![Unit[e]](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/AlexanderHawkins_Unite_allaboutjazz_ka.jpg)
My Content
Membership has its privileges! Sign up or sign in to gain full access to both All About Jazz and Jazz Near You. Learn more.
Alexander Hawkins Ensemble at the Vortex, London
Alexander Hawkins Ensemble
The Vortex
London, England
August 10, 2009
The Vortex
London, England
August 10, 2009
If you can judge a person by the company he keeps, then pianist Alexander Hawkins must be someone to watch given his musical associations, both actual and virtual. The packed house at the Vortex certainly thought so, confounding Hawkins' concern that the crowd might be a little light given a Monday night in the holiday season.
Hawkins has recorded as part of the fresh improvising collective Barkingside and with the transatlantic Convergence Quartet, featuring two of the rising stars on the American scene in cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum and drummer composer Harris Eisenstadt. His working resume is even broader, spanning genres and boasting gigs with South Africans drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo and saxophonist Ntshuks Bonga and a place in several recent ensembles convened by saxophone iconoclast Evan Parker. That's only part of the story though. Hawkins might have had a good career as an A&R man: he mines the free jazz motherlode for interesting tunes, with tonight's performance featuring pieces by Anthony Braxton, Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Oliver Lake with Jerome Cooper, and Sun Ra alongside his own original compositions. Heavy company indeed.
This evening was the CD launch party for No Now Is So... (FMR, 2009) by Hawkins six-piece ensemble and featured the same line up, though without the steel pans of Orphy Robinson for the first set as he was stuck in traffic en route. While the other names in his ensemble might be even less well known that proved no reflection on their improvisational prowess over two sets breaching the 85-minute mark, including all the covers and Hawkins' originals from the CD.
Tags
Alexander Hawkins Ensemble
Live Reviews
Alexander Hawkins
John Sharpe
Taylor Ho Bynum
Harris Eisenstadt
Louis Moholo-Moholo
evan parker
anthony braxton
Leo Smith
Leroy Jenkins
Oliver Lake
Sun Ra
Matthew Shipp
Courtney Pine
Related Video
View All Events
| Date | Detail |
|---|---|
|
Nov18Sun
16:00
|
Ethan Iverson, Alexander HawkinsKings PlaceLondon, UK |
Related Articles
Live ReviewsThe Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra at Greer Cabaret Theater
by Mackenzie Horne
Published: November 15, 2018
Genius Guide to JazzTop 10 Moments in Jazz History
by Jeff Fitzgerald, Genius
Published: November 12, 2018
Live Reviews
Bob Brookmeyer Celebration at New England Conservatoryby Steve Provizer
Published: March 28, 2018
Live Reviews
Kraftwerk's performance at Macedonia’s Boris...by Nenad Georgievski
Published: March 3, 2018
Live Reviews
Live Harps From Birmingham: FitkinWall, Robin Williamson...by Martin Longley
Published: October 31, 2018
Live Reviews
European Jazz Conference Lisbon 2018: Portuguese showcasesby Henning Bolte
Published: October 12, 2018
Album Showcase
-
La Fenice by Keith Jarrett
Shop Amazon
Story of the Day
In 1998, having a blast playing with a big band made up of students from Thelonius Monk's Institute of Jazz, outdoors, surrounded by the gorgeous mountains of Aspen Snow Mass, I was thinking how much I wanted to create a smaller band that would have the same power of a big band, but with so much more room in it for each musician to shine. Little did I know this was the beginning of a beautiful journey, one that continues to this day, in which every concert, every recording is another beginning, another thrill, another joy. I conceived of the band as a septet 20 years ago, and later refined it to a sextet in 2005
Read more
By Amina Figarova
Member since: 2014
Cast Your Vote!
Help us identify the world's top 100 jazz venues. Voting takes seconds so please participate!
