"Lindsay Cooper (3 March 1951 Ð 18 September 2013) was an English bassoon and oboe player, composer and political activist. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the Pedestrians. She collaborated with a number of musicians, including Chris Cutler and Sally Potter, and co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group. She wrote scores for film and TV and a song cycle Oh Moscow which was performed live around the world in 1987. She also recorded a number of solo albums, including Rags (1980), The Gold Diggers (1983) and Music For Other Occasions (1986).

Cooper was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1970s, but did not disclose it to the musical community until the late 1990s when her illness prevented her from performing live. In September 2013, Cooper died from the illness at the age of 62, 15 years after her retirement."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Cooper)
2/7/2025

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"Willem Breuker (4 November 1944, Amsterdam - 23 July 2010 Amsterdam) was a Dutch jazz bandleader, composer, arranger, saxophonist, and (bass) clarinetist.

During the mid 1960s he played with percussionist Han Bennink and pianist Misha Mengelberg, co-founding the Instant Composers Pool (ICP), with which he regularly performed until 1973. He was a member of the Globe Unity Orchestra and the Gunter Hampel Group.

In 1974, he began leading the 10-piece Willem Breuker Kollektief, which performed jazz in a theatrical and often unconventional manner, drawing elements from theater and vaudeville. With the group, he toured Western Europe, Russia, Australia, India, China, Japan, the United States, and Canada.

He was also known as an authority on the music of Kurt Weill. In 1997, he produced, with Carrie de Swaan, a 48-hour, 12-part radio documentary on the life of Weill entitled Componist Kurt Weill.

In 1974, he founded the record label BVHaast. Beginning in 1977, he organized the annual Klap op de Vuurpijl (Top It All) festival in Amsterdam. Haast Music Publishers, which he also operated, published his scores.

In 1992, Editions de Limon published the book Willem Breuker by J. and F. Buzelin in France. Uitgeverij Walburg Pers published a Dutch translation in 1994. BVHaast published the book Willem Breuker Kollektief: Celebrating 25 Years on the Road, which includes two CDs, in 1999.

In 1998, Breuker was knighted with the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Willem Breuker died on 23 July, 2010 in Amsterdam. He suffered from lung cancer and had been ill for some time."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Breuker)
2/7/2025

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"Born in High Wycombe in 1936, Mike Westbrook grew up in Torquay and was educated at Kelly College, Tavistock. He formed his first band while studying painting in Plymouth in 1958, moving to London in the early 1960s. He has led and composed for a succession of groups, notably his 1960s Sextet and Concert Band, his Brass Band, formed in the mid 70s, the jazz rock group Solid Gold Cadillac and the Mike Westbrook Orchestra. He has toured extensively throughout Europe, and as far afield as Australia and the Far East, Canada and New York. He has directed performances of his work with big bands in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, France, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland and Australia. He has broadcast on radio and TV in many countries, and made over 50 albums.Mike WestbrookMike Westbrook first made his mark as a composer with his 1960s recordings for Deram,- Celebration, Release and Marching Song, followed by Metropolis for RCA.

Subsequent compositions for Jazz Orchestra include Citadel/Room 315 featuring John Surman, The Cortege, On Duke's Birthday dedicated to the memory of Duke Ellington, Big Band Rossini which was featured in the 1992 BBC Proms and Chanson Irresponsable, (Enja Records) commissioned by BBC Radio 3, which brings together jazz and classical musicians.Works for classical ensembles include a saxophone concerto Bean Rows and Blues Shots which was commissioned by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta for John Harle, a score for the silent movie Moulin Rouge commissioned by the Matrix Ensemble, and Classical Blues in 2002 for the BBC Concert Orchestra. Mike's television music credits include the award-winning BBC drama Caught on a Train by Stephen Poliakoff and directed by Peter Duffell starring Peggy Ashcroft and Michael Kitchen.

His involvement in experimental theatre began in the late 60s with the multi-media work Earthrise, and collaborations with The Welfare State Theatre Company and The Cosmic Circus. His work for the stage includes Adrian Mitchell's Tyger a celebration of William Blake, staged by the National Theatre in 1971, and Mitchell's White Suit Blues about Mark Twain. His opera Quichotte commissioned by L'Ensemble Justiniana, toured in France in the 1980s. Coming Through Slaughter, based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje about the New Orleans cornettist Buddy Bolden, was premiered in London in a concert version in 1994.In collaboration with his wife, singer/librettist Kate Westbrook, he has generated a whole series of jazz/cabarets and music-theatre pieces, notably The Ass, based on the poem by D.H Lawrence, Pierides commissioned by Extemporary Dance Theatre and Good Friday 1663, a TV opera commissioned by Channel Four with libretto by Helen Simpson. Their 2003 composition Art Wolf commissioned by the Aargauer Kunsthaus, Switzerland, is dedicated to the 18th century Alpine painter Caspar Wolf.

