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posted by Chris at 6:53 PM

R.I.P Hugh Hopper

A new found friend now lost, maybe Elton's call was too strong? Hugh, thank you for being so supportive and inspirational to all of us here in the Delta Saxophone Quartet. It was an honour to work (sorry, this was never work- it was just fantastic) with you. I will never forget the start of our, sadly now, short journey with you, The performance at Etnafest 2007 (19th Jan.)... Your beauitiful wife Christine was also able to share this with us all too - and tease you in such a moving way, about how she also enjoyed Karl Jenkins's piece- Floating World! (grrr) said Hugh with his big smile.. St Georges Bristol and Kettles Yard Cambridge were to follow... both are benchmark concerts for us re- tingle factor, of any Delta performance since our formation in 1984..

We'll never forget you, your wonderful family, and of course your music. We will nurture with care the gift of your music which you were so generous to share with us. I find comfort that now you are out of pain... keep something back for when we all meet up again... with love. Chris/Pete/Tim/Graeme (DSQ performers on album-dedicated to you/Moonjune)

Labels: RIP Hugh Hopper

posted by Chris at 7:19 PM

Performance at Mawood Theatre Beijing, 19th April 2009

International Modern Saxophone Trio explore the music of Hugh Hopper and Karl Jenkins, (Members of the 1970's prog rock band- Soft Machine).


The concert will be recorded by Henk Weltevreden for a broadcast on the Dutch radio 6arts channel- VPRO


The trio is made up from two founder members of the Delta Saxophone quartet, a British group which for 25 years has presented cutting edge contemporary works drawing inspiration from experimental classical composers fused with jazz improvisation. The Delta Saxophone Quartet performed in Beijing in the late summer of 2005 as part of the European Street Festival, this was with the support of the British Council. For tonight's performance the Delta duo is joined by the Dutch saxophonist Frank Van Der Kooij. This Anglo/Dutch trio was formed to represent the UK and the Netherlands at this year's April Spring Friendship Art Festival held in Pyongyang DPROK between 10th-18th April 2009.



Frank van der Kooij (tenor sax + soprano sax) NL


Frank van der Kooij (1957, the Netherlands, Rotterdam) started his musical career at the age of 5. While his father, brother and sister were forever playing the piano Frank happily turned to playing the recorder until he was introduced to the saxophone when he was 14 and instantly fell in love with it. Three years later he performed at the Rotterdam Concert Centre with the first Dutch-Surinam afro-jazz band Toemoekhoemak (Tumuk humak), a formation that combined fusion and free jazz.



In 1985 he met English bass player Hugh Hopper and he soon joined the Hugh Hopper Band. After many tours and concerts in Europe they produced Carousel (1995).

Meanwhile, Frank started his own improvisation band NDIO in 2001. NDIO, including Hugh Hopper, has been very successful from the very first time they got on stage. The entire mix of musicians and styles involved in this project are typical for van der Kooij. NDIO epitomizes the approach he has had throughout his musical career to date: exploring different musical styles and bringing them together resulting in a fluid and “airy” fusion of jazz with elements of rock, folk, ambient, classical music and sampling.





Chris Caldwell.(baritone sax + soprano sax) GB



Chris graduated from the Guildhall School Of Music & Drama in 1986. As a performer he's been involved with some of Britain's leading contemporary composers and ensembles including The Delta Saxophone Quartet, The Mike Westbrook Orchestra, Michael Nyman Band ,Steve Martland Band, Almeida Ensemble and The Delta Saxophone quartet.

Chris has also performed with many of the UK's leading orchestras including the RPO, LSO, CBSO, Bournemouth SO, and the Philharmonia.

Currently Chris is part of the woodwind section in the West End production of 'La Cage Aux Folles', he has worked in the West End for the last 12 years playing in many productions including Les Miserables, Cats, Chicago, Follies, and City Of Angels.

