Jazz Articles about Spring Heel Jack

Spring Heel Jack: The Sweetness Of The Water

by AAJ Staff
June 1, 2004

Spring Heel Jack is the brainchild of British musicians John Coxon and Ashley Wales, who have collaborated with jazz musicians to create a new fusion of free jazz and electronica. On The Sweetness Of The Water , Coxon and Wales merge their keyboards, guitars, and sound sculptures with the acoustic quartet of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, saxophonist Evan Parker, bassist John Edwards, and drummer Mark Sanders. The resulting music is often meditative, frequently thoughtful, and always majestic and masterful.

Spring Heel Jack: The Sweetness of the Water

by Jerry D'Souza
May 25, 2004

John Coxon and Ashley Wales (together known as Spring Heel Jack) have stirred the stimulus of several musicians, their bed of bass and drums and electronics being the take-off point. They do so once more with their fourth outing in Thirsty Ear's Blue Series, this time with the indelibly persuasive presence of Wadada Leo Smith and regular cohort Evan Parker.

The music here is completely improvised, a perfect setup for some provocative twists and turns, as it ...

Spring Heel Jack: Live

by Rex Butters
October 19, 2003

John Coxon and Ashley Wales, aka Spring Heel Jack, extend their Thirsty Ear tenure into a trilogy with the release of Live. Their heady blend of wild electronica and free jazz collided with American improvisers on Massed, and their European counterparts on Amassed. Members from each project join forces to form the live group with genre killing results. There's a taste of prog rock, particularly Soft Machine, and for sheer density electric Miles Davis circa 1974.But don't file ...

Spring Heel Jack: Live

by Jerry D'Souza
October 13, 2003

Spring Heel Jack, in the persona of John Coxon and Ashley Wales, has found the right formula in marrying billowing electronics to traditional musical instruments. The equation has changed in terms of musicians from last year's Amassed , but the results have not been watered down. Gone are Kenny Wheeler and Paul Rutherford, and George Trebar has made way for William Parker.The tracks run over 35 minutes and 39 minutes respectively, which makes for easier assimilation in a ...

Spring Heel Jack: Live

by AAJ Staff
August 25, 2003

Spring Heel Jack, which has spanned a remarkably diverse range of sounds since its coming out in 1995, recently turned toward jazz (or post-jazz) improvisation as a medium for expression. John Coxon and Ashley Wales made one of the greatest electronica records of all time in Busy Curious Thirsty (Trade 2/Island, 1997), but over the course of four records for Thirsty Ear's Blue Series the duo has marked new territory.Live documents 75 minutes of live performance in Brighton ...

Spring Heel Jack: Live

by Farrell Lowe
June 25, 2003

From the opening salvo of distorted electric guitar, there is little doubt that the latest release from Spring Heel Jack will be nothing short of a wild bundle of scabrous love. While this album consists of only two live pieces, both over thirty-five minutes long, this notorious group of individuals cover a vast emotional and musical terrain.This is the third release from Spring Heel Jack (John Coxon and Ashley Wales) on the Thirsty Ear label. After meeting with ...

Spring Heel Jack: John Coxon and Ashley Wales

by John Eyles
January 10, 2003

Two of the most innovative and impressive albums of the past two years have been Masses and Amassed by Spring Heel Jack, both on the Thirsty Ear label. These albums were particularly notable for the duo—individually, John Coxon and Ashley Wales—joining forces with some of jazz's most cutting edge players. On Masses, they were joined by American improvisers including Tim Berne, Guillermo E. Brown, Mat Manieri, William Parker and Matthew Shipp plus our own Evan Parker, while Amassed ...