Jazz on 3 - John Russell's Fete Quaqua

Jez Nelson presents a gig from guitarist John Russell's annual festival of improvisation, Fete Quaqua, performed at the Vortex in London. Russell's Quaqua provides a fresh approach to free improvisation in that no two Quaqua line-ups are ever the same. For this three-day festival, 12 musicians gathered from across the globe to play in various combinations, building on existing collaborations with new groupings. John Russell has been a part of London's free improvisation scene since 1972. After founding the Quaqua project in 1981, Russell went on to form Acta Records in 1987 with John Butcher and Phil Durrant. He also pioneered London's longest-running free improvisation gig night Mopomoso that now takes place once a month at the Vortex Jazz Club. Playlist: Artist: Eric Dolphy Track title: Hat and Beard Composer: Eric Album title: Out To Lunch Label: Blue Note Released: 1964 For more information on Jazz on 3's live show at Ronnie Scott's on 13th November 2009 go to www.bbc.co.uk/tickets Highlights from the second day of the Fete Quaqua Festival recorded at the Vortex, London on 17th August 2009. All of the music recorded is freely improvised. QUAQUA SET 1 Ensemble 1 Henry Lowther (trumpet) Satoko Fukuda (violin) John Russell (guitar) Ensemble 2 Pat Thomas (keyboards) Sabu Toyozumi (percussion) Ute Voelker (accordion) Angelika Sheridan (flutes) Ensemble 3 Jean Borde (bass) Satoko Fukuda (violin) John Russell (guitar) Hannah Marshall (cello) Luo Chao-yun (pipa) Ensemble 4 Pat Thomas (keyboards) Sabu Toyozumi (percussion) Lol Coxhill (saxophone) Details of F-IRE Festival 2009 at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho featuring four nights of contrasting double bills from 14-17 October: WED 14 Barak Schmool's Meta Meta/Jonathan Bratoeff Quartet THU 15 Jasper Hoiby's Phronesis/Porpoise Corpus FRI 16 Stephane Payen's Thot/The Teak Project SAT 17 Seb Rochford, Ingrid Laubock + Pamelia Kurstin/Tom Arthurs + Richard Fairhurst play Postcards from Pushkin Interview with John Russell, guitarist and organiser of Fete Quaqua. QUAQUA SET 2 Ensemble 5 Sabu Toyozumi (percussion) Hannah Marshall (cello) Angelika Sheridan (flutes) Shabaka Hutchins (reeds) Ensemble 6 Jean Borde (bass) John Russell (guitar) Luo Chao-yun (pipa) Ute Voelker (accordion) Ensemble 7 Pat Thomas (keyboards) Henry Lowther (trumpet) Lol Coxhill (saxophone) Shabaka Hutchins (reeds) Ensemble 8 - Tutti (all 12 musicians) John Russell (guitar) Jean Borde (bass) Sabu Toyozumi (percussion) Hannah Marshall (cello) Ute Voelker (accordian) Henry Lowther (trumpet) Satoko Fakuda (violin) Lol Coxhill (saxophone) Luo Chao-Yun (pipa) Shabaka Hutchings (reeds) Angelika Sheridan (flutes) Link to Helen Petts video of the Fete Quaqua festival www.youtube.com/mopomoso Link to John Russell's monthly night of free improvisation Mopomoso http://www.mopomoso.com/.