His commercial work has seen International tours with the Dame Shirley Bassey Orchestra in Russia, Lebanon, Turkey, Cairo and the UK plus tours of Asia, Japan and Europe with the Michael Nyman Band, Grahamophones, and for a variety of Theatre groups.

Between 1999 and 2005 he ran a music management company, Music On The Edge which represented amongst others, Mike Westbrook, Delta Sax Qt, and Steve Martland. The company now is more a one- stop shop for Chris's musical tastes!



The 30th Annual Jazz Station Poll results by Brazil-born jazz historian & jazz educator Arnaldo DeSouteiro



Sax Barítono: 1º James Carter (“Present Tense” – EmArcy); 2º Joe Temperley; 3º Julian Arguelles; 4º Chris Caldwell; 5º Ronnie Cuber



Pete Whyman (alto sax + soprano sax) GB

Peter studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Yona Ettlinger, Anthony Pay and Tony Coe. After graduating he began working with Mike Westbrook, an association that has resulted in 11 albums and the performance of his saxophone concerto, and continues
to this day. Peter is a member of Between The Notes, Steve Martland Band, Delta Saxophone Quartet, The Barry Adamson Experience and Huw Warren Octet.

Currently Peter is also working with Elvis Costello, Orchestre National de Jazz, Everything but the Girl, Spiritualised, William Orbit and his own trio, recently featured on BBC Radio 3’s Jazz In Britain.

His musical world is extremely eclectic, and while he has played with The Philharmonia, the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Lontano, Music Projects London, Terry Riley, Dawn Upshaw and as the clarinet soloist with Leonard
Bernstein in Prelude Fugue and Riffs, he has also performed and recorded with the likes of Pulp, Tom Robinson, Spiritualised, The The and Ute Lemper. On the other hand he has also appeared at all the major jazz festivals in Europe, and John Fordham, jazz critic in the Guardian has recently written “When Whyman switched to soprano his avoidance of
post-Coltrane cliche and the deft intelligence of his lines didn’t flag. A fine, and under-exposed virtuoso.....the level of technical certainty was awesome.”

Peter is also in constant demand as a recording artist, including two CDs with his Delta Saxophone Quartet, recent solo appearances on Spiritualised, Steve Martland, Elvis Costello and Barry Adamson recordings, and as a featured soloist on the David Lynch film, Lost Highways.

“The real revelation is the playing of Peter Whyman...extraordinarily confident, already something of a virtuoso.” Charles Fox, New Statesman

“...dominated by the remarkable playing of Peter Whyman, a sophisticated and highly accomplished young jazz musician.” Dave Gelly, The Observer

“The instrumental playing of Peter Whyman is thrilling.” The Times

“Peter Whyman’s virtuoso flights contribute enormously.” Financial Times

“...meticulously-crafted saxophone solos.” City Limits




Henk Weltevreden is, for most Canterbury music fans, at least a vaguely familiar name from album credits, interviews with various musicians who praised his concert promoting efforts, etc. But although he now favours writing and his active involvement in music belongs to the past, he has also had a very rich musical career throughout the seventies and eighties in his native Holland.

For Henk it all began in late 1967, when purely by chance he attended a Soft Machine gig at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. From then on his interest in music became central to his life. Around this time he formed his first band, the Traffic-influenced Delta 66 and some time later joined Soul Session and Plastic Fantastic Lover, playing organ.

A decisive meeting took place in late 1970 when, once again by chance, he saw a Kevin Ayers & The Whole World performance in Rotterdam. That night he met and started a friendship with saxophonist Lol Coxhill. Soon Henk started organising gigs and tours for Coxhill (solo or in trio format with Jasper van't Hof and Pierre Courbois), and was introduced by him to the rest of the Canterbury family, starting with Phil Miller, for whom he organised countless Dutch tours over the years - with DC & The MB's (July 1971), Hatfield and the North (March and June 1973, March and June 1974, April 1975), National Health (February and October 1977) and finally In Cahoots. Later connections led to similar services rendered to Henry Cow (December 1973, September 1974, May 1975 and April 1977), The Weightwatchers (September 1976), Elton Dean's Quartet (September 1977) etc.

