Monster

Featuring: John Edwards, Joe McPhee

A sensational quartet that was created by Free Music Forum in Austria. Joe McPhee is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, conceptualist and theoretician. He is currently the member of Trio X, Survival Unit III and has collaborated with Pauline Oliveros, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Raymond Boni, The Thing, Trespass Trio, and Universal Indians among many others. With a career spanning nearly 50 years and over 100 recordings, he continues to tour internationally, forge new connections and reach for music’s outer limits. John Edwards is a true virtuoso on the double bass whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Peter Brötzmann, Mulatu Astatke and many others.

Susanna Gartmayer is an Austrian composer and bass clarinetist working in the fields of experimental rock music, multi idiomatic improvisation, jazz and contemporary music. She is especially interested in the sound possibilities of the low clarinets and the theory and practical implications of working together in bands and collectives. Mariá Portugal is a Brazilian drummer, singer, composer, musical producer and improviser who has been active in the Brazilian music scene for more than 20 years. She has toured and performed with artists like Arrigo Barnabé, Elza Soares, Metá Metá, Pato Fu, Fernanda Takai, Maggie Nicols, Angelika Niescier, Fred Frith, Joe Mcphee, Nick Dunston, Anthony Braxton and Tomeka Reid. Together those four create one of the strongest jazz quartets one can imagine, playfulness, creativity and virtuosity meet on a level rarely reached.