MARIA DUARTE recommends a remarkable study of the friendship between a Palestinian and a Pakistani, broken by a hostile state
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Improvisational greatness from a free spirit of the guitar
MATTHEW HAWKINS rakes through un-fancy words and flair-free summaries to find who and what might be flamboyant
PETER MASON is exhilarated by an exciting, well-considered and historically minded tribute to the great Trinidadian instrument
Reducing historical lives to ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, we lose the nuance of those lives and a clearer understanding of past societies, suggests CLAIRE ISABELLA GILMOUR
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
John Russell and Roger Turner
Birthdays
(Emanem)
John Russell
Analekta
(Emanem)
John Russell
Hyste
(psi)
FREE improvising guitarist John Russell taught himself the instrument at the age of 11 while listening to the blues and rock of John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Muddy Waters and King Crimson and the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra led by Barry Guy was also an influence.
He was a regular at John Stevens's Little Theatre Club where he met epochal saxophonist Evan Parker and free guitarist Derek Bailey, with whom he studied for a year, and all these experiences helped to form his music, forged too at free sessions at the Unity Theatre and the Red Rose club. There in the mid-’80s he formed the Mopomoso Club, a co-operative venture that brought committed free musicians together and enabled them to tour across Britain and Europe.
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