Bobhowler
Bobhowler [bɒb’aʊle] [noun. Black Country dialect] – a very large moth
Bobhowler is a collaborative trio featuring Andrew Woodhead (piano/electronics), Alicia Gardener-Trejo (baritone saxophone/flute) and Tom Mills (theremin).
Andrew Woodhead is an award winning composer and musician working across a wide variety of contexts, taking in jazz, free improvisation, electronica, folk and new music.
Tom Mills is a London-based electronic musician active on the free improv scene. He and Gardener-Trejo began performing as a duo in 2013. Inspired by improvisers such as Peter Brötzman and Derek Bailey as well as early 90s Birmingham techno, Mills explores the extensive range of soundscapes and textures of the theremin within the trio.
Multi-instrumentalist/composer Alicia Gardener-Trejo is a key figure on the Birmingham jazz and improvised music scenes. She regularly performs across the UK as a sideman and runs her own large ensemble ‘Bobtail’ who released their debut EP at the beginning of 2017.
(Photo by Gareth Howell)
Mick Beck/Paul Hession/Seth Bennett
On the free scene since 1980, as an improvising big band leader to solo performer, Mick Beck is known for his energy and originality: his playing covers the full emotional gamut from heartbreaking to mischievous, and from abstracts to compelling swing. He has worked with many great musicians such as saxists J.D. Parran to Alan Wilkinson, guitarists Derek Bailey to Hugh Metcalfe, percussionists Tony Buck to Steve Noble and Paul Hession, bassists Marcio Mattos to Simon Fell, pianists Chris Burn to Stephen Grew and Pat Thomas.
Paul Hession was born in Leeds in 1956. He took up drumming at the age of 15 and since then has played and broadcast in many European & Scandinavian countries as well as Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, USA & Canada. He has played with many of the major figures on the free music scene, such as: Peter Brötzmann, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Sunny Murray, Marshall Allen, Frode Gjerstad, Peter Kowald, Joe McPhee, Borah Bergman, Otomo Yoshihide & his old friends Alan Wilkinson, Simon Fell, Hans Peter Hiby and Mick Beck. Collaborators from a different scene are Squarepusher and dj/producer Paul Woolford. He is known to relish the interaction of collective music-making, but also responds to the challenge of solo performance.
Seth Bennett is one of the U.K.’s pre-eminent improvising double bass players. Currently based in rural Perthshire, his work involves free improvisation and composition for improvisers. Recent works include En Bas Quartet, a low string quartet for improvisers, all lovers are the song, a suite of six pieces for string trio and voice, and contributions to several recorded works, including CD releases by improvising sextet Sloth Racket, the Julie Tippets/Martin Archer Ensemble, Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, and the large ensemble Favourite Animals. In addition, he maintains a busy performance schedule in Britain and across Europe in Jazz, Free Improvisation, English Folk music, and Contemporary Classical settings.