JOHNNY RICHARDS - Build a Friend
New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings CD NEWJAiM6
Johnny Richards: solo spinet piano (Leeds) and solo Yamaha C3 grand piano (Keighley)
Recordings:
Tracks 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, at Hollywell Studios, Leeds, 05/09/2018
Tracks 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 14, 15, at The Old Cow Shed, Keighley, 17/12/2018
Johnny Richards is a composer, improviser and pianist, based in Leeds, Yorkshire, UK. Having graduated from Leeds Conservatoire in 2010 he has played a prominent part in the UK improvised music scene as a solo performer and in collaboration with artists including Matthew Bourne (Nightports W) James Mainwaring (Roller Trio) and Radek Rudnicki (Space F!ght). His main project has been the band Shatner’s Bassoon, a group of six Leeds-based composers/improvisers that has received project funding from Arts Council England, the PRS Foundation & Jazz North.
The band works at analysing and reviewing composition and improvisation both. The sounds which they produce grow out of the environment in which they are conceived and the moment of conception. This, too, is how Richards works his own music, elaborately composed substance and invention erected as a unity, decorated by numerous qualities of elegance and genre. This trail is common through all of his music and I have found it to be dreamily contemplative, leaving me with an air, maybe, of disquiet and puzzlement.
Shatner’s Bassoon has had its effect on Richards, of course. Predisposed towards contemporary musicians such as Tim Berne, Tyshawn Sorey, Frank Zappa, John Zorn and a wealth of artists from the world of rock, the combined experiences of the band have created a unique, sonic library from which its musicians may draw and this well serves Richards as it may any of the band’s members.
Prepared piano stands out in this folio of improvised works. It adds to the auditory experience, bringing extraordinary textures and unexpected sounds to a book of music already opulent in diversity. It is beautiful, quite.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings CD NEWJAiM6
Johnny Richards: solo spinet piano (Leeds) and solo Yamaha C3 grand piano (Keighley)
Recordings:
Tracks 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, at Hollywell Studios, Leeds, 05/09/2018
Tracks 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 14, 15, at The Old Cow Shed, Keighley, 17/12/2018
Johnny Richards is a composer, improviser and pianist, based in Leeds, Yorkshire, UK. Having graduated from Leeds Conservatoire in 2010 he has played a prominent part in the UK improvised music scene as a solo performer and in collaboration with artists including Matthew Bourne (Nightports W) James Mainwaring (Roller Trio) and Radek Rudnicki (Space F!ght). His main project has been the band Shatner’s Bassoon, a group of six Leeds-based composers/improvisers that has received project funding from Arts Council England, the PRS Foundation & Jazz North.
The band works at analysing and reviewing composition and improvisation both. The sounds which they produce grow out of the environment in which they are conceived and the moment of conception. This, too, is how Richards works his own music, elaborately composed substance and invention erected as a unity, decorated by numerous qualities of elegance and genre. This trail is common through all of his music and I have found it to be dreamily contemplative, leaving me with an air, maybe, of disquiet and puzzlement.
Shatner’s Bassoon has had its effect on Richards, of course. Predisposed towards contemporary musicians such as Tim Berne, Tyshawn Sorey, Frank Zappa, John Zorn and a wealth of artists from the world of rock, the combined experiences of the band have created a unique, sonic library from which its musicians may draw and this well serves Richards as it may any of the band’s members.
Prepared piano stands out in this folio of improvised works. It adds to the auditory experience, bringing extraordinary textures and unexpected sounds to a book of music already opulent in diversity. It is beautiful, quite.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
