May 3 – John Pope & John Garner

Described by The Jazz Mann as ‘nothing less than extraordinary’ and by A Jazz Noise as ‘absolutely addictive’, violinist John Garner and bassist John Pope have for several years now been making waves in the North East and beyond, with appearances at Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music, Lancaster Jazz Festival, Manchester Jazz Festival, Cafe OTO, Gosforth Civic Theatre, and Hexham Old Gaol. Both virtuosos in their own right, the duo take as their springboard the works of the mid- to late-twentieth century New Thing artists who shook the jazz world to its core, driving political and social change in their wake. From here, they venture off into wildly disparate territories depending on the time and place – expect anything from calypso to Japanese min’yō, from Christian hymns to Disney anthems, from guembri-inspired grooves to Schoenbergian serialism.

Pope and Garner will draw from their debut album ‘Water Music’, which featured compositions by visionaries including Anthony Braxton, Alice Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Carla Bley, as well as their forthcoming album ‘Jet Flight’, which celebrates the music of Sun Ra, Mary Lou Williams, Marilyn Crispell, and others.