Mike wrote the music for Kate Westbrook's album The Nijinska Chamber (voiceprint) pairing Kate's voice with accordionist Karen Street. Other compositions include two works for voice and acoustic brass, performed by The Village Band,- Waxeywork Show and English Soup or the Battle of the Classic Trifle which was premiered in 2008.

Their 2009 album Fine 'n Yellow was released on the Gonzo label. The Serpent Hit written for voice, percussion and saxophone quartet, was premiered in London in 2011 at Wilton's Music Hall.

The Westbrooks have also created large-scale concert works incorporating settings of European poetry, as in The Cortege a work for voices and jazz orchestra, and London Bridge Is Broken Down for voice, jazz group and chamber orchestra. Jago, their first full-scale opera, was commissioned by Wedmore Opera in 2000. Their jazz oratorio Turner in Uri, based on the painter Turner's travels in the Swiss Alps, was premiered in Altdorf and Zurich in 2003. Their opera Cape Gloss - Mathilda's Story for classical soprano and piano, had its first performance at the University of Plymouth in 2007.

Mike Westbrook's albums for ENJA Records include The Cortege, Bar Utopia a big-band cabaret with lyrics by Helen Simpson, The Orchestra of Smith's Academy, compositions recorded 'live' by the Mike Westbrook Orchestra and the Steve Martland Band, a tribute to the Beatles Off Abbey Road, and Glad Day settings of the poetry of William Blake. His releases on the Jazzprint label include Platterback with Westbrook & Company, L'ascenseur/The Lift with The Westbrook Trio, Waxeywork Show with The Village Band and a reissue on CD and DVD of the Westbrooks' 1980s jazz cabaret Mama Chicago. Reissues on BGO include Citadel/Room 315 and London Bridge is Broken Down, and, on the Swiss label Hatology, On Duke's Birthday and Westbrook Rossini.

Mike Westbrook returned to big band work with the formation of The Uncommon Orchestra, a 22-piece ensemble based in the South West of England, combining jazz, rock, pop and classical musicians. The orchestra released its first album (on ASC Records) A Bigger Show, a 'jazz/rock oratorio' with lyrics written and performed by Kate Westbrook with fellow vocalists Martine Waltier and Billy Bottle. Mike also works regularly in The Westbrook Trio with Kate and saxophonist Chris Biscoe. Forthcoming performances include a revival of The Westbrook Blake, featuring the voices of Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton in a Choral Version of his settings of the poetry of William Blake. Currently the 7-piece Westbrook&Company is presenting a new jazz cabaret Paintbox Jane, inspired by the painter Raoul Dufy. Mike also gives solo piano concerts. His latest album PARIS was recorded live in Paris by Jon Hiseman in July 2016. Mike Westbrook was awarded an OBE in 1988, and, in 2004 an Honorary Doctorate of Music by the University of Plymouth."

-Mike Westbrook Website (http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/mikewestbrook/mike_bio.shtml)
2/7/2025

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"Phil Minton comes from Torquay. He played trumpet and sang with the Mike Westbrook Band in the early 60s- Then in dance and rock bands in Europe for the later of part of the decade. He returned to England in 1971, rejoining Westbrook and was involved in many of his projects until the mid 1980's.

For most of the last forty years, Minton has been working as a improvising singer in lots of groups, orchestras, and situations, all over the place. Numerous composers have written music especially for his extended vocal techniques. He has a quartet with Veryan Weston, Roger Turner and John Butcher, and ongoing duos, trios and quartets with above and many other musicians.

Since the eighties, His Feral Choir, where he voice-conducts workshops and concerts for anyone who wants to sing, has performed in over twenty countries."

-Phil Minton Website (https://www.philminton.co.uk/8-2/)
2/7/2025

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"Bruno Chevillon (born 23 August 1959) is a French jazz double bassist who is well known in avant-garde jazz as well as in new improvised music.

