Reviews that mention Tom Ward
May 18, 2021
Ward/Verhoeven/Serries/Roberts
Imaginary Junction
New Wave of Jazz nwoj0039
Unvarnished free improvisation Imaginary Junction confirms that the musical rewards gained by stretching textural imagination far outweigh the challenges. Enlighteningly as well, as a response to Covid-19 strictures, two extended tracks were actually created simultaneously over the Internet by baritone saxophonist Cath Roberts and clarinetist/flutist Tom Ward in Brockley, UK blending ideas with pianist Martina Verhoeven and guitarist Dirk Serries in Sint-Lenaarts, Belgium. The players have collaborated in person before, plus the Belgians are involved in multiple groups, while Roberts and Ward likewise favor cooperative bands. MORE
November 6, 2020
Vestiges
No Label No #
Chris Mapp
Stillefelt
Stoney Lane Records slr 1883
Just like the creation of a pharmaceutical, improvised music can have completely different effects, if one part of a chemical formula is altered. For instance Stillefelt and Vestiges are both trio sessions which feature a double bassist, a guitarist and electronics but each potion is unique. Although you couldn’t call the first an anesthetic, but the six tunes composed by bassist Chris May for this CD whose title is Norwegian for quiet field move with soothing, mystical qualities. Other members are guitarist Thomas Seminar Ford and trumpeter Percy Pursglove, whose rounded, unhurried tones avoid the soporific by his innate skillfulness. Meanwhile the medication Vestiges most closely resembles is analeptic. That’s because the nine improvisations propelled by bassist Sergio Tavares, guitarist Nuno Trocado and woodwind player Tom Ward are often as pointed as the jab of a hypodermic needle and filled with as much adrenaline. MORE
November 2, 2019
Rituals
DISCUS 85 CD
Samo Šalamon Freequestra
Free Sessions, Vol. 2
Klopotec IZK CD 092
After a century of innovation, the challenge allied with creating a program for a large ensemble of improvisers is focus. Unlike so-called classical music orchestras with their strict adherence to the score, there’s no right or wrong way to improvise and these bigger European ensembles here follow opposite approaches with equally memorable results.
Known as an adventurous player in small groups featuring everyone from Tim Berne and Gerald Cleaver to Dominique Pifarely and Michel Godard, Slovenian guitarist Samo Šalamon moves into another realm with Free Sessions, Vol. 2, having organized an 11-piece, mostly Slovenian group to play his compositions in an atmosphere offering extensive solo freedom. Although younger British tenor saxophonist Matt London created a analogous framework for 10 improvisers to interpret Rituals, his nine-part, open notated graphical score, his analogous grounding in notated contemporary music makes its presence felt alongside characteristic solos from some of the UK’s most distinctive players. MORE
February 26, 2019
Intermediate Obscurities I+IV
New Wave of Jazz NOW 0015
With the cover of this double CD accurately reflecting the musical canvas used, two variations of the TONUS ensemble decisively mine that grey area where improvisational animation meet microtonal ambience. Time stretching in such a way that rhythmic and melodic elements are still present as part of languorous group performance, the effect is like microscopically observing individual muscle exertion while simultaneously watching its performance as part of whole body movements.
Core of the band is Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries and British saxophonist Colin Webster, each of whom have experience in situations that often blend improv with noise and/or more formal expositions. On the first disc they’re joined by Belgians flutist Jan Daelman, pianist Martina Verhoeven, bassist Nils Vermeulen and British drummer George Hadow. On “IV” their partners are all London-based: baritone saxophonist Cath Roberts, bass clarinetist Tom Ward, violist Benedict Taylor and bassist Otto Willberg. MORE