In 1975, Weltevreden, who meanwhile had started travelling extensively around the world, an interest that has remained as strong to this day (he has so far visited 161 countries!), met ex-Henry Cow saxophonist Geoff Leigh, who was touring Holland with his current band, Radar Favourites. He organised further tours for that band, and its spinoff Rag Doll, until in December 1977 Weltevreden joined Leigh in his new venture, Red Balune (featuring bassist Colin McClure) one gig into their debut Dutch tour. That band toured extensively in Holland, and occasionally in Britain and Germany, and released a single, "Capitalist Kid" (1978), and an EP, "Maximum Penalty" (1979). [Some of this material has been included in a CD documenting Geoff Leigh's post-Henry Cow career, released on RéR USA]

In November 1979, having decided to slow down his activities as promoter, Weltevreden formed his own band, Slipover. This featured a line-up with dual keyboards - himself on organ and synth, and Willem Jan Droog -, string bassist Kees Meijlink (who also played the Stick), sax player Rutger van Otterloo, and drummer Gert van Seters. Slipover released a 33rpm EP in May 1980, and in April 1982, after the arrival of a new sax player, Peter van Bergen, recorded a full-length album which was never released.

Already during the Slipover period, Henk began working with texts on stage, reading them during instrumental pieces - texts about philosophy, music and philosophy, chance moments in music etc. He and Geoff Leigh even had a printed magazine, 'Random Art', which was given to members of the audience. "So more and more I became a writer. I'm always telling people that my writing career is an extension of composing and playing music...".

In November 1982, after leaving Slipover (which Willem-Jan Droog continued with a different line-up for a while), Weltevreden embarked on another, short-lived band venture, this time called Fads and Fallacies, whose line-up included guitarist Wim Pop, bassist Kees Meijlink (from Slipover), vocalist Margot Roelofs and drummer Frans Brobbel. Fads and Fallacies sadly never recorded, in spite of playing many gigs. It was briefly revived, with a new line-up (including ex-Slipover drummer Gert van Seters) between November 1983 and July 1984, after Henk came back from extensive travelling in Belize, Guatemala and Salvador.

Eventually, Henk came full circle by joining forces once more with Geoff Leigh. Random Bob was formed in August 1984, again featuring Colin McClure on bass, Ton Verbeek on drums and African percussionist Asad Oberoi. A tape, "Painting By Numbers", came out in early 1985, featuring improvisations recorded shortly after the formation of the band. Other tapes: "Equinox" and "Lubberdubs". Random Bob evolved into Oddjob, a variation of Random Bob featuring prestigious guests such as Phil Miller and Hugh Hopper, as well as second percussionist Tiki Eldridge (from Australia). Most notable was a four-date tour of the Netherlands in May 1985 by that line-up.

Other musical activities until Henk finally decided to quit music in 1988 (having finished his doctorate) included setting up and accompanying Richard Sinclair on a solo tour of Holland in April 1986. The pick-up band for the occasion included Wim Pop on guitar, Henk on keyboards and Coen Aalberts on drums.

By that time, Weltevreden had started work on his doctorate thesis in philosophy at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, which in 1988 led to the publication of his first book, entitled "Toeval als Gebeuren, My mask is my Master" (The Role of Chance in the Creation of Science, Art and Avant-Garde). The next year he left Holland to live in India for one year, working on a development project in Orissa (East India). In 1990-91 he lived in Boston, then Japan (organising tours via Virgin Music and the British Council), and worked in Changsha, communist PR of China (teaching philosophy) and Korea. During this period he still organised the odd tour for Phil Miller - In Cahoots in Japan (1991), and Miller-Baker in Lithuania and Russia (1992-93), also with help from the British Council.