Born in Valréas Vaucluse, Chevillon followed a double training since he graduated from the Beaux Arts in 1983 where he studied photography, and at the same time followed Joseph Fabre's classical double bass teaching at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional d'Avignon [fr]. He made his debut in jazz by following the class of André Jaume [fr], is a member of the Groupe de recherche et d'improvisation musicales (GRIM), then joined the Lyon collective Association à la Recherche d'un Folklore Imaginaire [fr] where he made a decisive encounter: that of Louis Sclavis. Chevillon was then associated with a large part of the clarinettist's projects.

In addition to his long collaboration with Sclavis, the double bassist plays with the main actors of avant-garde jazz and Free improvisation : Marc Ducret, Claude Barthélemy, Stéphan Oliva, François Corneloup, François Raulin, Joey Baron, Elliott Sharp, Franck Vigroux, Benjamin de la Fuente, Samuel Sighicelli, Laurent Dehors, Gerome Nox etc.

Essentially a sideman, Chevillon also flourishes as a soloist, however, notably in his performance on Pier Paolo Pasolini. Contemporary classical music is also part of his work.

In 2007, he recorded his only solo album Hors-Champ published on the label d'Autres Cordes, which mixes double bass and electronics. In 2014, he joins the [National Jazz Orchestra] as artistic advisor, alongside Olivier Benoit."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Chevillon)
2/7/2025

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"Born in 1947, Chris Biscoe was drawn to jazz by hearing Fats Waller, Erroll Garner and Benny Goodman on the radio. Early listening to Lester Young and Stan Getz (Jazz Samba) and Charlie Parker led to him starting to learn alto sax in 1963. Chris is self-taught on sax and clarinet. Turning to tenor sax in 1965, Chris's major influences were Sonny Rollins, Charlie Rouse and Dexter Gordon, but after his tenor was stolen he returned to alto.

While studying at Sussex University Chris met pianist Ben Sidran and made his first recording with Ben in 1970. After graduating in 1968 Chris played gigs in London but soon realised that not reading music was a serious barrier, so under the influence of educator and composer Ken Gibson began to attend rehearsal bands and joined NYJO, with which he made two LPs. He became a professional player in 1973.In 1975 Chris joined Red Brass with Pete Hurt and led by Tony Haynes. The association with Tony continues to this day, including numerous concerts and recordings. In 1979 Chris joined the Mike Westbrook Brass Band, and since then has played in many of Mike's bands, from trio to big band. Mike asked Chris to join 'The Cortege', and this led to him starting to play the baritone sax seriously, which he carried on into the Brass Band, the Westbrook Trio and several records.

In 1986 Chris Biscoe joined the George Russell Anglo American Orchestra for its first tour, staying with the band until the final 80th Birthday Concert in 2003 and making three CDs. Also in 1986 Chris augmented his regular quartet (with Peter Jacobsen) to make the first recording under his name: 'Chris Biscoe Sextet'. The quartet and quintet performed regularly in England in the 1980s and 1990s. He also broadcast and recorded with Pete Hurt ('Lost for Words') and the Brotherhood of Breath ('Country Cooking'). From the 1990s on Chris has been associated with French bassist/composer Didier Levallet in his quartet, tentet, The Orchestre National de Jazz and The Brotherhood Heritage, touring and making 4 CDs.BiographyChris started to learn clarinet in the early 1970s, picking up the rarely used alto clarinet in 1975. This instrument he featured in the improvising quartet Full Monte, in various Westbrook bands, with The Liam Noble Group ('In the Meantime'), with the long-running groups exploring the music of Charles Mingus ('Profiles of Mingus') and in The Profiles Quartet with Tony Kofi dedicated to Eric Dolphy ('Gone in the Air' and 'Live at Campus West'). Chris is now playing alto clarinet and baritone sax in Two of a Mind.

In most of these bands Chris has also played alto sax, and soprano sax, which he started to play around 1970. The baritone sax has often been a separate strand, in the John Williams Baritone Band, with the Hermeto Pascoal Big Band, The New York Composers Orchestra and The Dedication Orchestra. Chris Biscoe and Allison Neale joined forces in 2015 to bring to the fore the sense of collective improvisation on standard material so brilliantly demonstrated by Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan."

