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Maggie Nicols

Maggie Nicols joined London's legendary Spontaneous Music Ensemble in 1968 as a free improvisation vocalist. She then became active running voice workshops with an involvement in local experimental theatre. She later joined the group Centipede, led by Keith Tippets and in 1977, with musician/composer Lindsay Cooper, formed the remarkable Feminist Improvising Group. She continues performing and recording challenging and beautiful work, in music and theatre, either in collaborations with a range of artists (Irene Schweitzer, Joelle Leandre, Ken Hyder, Caroline Kraabel) as well as solo.

Maggie Nicols, Caroline Kraabel, Charlotte Hug.: On Dizziness

Read "On Dizziness" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
September 9, 2023

Maggie Nicols, Caroline Kraabei and Charlotte Hug first came together as a trio in the autumn of 2000 when they played together in Nicols' front room. In May 2001 they came together again, playing a concert at the (now defunct) Freedom of the City festival in London's Conway Hall. At the same venue, on June 4th, 2001, they were recorded, without an audience, by Martin Davidson for his Emanem label. The resulting album, Transitions was released on the label in ...

Live Review

Noisy Women Return at Cafe Oto, London

by John Eyles
August 6, 2022

Noisy Women Return Cafe Oto London July 17, 2022 The title given to this Cafe Oto concert—Noisy Women Return—probably prompted the same response from many of those who attended: Return? They've never been away! However, the key to understanding that title probably lay two days before; Friday July 15th had seen the successful debut performance of The Noisy People's Improvising Orchestra at St. Paul's Church, Cambridge, a multi-media event with a cast of dozens of ...

Live Review

The Noisy Women at Hundred Years Gallery

by John Eyles
January 29, 2022

The Noisy Women Hundred Years Gallery London January 16, 2022 Noisy Women was started in 2020 by multi-instrumentalist Faradena Afifi and Marion Treby who both joined Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra during lockdown. The Noisy Women Presents is a quartet of Afifi and Treby plus improvising visual artist & dancer Gwendolyn Kassenaar, and vocalist & dancer Maggie Nicols. (Pictured above, left to right: Sue Lynch, Gwendolyn Kassenaar, Faradena Afifi.) This was the inaugural concert of a free ...

Recording

British Vocalist Maggie Nicols Presents Long-awaited Standards Album

Source: Jazzfuel
May 15, 2026

Vocalist Maggie Nicols, one of the leading figures in international free improvisation, presents a long-awaited album of jazz standards, realizing a project that has been part of her musical life since the early 1960s. The recording brings her together with pianist Geoff Eales, alongside Ashley John Long (double bass) and Sophie Alloway (drums), in a collaboration that bridges tradition and experimentation with clarity and ease. Nicols’ relationship with the standard repertoire began early, singing in the 1960s with her first ...
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