thanks: London*2 and Scarborough

London*2 and Scarborough, May 2012
Thanks to Trevor Brent and everyone at Freedom of the City for a fantastic and welcoming festival; to Rob Mackay of the University of Hull-Scarborough Campus for being a wonderful, generous host—organizing the performance, housing and feeding the musicians; and to Jazz @ The Oxford for their open mindedness and enthusiasm. Special thanks to John Chantler and Hamish Dunbar at Cafe OTO for helping this itinerant musician step across the border, to John Coxon for the use of his lovely amplifier at FOTC, and to Seán Kelly for evolving into Mathilde 253’s official photographer!

Kudos to all the musicians involved: to Richard Barrett for pushing and pulling the music into new spaces, and for illuminating and exploring the possibilities of real-time interactive music; to Charles Hayward and Ian Smith—two musicians who never miss a beat—for the real rock-out (despite 1/3 of Mathilde 253 begin zombified by a cold); to Dom Lash, Phillip Marks and, in particular, to Mark Hanslip for inviting me to join in their spontaneous inventions and discoveries.

And finally, as always, thanks to all who came to watch/listen!

CD cover of ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) with Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park (copyright 2012, Creative Sources Recordings)

‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) is available from Creative Sources Recordings [details…]

Performers: Richard Barrett (electronics) and Han-earl Park (guitar).

© + ℗ 2012 Creative Sources Recordings.

‘Mathilde 253’ (SLAMCD 528) CD cover (copyright 2010, Han-earl Park)

Mathilde 253 (SLAMCD 528) is available from SLAM Productions [details…]

Performers: Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn) plus Lol Coxhill (saxophone).

© 2010 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2010 SLAM Productions.

live reviews: Mathilde 253 at Freedom of the City, London

Mathilde 253: Charles Hayward, Han-earl Park and Ian Smith (Freedom of the City, London, May 6, 2012). Photo copyright 2012 Andrew Newcombe.
Mathilde 253 (Freedom of the City, London, May 6, 2012). Photo © 2012 Andrew Newcombe.

In his review of this year’s Freedom of the City festival, Tim Owen at Dalston Sound calls Mathilde 253’s set on May 6 “one of the punchiest performances”:

…A trio featuring ex-This Heat drummer Charles Hayward, electric guitarist Han-Earl Park and trumpeter Ian Smith. Hayward was playing at his most impressionistic, Smith’s trumpet correspondingly all smears and blurs, offset by Park’s scrabble of overlapping notes and smears…. Park and Smith were the new discoveries of the festival for me; names to add to the must-see list, for future reference. [Read the rest…]

Han-earl Park (Freedom of the City, London, May 6, 2012). Photo copyright 2012 Scott McMillan.
Han-earl Park (Freedom of the City, London, May 6, 2012). Photo © 2012 Scott McMillan.

Meanwhile, Scott McMillan at The Liminal points out the “youthful energy and invention”:

Han Earl-Park’s idiosyncratic guitar style was beguiling, his array of tiny, sharp sounds glinting like fragments of broken glass – the interplay between him and trumpeter Ian Smith was almost telepathic, changing directions as one, and the music coming to two seemingly unplanned and instinctive dead stops. [Read the rest…]

More photographs of FOTC: [Andrew Newcombe’s…] [Scott McMillan’s…]

site update: Mathilde 253 image gallery

Mathilde 253 image gallery

Press/publicity photos and images of Mathilde 253 (Charles Hayward, Han-earl Park and Ian Smith) are now collated at:

https://goo.gl/photos/E8XrSrUML3Xee7MU7

Photographs copyright the photographers. If you use any of the images, please credit the corresponding photographer. [Additional images…].

photos: Mathilde 253 with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (Cork, 2011)

Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (photo copyright 2011 Julia Healy)Marian Murray (photo copyright 2011 Julia Healy)Han-earl Park (photo copyright 2011 Julia Healy)Charles Hayward (photo copyright 2011 Julia Healy)Ian Smith (photo copyright 2011 Julia Healy)

Photographs of (top to bottom) Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Marian Murray, and Mathilde 253 (Han-earl Park, Charles Hayward and Ian Smith) taken at the Half Moon Theatre (Cork Opera House, Emmet Place, Cork, Ireland), March 30, 2011 [Details…]. All photographs by, and copyright 2011, Julia Healy.

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The performance was presented with funding from the Music Network Performance and Touring Award, and support from UCC School of Music and the Cork Opera House.