Alexander Hawkins

Vole was originally a trio of Roland Ramanan, Javier Carmona, and Roberto Sassi, but they just asked me to join them, which should be a lot of fun. Basically, a blend of (mostly extremely complex..!) notated heads, with a lot of very open improvisation in there too...very rhythmic...have rehearsed with them a couple of times, and it's an exciting band! They were always extremely tight as a trio, so it will be interesting to see how quickly we gel as a 4tet, but looking forward to the gigs for sure!

Thanks for the kind comments! I'll certainly have some copies, but it may also be worth trying the Babel site again - they have a new label manager, and consequently a new (and much improved!) website, which I hope should be easier than the previous! But when I have copies, I will certainly mention it...they should be back from the plant any day now, I gather... In fact, I think there is some slightly confusing editing in the Jazzwise piece - the new album is actually from the 'old' line-up...the references to the new line-up come I think from a live gig. Re Tatum - yes, my hero! There have been a few compositions on previous albums with very oblique Tatum references, but true, I guess little 'explicit'! The Impressions - been listening to that compilation for a while now. Absolutely love it! Amazing arrangements, and Curtis Mayfield...well...

Just checking that the Brotherhood of Breath has been mentioned Would also like to recommend the Manchester-based 'Beats n' Pieces' big band...great stuff here, for sure...

We would really love to...the only problem is that it's really difficult for us Europeans to get work visas...it really needs a festival or some other sponsor I think. But it would really be fantastic to come to the US to play - we've only done it in Europe thus far!

Not at all, and thank you so much for the kind words about it! We're touring again in November, so there should be another towards the middle of next year...

p.s. Ah! Eric Boeran! I keep meaning to check out the newish one on Clean Feed - I've heard great things!

Thanks for the inclusion of the track...I was very relieved that I pressed 'play' and knew I was good for at least one of the tracks! It's probably fair to say that this is the least typical track on the album...I can't quite remember how we came to do it. I think I was probably playing it in a soundcheck...the guys were into it (we'd been talking about Mongezi Feza earlier in the tour - I remember that much!), so we came to do it as an encore every night. I first played this tune with Ntshuks Bonga, a wonderful alto/soprano player who also plays in Louis Moholo-Moholo's Unit. We did it as a duo a few times. Ntshuks taught it to me, and we couldn't remember its name; so we called it 'Mongezi's Tune', on the basis that we thought he wrote it. Every night, we's ask if anyone knew what it was called...the audiences generally recognised it, but couldn't remember the name. I was then checking out the Chris McGregor record 'Thunderbolt', where sure enough, there it is - this time, called 'Magwazakazo', and credited to guitarist Lucky Ranku. Then it occurred to me that it's on the incredible 'Blue Notes in Concert' album on Ogun; I pulled that one out, and there it is, but this time, called 'Kudala (Long Ago)', and credited as 'traditional'. [This was the stage at which the Convergence Quartet album came out, hence the name here!] Then I saw Ntshuks again, who had in the interim discovered that it was probably actually a tune by Dudu, called 'Joe's Jika' (various people on the road had thought it might be a Dudu tune originally), and that this was indeed the earliest version he had on record...anyway - I love the melody! One other thing - goodness knows why, but it's in G flat. So's Stardust, but there seems a little more point in that one being in that key

Oops, yes of course...strangely, I was going to say Fred Frith at an earlier stage...more a hunch than anything, as I'm not too familiar with his playing, though!

Aki Takase? Which means that track 7 is from this I guess... So that's Rudi Mahall on clarinet, and Paul Lovens on drums...and Dr Chadbourne on the guitar (although Eugene is American I think...)? Nils Wogram on trombone...

Django Bates? No Django Bates. I fear that I didn't give you much to go on, sorry Joe. On the other hand, I kind of thought somebody would pick up on Alexander Hawkins' hint for track 1. Atleast for the piano player. FWIW (not terribly much, I suspect) - I think Django is based in Copenhagen This is bugging me now - the English guitarist...I can't think who it could be...I'm going to kick myself...and I feel like the horn players should be a bit more obvious too...where is the pianist from?

