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Tom Walsh
Born & raised — classically — in St John’s, Newfoundland, Tom Walsh lived & worked in Toronto for more than ten years before rebooting in Montréal.
He’s performed &/or recorded improvisational or popular music with/for such artists as: Steven Barry, Iva Bittova, Jane Bunnett, Pierre Cartier, Michel F Côté, Paul Cram, Michel Cusson, Jean Derome, Lisle Ellis, Fred Frith, Vinny Golia, Bill Grove, Gerry Hemingway, Julius Hemphill, Jim Hillman, DD Jackson, Oliver Jones, Guy Kluscevek, Michel Lemieux, Robert Marcel Lepage, Evan Lurie, René Lussier, Al MacDowell, Joe McPhee, Phil Minton, David Mott, Bern Nix, Mary Margaret O’Hara, poet Michael Ondaatje, Zappa’s Don Preston, Bobby Wiseman, the Cowboy Junkies, the Barenaked Ladies, and Bran Van 3000 in Canada, the United States or throughout Europe.
As composer, his commissions include Toronto’s Hemispheres Orchestra — he’s a founding member — (2x); mezzo soprano Kimberly Barber (3 things suite — words by e e cummings); Montréal choreographers Estelle Clareton (3x), Jose Navas (2x) and Andrew de Lotbinière Harwood (2x); Halifax’s Upstream Ensemble; CBC Morningside; Buddies in Bad Times’ new theatre launch; film-maker Don McKellar (Blue, with David Cronenberg & Tracy Wright); video artist Dennis Day (Autobiography); playwright sensation Daniel MacIvor (Jump); interactive media pioneer Don Ritter (Excity); marionettiste/performance artiste Marcelle Hudon (Madame Chen, Portraits d’un renard), new technology and electronic art symposium ISEA‘95 (Genesis After Babel), new technology music presenters [the user] (Pozon for solo trombone) and Contemporary Music Projects (the man with seven toes — words by Michael Ondaatje).
Since the early nineties, working “in the cracks” between the Jazz Avant Garde, Contemporary Classical and Alternative New music traditions, Tom has developed a unique name for himself as the leader or co-leader of six contemporary Canadian groups: Walsh/Underhill, with Toronto’s own sax genie, Richard Underhill; Midi tapant (High Noon), digital/acoustic adventures with Pierre Tanguay& “found-sound"; Swifty Lazarus, experiments with sound/media manipulations & Todd Swift’s spoken word; Pots & Pans, a six piece modern cabaret “pit orchestra of the mind"; Royal Jelly, an exclusive hiphopjazz party band; and, last but not least, the infamous “7-headed hydra” known as Noma, perhaps Canadian jazz’s first harmonic de-scaler.
More recently, Tom completed an Eastern European solo trombone concert tour in 2000. On record, he’s featured on more than 40 national or international releases (from most of the names above), including a healthy dose of the Ambiances Magnétiques catalogue. repertoire, he has recorded and/or performed with foreign artists such as Iva Bittova, Fred Frith, Vinny Golia, Gerry Hemingway, Julius Hemphill, Guy Kluscevek, Evan Lurie, Al MacDowell, Joe McPhee, Phil Minton, Bern Nix, Zappa’s Don Preston, and trombonists Steve Swell, Wolter Wierbos or Michael Vlatkovich in Canada, the United States or throughout Europe.
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Chris Laurence: Ken Wheeler - Some Gnu Ones
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by Chris May
The Jazz in Britain label has made its reputation with a niche catalogue of previously unavailable archive albums, mostly recorded live back in the day by jazz greats such as the saxophonists Tubby Hayes and Joe Harriott. With the lovely Ken Wheeler: Some Gnu Ones, the label ventures more or less into the present day with three pieces written by the late trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and recorded in 2020 and 2021 by the bassist Chris Laurence, for whom they were ...
read moreJulian Siegel Jazz Orchestra: Tales from the Jacquard
![Read "Tales from the Jacquard" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/57c6ab75a784a8a3ddaabaf6e8ff515d.jpg)
by Angelo Leonardi
L'eredità orchestrale britannica, rappresentata dagli eclettici lavori di Mike Gibbs, Mike Westbrook, Django Bates e Colin Towns, si rinnova in questo brillante debutto da bandleader di Julian Siegel. Nato a Nottingham 55 anni fa, Siegel è uno dei massimi sassofonisti del Regno Unito, leader di un quartetto e sideman in molte formazioni orchestrali: da quelle dei citati Bates, Gibbs e Towns ad altre dirette da John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, John Dankworth e Stan Sulzmann. La ...
read moreJulian Siegel Jazz Orchestra: Tales from the Jacquard
![Read "Tales from the Jacquard" reviewed by Chris May](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/57c6ab75a784a8a3ddaabaf6e8ff515d.jpg)
by Chris May
Reed player Julian Siegel has been an important part of the London jazz scene since the late 1990s, when he cofounded Partisans, a high-energy quartet completed by guitarist Phil Robson, bassist Thad Kelly and drummer Gene Calderazzo. The band is pretty much beyond category, although it is usually billed as jazz-rock. Unlike normative jazz-rock outfits, however, Partisans is anchored firmly in the acoustic tradition, Robson's plugged-in guitar aside. Also contrary to the jazz-rock norm, Partisans, as its name suggests, has ...
read more"music well thought through & serious, yet there is this underlying humour which sets this music apart. Tom's work here with Steve Swell is superlative." - Tiina Kiik (Whole Note Magazine)
"Tom Walsh is one of Canada's most innovative musicians" - Craig Harris.Rovi (www.allmusic.com)
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From: MoonrayBy Tom Walsh