-Chris Biscoe Website (https://www.chrisbiscoe.co.uk/brief_bio.shtml)
2/7/2025

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"The French guitarist-improvisor Noël Akchoté is a frighteningly competent and active person. He has recorded a lot of music in various styles, he writes about music in the Austrian magazine Skug, he is the owner of a record label, he produces many different groups and participates in various projects. Born in Paris, the 7th december 1968, he started guitar at the age of 8. Soon meeting and studying with artists such as Tal Farlow, Barney Wilen, Chet Baker, Philip Catherine, John Abercrombie. During the early 90's, he started to explore beyond jazz, also playing more experimental and improvised musics. He played in the groups of Henri Texier, Louis Sclavis, Daniel Humair, Jacques Thollot, Sam Rivers as well as with Derek Bailey, Eugene Chadbourne, Marc Ribot, Fred Frith, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Tim Berne or George Lewis. He collaborated since with David Grubbs, Luc Ferrari, David Sylvian, Jim G. Thirlwell (Steroïd Maximus), Max Nagl's Big Four (Steven Bernstein, Bradley Jones, Joey Baron), Jean-François Pauvros or Dylan Carlson's Earth. Other projects have seen him recording and playing with The Recyclers, Blixa Bargeld, Aki Onda, Phil Minton, Tony Hymas, Katerine, Tetuzi Akiyama, Otomo Yoshihide, Julie Tippets, Mike Cooper, Wolfgang Puschnig, Linda Sharrock, Tom Cora, Keith Rowe, Christian Fennesz, Nobuyoshi Araki or Daido Moriyama. In 1996 he co founded with Quentin Rollet, the mostly Vinyl label Rectangle (all reissued as downloads​in 2011). During the same period, he produced for the Münich based label Winter & Winter a series of " Audio Films " revisiting a wide range of Chansons & Cabaret traditions (Au Bordel, Cabaret Modern, Toi-Même... featuring Red, Jean-Louis Costes, Han Bennink, Steve Beresford, Sasha Andrès, John Giorno or Kevin Blechdom), as well as unique re- readings of the music of Sonny Sharrock (Sonny II) and Kylie Minogue (So Lucky). He is also featured in various movies as an actor, soundtrack composer or musical director (with Thierry Jousse, Michael Lonsdale, Claire Denis, Lio ...). He also happens to be the older brother of the electro artist SebastiAn (Ed Banger, Daft Punk). In 2011, he signed an exclusive distribution contract with Believe Digital (Worldwide Downloads), issueing since over 100 rare live tracks and previously unreleased studio albums, from which a wide Renaissance and Baroque section raised (Carlo Gesualdo, Guillaume de Machaut, Claudio Monteverdi, Luys Milan,Robert de Visée)."

-Noel Akchote Website (http://www.noelakchote.org/biography)
2/7/2025

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Gérard Siracusa is a French drummer, percussionist and composer, born 6 October 1957 in Tunis, Tunesia. He is known for the groups André Jaume Quartet, Série B, Tentet Franco Italien, Thierry Maucci Quartet, Orchestre National De Jazz.

-Discogs (https://www.discogs.com/artist/402974-G%C3%A9rard-Siracusa?srsltid=AfmBOoqlQdRJorLeRYvAXUSjxdR5x0kaX2f6lnzk9I_4uJVXKdyQYRsU)
2/10/2025

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"Michele Buirette is a French accordionist, singer, and composer known for her contributions to French chanson and world music. She has collaborated with various artists and has been involved in theater productions, providing musical accompaniment and compositions."-Squidco 2/7/2025

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"Bernard Vitet (26 May 1934 - 3 July 2013) was a French trumpeter, multi-instrumentist and composer, co-founder of the first free jazz band in France (1964) together with François Tusques, Michel Portal Unit (1972) and Un Drame Musical Instantané with Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé in 1976.

Born in Paris, France, Vitet was involved in the early fusion of jazz and contemporary music with Bernard Parmegiani and Jean-Louis Chautemps. In the 1960s, he accompanied singers such as Serge Gainsbourg, Barbara, Yves Montand, Claude François, Brigitte Bardot, Marianne Faithfull, Colette Magny, and Brigitte Fontaine. He played with jazz musicians such as Lester Young, Archie Shepp, Anthony Braxton, Don Cherry, Chet Baker, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Steve Lacy, Gato Barbieri, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Martial Solal. In his early years, he performed with Django Reinhardt, Gus Viseur, Eric Dolphy, and Albert Ayler.

Under his own name he recorded Surprise-partie avec Bernard Vitet (on trombone!), La Guêpe on texts by Francis Ponge, Mehr Licht!, and about 200 other records with the aforementioned, plus Jean-Claude Fohrenbach, Georges Arvanitas, Sunny Murray, Michel Pascal, Alan Silva, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Hubert Rostaing, Alix Combelle, Ivan Jullien, Christian Chevalier, Jef Gilson, Jack Diéval, Jac Berrocal, Hélène Sage and 17 albums with Un drame musical instantané. In 1995, he co-signs the songs of Carton with Birgé, with whom he collaborates on music for films, exhibitions, and CD-Roms.

