Will Guthrie
Fri 28 april
THE SMALL STAGE
21.30
The acclaimed Australian, drummer and percussionist has released on labels such as Black Truffle, Editions Mego, Erstwhile, Clean Feed, Gaffer Records, Ipecac, iDEAL, and his own label Antboy Music.
Playing solo using different combinations of drums, percussion, amplification, and electronics, Guthrie also leads the contemporary hybrid percussion/gamelan group ENSEMBLE NIST-NAH. He first made a name for himself at a young age, winning the Wangaratta National Jazz Awards for drums in 1997, and going on to perform with many of Australia’s most celebrated jazz musicians. In the new millennium, his work took a long detour away from the drum kit through junk electronics, extreme amplification, and electro-acoustic techniques, documented on a series of solo and collaborative recordings from these years.
Now based in Nantes, Guthrie has returned to the drums with a vengeance, alongside his continued electro-acoustic work, developing a series of solo works from relentless rhythmic workouts to earth-quaking explorations of the bass frequencies of gongs and other metal percussion instruments. In the crowded world of free jazz/improv percussion, his work is distinguished from the delicately pointillist approach of much European improvisation by its rhythmic sophistication, unashamed virtuosity, and undeniable physicality, touching on aspects of diverse musics from Javanese gamelan to South Indian Carnatic music. Regular collaborators past and present include Oren Ambarchi, James Rushford, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Sarah Hennies, Mark Fell, Roscoe Mitchell, Chulki Hong, Mark Simmonds, Jérôme Noetinger, Keith Rowe, David Maranha, Ava Mendoza, the film maker Hangjun Lee, and choreographer/dancer Mette Ingvartsen.
https://willguthrie.bandcamp.com/