EXCELLENT!! The trio is stopping over so we can all hang... Perfect - we're staying too!

Wow. Carla Bley!

OK, to drop a hint about track 1...pianist is definitely a big fan of Abdullah Ibrahim...although possibly moreso Chris McGregor. Nice call Spontooneous! The drummer is simply one of my favorites, anywhere...for those with an interest in jazz and African takes on it, he has produced two I think really spectacular takes on West African traditions in recent years. The cornet player on this track plays on both, in fact. And, I think it's relevant to note cornet - he's passionate about this detail(!) I think the Harry Beckett mention is really perceptive, although it's not him, and I don't think that will help you pinpoint the guy...Don Cherry similarly perceptive...

Hey Corey - I think we're playing on the same bill!

I don't think either of those guys, or indeed the Dutch thing, could be overdone FWIW - one of my absolute favorites in the 'not all SA musicians on board' South African vein is Curtis Clark's 'Letter to South Africa'. Louis Moholo-Moholo on drums, Ernst Reijsiger, others...John Tchicai sounding spectacular...

So track 6 - I'm away from my audio at the moment, so it's sort of from memory: but could it be from the Clusone guys? Rara Avis?

Ah...I think I've been missing something...I think I must have downloaded a faulty version of the last track, because all I could hear was a 3 second snippet of brass plus laughter! I hope I would have recognised a French Horn, since I used to (attempt to) play one

Hmmm...I'm intrigued!

This one absolutely blows my mind every time. LISTEN to that cadenza!

Thank you again everyone for the kind wishes

Thank you very much everyone! I must have taken one too many hits during my football career - can't remember a thing

Track 11: Nice! I like it a lot. That piano player - no idea who it is - is awesome. I would like to know who it is, and if ever he can't make the gig, I would love to sub. Fantastic solo. Really enjoy the freely improvised(?) clarinet/guitar/percussion passage. Nice composition too - lucid structurally: really simple, and strong because of it. I honestly don't know what this is, but I'm going to stick my neck out, largely because of the mix of idiomatic influences, plus the guitar sound (Ribot?) and the trombone (Rudd?) - could this be an Allen Lowe project? Track 12: a great example of trust your ears in a blindfold test, rather than second guessing what might be the case. (I say this having read the comments above). My ears were telling me Earl Hines, but then I was thinking, what on earth could it be? I just didn't know about this. But wow, check out that piano playing. That is serious. I love the way it can be so 'in-the-pocket' and rhythmically treacherous at the same time. Track 13: you got me. Is that a bass trumpet? Valve trombone?

Just thinking then about track 6...could it possibly be Ingebrikt Haker-Flaten on bass? Track 10: interesting. Not my cup of tea, normally, although I'm enjoying it a bit more second time around...could it be Charles Lloyd and John Abercrombie on ECM?

Hmmm...so if it's Tristan and Ernst, could that be Michael Moore on clarinet? In which case, I think there could be a South African on board - could this be a Sean Bergin thing? p.s. I'm tickled that I thought Han sounded like he'd checked out Han!!!

8. Must be honest - this is the first track which hasn't really done it for me. I enjoy the keyboard solo (although I don't too much like his use of electronics, or his comping), but it's a bit 'ambient' to my ears in general...don't feel too much direction in there. I also, however, feel like this is a track where I'm going to be told who it is, and then think 'oh, I really like those players'. That'll learn me. But...sort of a Strata-East-y type thing gets going during the e-piano solo, and I really like the drummer's feel in this passage particularly. And I like the bass player, keeping it a bit 'rough' with his tone...but on the whole, not sure about this one... Edit, having read Mike's answer: Hmmm...I knew I'd have one of those 'but I like those players!' reactions to this one...the beauty of a blindfold test! Maybe I was in the wrong mood! 9. I have no idea; must admit, I didn't really enjoy it at all. I honestly have no clue, so might as well go and embarass myself by guessing someone with whose work I'm completely unfamiliar - could this be the recent Larry Coryell plus tabla project?