This I thought a very hard performance to follow. But the trio of Richard Sanderson (ampl…
Membrane
This marvellous release from Mark Wastell’s Confront label documents a meeting of these three heavy hitters convened at Dalston’s Cafe Oto, last March. This was the first time all three had played together, although, as John Eyles remarks in his liner notes, they had all worked with each other, before, in outfits such as Powelchsel (Butcher and Beins), The Sealed Knot (Beins and Wastell) and Chris Burn’s Ensemble (Wastell and Butcher).
This familiarity, combined with rigour and expertise o…
Live at I-and-E
This is a long-awaited re-issue, unavailable since 2006. The duo had formed the previous year for ErstQuake in NYC and this was to be their second and, as yet, only other performance together. The breadth and depth of [the] music is totally inspiring, I absolutely love this piece of music. Total unity in sound to make a perfect piece in the moment. It doesn't get better than this! (Gordon W. Smith)
Keith Rowe and Mark Wastell. This last performance balanced the evening well. Louder, more gestura…
Kiss of acid
“Kiss of Acid - a composition for pre-recorded tam tam and electronics. Lasse Marhaug - electronics / computer / compositional structure. Mark Wastell - pre-recorded 32" paiste tam tam. The „Kiss of Acid Story” as told by Mark Wastell: I had hired a tam-tam, 36" Paiste, to take to a solo concert in Paris. There was some confusion over train tickets and I regretfully never made it out of London. So, I had to make use of this instrument that I had paid for for the weekend. I hastily contacted THE …
For Hugh Davies
A unique celebration of the work of Hugh Davies, one of the great pioneers of improvised music who died three years ago. Solo recordings of Hugh from three decades ago are played back to a trio of musicians whose work has been influenced by Hugh, and they improvise around his music to create a living homage to his memory. Beautiful, strange and challenging music.
Open
Mark Wastell and Matt Davis met and first played together in a workshop led by Eddie Prévost in London during the spring of 1996. Soon after, Wastell was invited to join Chris Burn's Ensemble, in which he played with Phil Durrant for the first time. Subsequently, Phil and Mark worked together in the quartets Assumed Possibilities and Quatuor Accorde, documented on Rossbin and Emanem CDs, respectively.
The debut trio concert by Davis/Durrant/Wastell took longer to organise than any of the partici…