Vitet invented instruments such as a reed trumpet, a multiphonic French horn, a variable tension double-bass, the dragoon which is a giant balafon with frying pans and flower pots keyboard, a clever system of modal clocks, and astonishing musical objects for Georges Aperghis, Tamia, and Françoise Achard. Besides trumpet, he sang and played flugelhorn, piano and violin.

He composed theatre music for Jean-Marie Serrault, and for the films (Les coeurs verts by Édouard Luntz, L'ombre de la pomme by Robert Lapoujade with Jean-Louis Chautemps, Bof by Claude Faraldo in collaboration with Jean Guérin, and La femme-bourreau by Jean-Denis Bonan.

From 1976 to 2008, he devoted himself primarily to Un Drame Musical Instantané with Jean-Jacques Birgé, improvising and composing hundreds of pieces together, experimental essays as well as symphonic pieces, songs as well as music for films. Un D.M.I., as a trio or with their 15-piece orchestra, presented multimedia shows involving cinema, video, literature, dance and new technologies."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Vitet)
2/7/2025

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"Born near Belfort (France) in 1960, Michel Godard soon established himself as an extraordinarily versatile exponent of the tuba, pursuing a career in jazz and classical music.Today he is one of the most virtous tuba and serpent players in Jazz as well as in improvised music.

Michel Godard's tuba performance is fantastic in every sense: his technical skill is astounding, his tone clear and warm, his ability to produce overtones ("multiphonics") and his musicality leaves the listener surprised at how light a seemingly cumbersome and heavy-weight tuba can sound.

In 1979 he picked up also the ancestor of the tuba, the serpent, an instrument with a name derivated after its form - looking like a coiled snake. The serpent's ivory mouthpiece gives it a characteristic warm and intense tone. With this "second" instrument, Michel Godard has taken yet another step in broadening the field of expression in ancient music as well as in Jazz. Since 2002, Michel Godard is the serpent teacher at the "Conservatoire national de musique" in Paris.

On the classical side, Michel Godard played since 1988 with the Radio-France Philharmonic Orchestra, the French National Orchestra, the Ensemble Musique Vivante, , the ancient music Ensemble La Venice and "XVIII-21Musique de Lumieres". He was also a member of the "Arban Chamber Brass" quintet (notably touring Japan, the U.S., Africa) and interprets works from the solo repertory, too. Little wonder that, with recourse to such a fund of experience, he gives international master classes, and has been discovered by European jazz as well as by the avant garde. On the jazz side he was a member of the French Orchestre National de Jazz from 1989 to 1991 . Since then all over Western and Souther Europe Michel Godard has been involved in numerous creative projects with Michel Portal, Louis Sclavis, Henry Texier, Enrico Rava, Michael Riessler, Kenny Wheeler, Ray Anderson, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Sylvie Courvoisier, Klaus König, Simon Nabatov, Wolfgang Puschnig, Linda Sharrock, Pierre Favre, Misha Mengelberg, Linda Bsiri, Gianluigi Trovesi, Christof Lauer, Maria Pia De Vito, Pino Minafra, Luciano Biondini,Willem Breuker, Herbert Joos, Dave Bargeron and many more.

As a composer, Michel Godard was comissioned by Radio France ("Penthés(il)ée II"), Donaueschinger Musiktage/Südwestrundfunk ("de mémoire de tuba", "Tra la folla, mora, mormora" , "Praeludium"), French Ministere de la Culture ("Bradamente aux aguets", "les enfants d'un paradis").

He records many cds wit his own projects: "Archangelica", "ImpertinAnce", "Cousins Germains" for CAMjazz, "Castel del monte", "Tubatuba" for Enja, "Deep", "trio rouge" for Intuition..........

Michel Godard also played and recorded with the pipeband of the Normandy town Quimper, with reggae star Alpha Blondy and with "Canterbury" rock musicians John Greaves and Pip Pyle. Together with harpsichordist Freddy Echelberger, he collaborates with writer Nancy Huston (Tendres ténèbres, pérégrinations Goldberg, Tentatives de renaissance)"

-Michel Godard Website (http://www.michel-godard.fr/english/html/biography.html)
2/7/2025

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