Back in Holland 1993, he got a contract with a Dutch publisher, L.J.Veen, and became a novel writer. He has published the following books so far : "Levensvlagen" (1996), "De bril van Gandhi" (1998), "De Stier van Algeciras" (1999), "Mooi Meegenomen" (1999), "De Stralende Ster van Paekdu" (2000), inspired by his travel through North Korea. Henk's newest book, "Congo Blues" (2005), is an account of his visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a theme that has a very personal resonance for Henk. "We have a Congolese girl, Ngudi, in our family", he explains. "She was born in Holland and has lived 7 of her 9 years in our family, and now the Duch government wants to send her 'back' to Congo, where she has never been. The reason : she is still 'illegal', and the Dutch governemnt has stopped giving permits to stay in many cases".

Henk has also produced many more small other publications and has contributed to various radio programmes for the VPRO, KRO, RVU and NPS.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Appendix:

Henk Weltevreden's published books:

"Toeval als Gebeuren, My Mask is my Master - The Role of Chance in the Creation of Science, Art and Avant-Garde" (Erasmus University, Rotterdam - 1988) [NB: the book opens with 'Why are we sleeping?'] "Levensvlagen" (Uitgeverij Aspekt - 1996) "De bril van Gandhi" (Bureau Obelon - 1998) "De stier van Algeciras" (L.J.Veen, Amsterdam/Antwerp - 1999) [NB: the title story 'De stier (bull) van Algeciras' is based on 'Don Alfonso', sung by Lol Coxhill on his album 'Ear Of The Beholder', and the story 'Verkeerde beweging' is based on 'Wrong Movements', the biography of Robert Wyatt] "Mooi meegenomen" (L.J.Veen, Amsterdam/Antwerp - 1999) "De Stralende Ster van Paekdu - a trip through North Korea" (The Shining Star of Paekdu) (L.J.Veen, Amsterdam/Antwerp - 2000) "Het Grote Water" (SKVR Schrijversschool, Rotterdam - 2001) "Congo Blues" (RVU, Hilversum - 2005)
More web-information:

www.henkweltevreden.nl www.boekenwereld.com (type author: 'Weltevreden', and you will find the publications) www.vpro.nl/noordkorea (his work at the VPRO national radio, Hilversum) www.rvu.nl/berichten/weltevreden.html (his work at the Radio Volks Universiteit, national radio, Hilversum) www.skvr.nl - click: 'Schrijversschool' and search for 'reisverhalen' (information about his teachings, writings etc.)
posted by Chris at 11:53 AM

Enjoy this warming review from The Sydney Morning Herald...of the Delta Saxophone Quartet's Internationally raved cd release... Dedicated to you but you weren't listening.
posted by Chris at 4:02 PM

Welcome back to civilisation America- the world needs you. What a win for Obama. Congratulations from the 'creative sector' in the UK.
posted by Chris at 6:58 PM

Music to Silent Film/ICA- 28th September 2008

Check out the start of a 'work in progress' for the DSQ and Sergio Lopez with this open rehearsal at the ICA, part of the Cultural Olympic 2012 for the UK + London.
posted by Chris at 2:32 PM

Latest Delta review, this time from Greece.

http://www.dprp.net/reviews/200828.php#delta

Delta Saxophone Quartet seem to have discovered rather late the heritage of a band so diverse, so dynamic and prolific as The Soft Machine. Apparently also being characterised by perpetual shifts in style, philosophy and direction, they have started doing thought provoking covers (I'm using their MySpace words!) of minimalists Steve Reich and Philip Glass and ended up trying to introduce law and order in the music of a band whose career before Seven showed significant despise for order. In this effort they are also assisted by original Soft member bassist Hugh Hopper. The band consists of Graeme Blevins on soprano sax, Chris Caldwell on baritone sax, Tim Holmes on tenor and Pete Whyman on alto - you guessed it - sax. Four daring mature musicians about to engage in an endeavour of unmatched challenge. And you know what? Who dares wins.

