Improvised Music Company: Beyond Borders

For:

Spirit Spout - Compositional explorations for solo Guitars

Find out more by visiting:

www.improvisedmusic.ie/concerts/details/spirit_spout

Spirit Spout is a chapter from Melville’s Moby Dick and refers to the Pequod crew, observing a elusive spouting whale in the distance, who is permanently just out of reach. It captures the essence of improvisation, and its interstices with formal composition. IMC wishes to empower leading Irish jazz practitioner Simon Jermyn to establish himself in this fertile area of creative practice. Based in NYC, Simon shows great promise, working within the highest echelons of the city’s jazz milieu. Solo performance on electric bass is unusual, but he has proven himself a laterally minded and original voice. In addition to his established reputation as an improviser, this project will be timely in his evolution as a performer straddling improvisation and contemporary music.

Three composers are committed – David Crowell (Bang on a Can), Caleb Burhans (Alarm Will Sound) and NI composer Frank Lyons. NYC Luthier Simon Propert is building a six stringed fretless bass, the first of its kind, for Simon to identify its potential for expanded tonal and textural vocabulary. The pieces will each be 10 minutes, linked by improvisations that reference the thematic context of Spirit Spout.

Improvised Music Company (IMC) is a leading Irish concert producer, and the project has been developed over 18 months with Simon Jermyn, an Irish artist with whom we have a long and productive association. Partners have been identified through established networks within Ireland and The UK. IMC will underwrite administrative costs for the project and assume the role of project producer.

Planned performances:

•    Derry: Walled City Music Festival – 21ST NOVEMBER 2015
•    Dublin: Sundays at Noon Series, Hugh Lane Gallery – 22ND NOVEMBER 2015
•    London: Cafe Oto, London Jazz Festival – 23RD NOVEMBER 2015