Most of the material covered here is from the "not so early Soft Machine period" - Noisette and Third (both from 1970) are the most represented albums. If you remember or know about these albums, they consist in very lengthy tracks that are not really homogeneous and that mix witty and smart ideas with lots of background themes that do not really make it to the first league and, as one might expect from the era, contain a fair amount of psychedelia. What these guys did here is smart: they filtered this amalgam of useful and useless things twice: once by eliminating the really unnecessary experimentation and a second time by adding a more jazz-oriented dimension to the music. Does that mean that imagination gets suppressed? Not at all: they recreate the rich dynamics inherent in Soft Machine's music with different means: 4 saxophones that alternate in solo's and in song building. Pretty smart if you ask me and very, very convincing. In fact, after hearing this album countless times from the day I got it into my hands for review, I have developed a clear preference for THEIR approach to Soft's music, when comparing to the original - at least when we are talking about these early tracks.

Let me give you some concrete examples here: The chamber music feel that was hidden in Kings And Queens (out of Fourth) original version; I only discovered this side of the song after I heard DSQ's Kings & Queens 33 Years Later. The incredibly turbulent dynamics of Facelift that tend to get lost due to the prohibitive length of the original (thumbs up here for the incredible work of the alto sax...) emerge triumphant in DSQ's version. Another example: Outrageous Moon which integrates and summarises two songs summing up to more than 25 minutes of music into an almost 6 minute beauty, by smartly concatenating the names of the two original tracks (Ratledge's Out Bloody Rageous and Wyatt's Moon In June). Not only the most juicy ideas from the originals are preserved, but also the band shows how they can merge ideas originating from two competing composers. Tough stuff but so well done!

Concerning Mousetrap, even if it's a good piece of work, it makes me miss a little bit the drums that I find an indispensable part of the original song construction. At this point I really want to raise a complaint: why is Six not represented here? For me, Six stands for the period of the band where the experimentation and wealth of ideas of the past are brewed together with a more mature style and approach, producing a more funky/jazzy effect. Pity! Then, there are also some picks from Soft's more tidy and more fusion era: Floating World, and Aubade and The Tale Of Taliesin from Bundles and Softs, respectively (my favourite Soft Machine albums). How do DSQ score here? Well, the result this time is less impressive, since the original works do not lack in coherence; the re-workings sound extremely well played and honest, but this is exactly an example where the original has a beauty that the cover cannot match. Also, the Soft's tracks are haunted by the majestic guitar works of Holdsworth/Etheridge, but of course that's another story! Still, I can't help hallucinating on the idea of four saxophones trying to reconstruct Hazard Profile's frantic fusion guitar work! - Maybe an idea for a future project?

The Delta Saxophone Quartet have been engaged in an extremely hard task: to revisit music that is hard to describe, categorise or even recreate. The band Soft Machine Legacy have lately tried to do something of a kind, but according to me the approach of these brass-only guys yields even better results. This is an album that complements both i) Soft Machine's legacy (literally), ii) Soft Machine Legacy (the band). It is also an album that can be heard by fans of The Soft Machine - or not. Pure jazz fans that never knew the Softs or that considered them out of the jazz repertoire might also be convinced to give all those 70's great records a try. I know many people that dislike Soft Machine's free form improvisation and psychedelic influences. It is here that DSQ come in and offer a tidy, jazz-oriented version. However, I feel like stressing that even if I might essentially disagree with those that like the idea of getting to the point via 100 detours, that like a track of a nucleus of 7 minutes to be stretched to 17, I can still understand them if they say that this is a bit too clean. All in all, this is a record with an extraordinary flow, that one can enjoy from beginning to end and, for the vast majority of its moments, simply wonder from time to time: Do I know this tune from somewhere? That's something rare for cover albums, ain't it?

Conclusion: 8.5 out of 10

CHRISTOS AMPATZIS (http://www.dprp.net/credcon/index.php#christos)
posted by Chris at 7:25 PM