Theatre
The MAC Theatre will be host to three fantastic gigs on Day 2. Firstly at 3.30pm the Mike Fletcher Quartet, a band of great young players from the Birmingham scene playing some of Mike’s ever joyful compositions. At 6pm we present a new project from one of our festival directors; Percy Pursglove’s Enchanted Heart. Percy will be playing both bass and trumpet and will be joined by long-standing friend Hans Koller on piano as they play new compositions from them both. Finally at 9pm will be Anglo-Norwegian band Food with special guest Bjørn Klakegg on guitar. Iain Ballamy and Thomas Strønen’s creative approach to composition and improvisation perfectly fits the ethos of Harmonic and we are very excited about this one.

Hexagon Theatre
Throughout the day in the Hexagon Fizzle’s Mike Hurley will be curating four sets of free improvisation on a theme of taste with some very special guests. Simon H. Fell, Shabaka Hutchings, Tony Marsh, Gail Brand, Miles Levin and Raymond MacDonald will, amongst others, be joining Mike to explore the flavours: Spicy (12.30pm), Sweet (3.00pm), Sour (5.30pm) and Savoury (8.00pm). One ticket will get you entry to all four sets at £12 (£9 concessions).

Cafe
The best of Cobweb Collective will be performing in the Cafe at MAC throughout Saturday for free. The Lydia Glanville Quartet kick us off at 12pm with music inspired by the classic Coltrane quartet and Kenny Wheeler. At 2pm Elda will be interweaving composition, free improvisation and electronics for an open, exploratory sound. The Matt Ratcliffe Quartet will be at 5pm playing piano/organ wizard Matt’s compositions. Finally at 7pm the Greyish Quartet led by pianist David Grey playing his cinematic compositions with Sam Wooster, Nick Jurd and Jim Bashford.

Arena Gallery
From 12pm until his fingers work no more, Steve Tromans will be giving a mammoth solo performance. You can listen to the pianist as you explore the MAC on wireless headphones or suggest ideas for him to base his performance on via Twitter: @stevedirections or #directionsinmusic

Next Friday (30th September) we’ll be at the MAC for a full day of new music and discussion. First up electroacoustic wizard Pierre-Alexandre Tremblay will be giving a workshop in improvising and live processing with musicians from the Cobweb and Soundkitchen collectives. The workshop is free of charge and is from 10.30 until 12 in the Foyle Studio.

The second annual Jazz And The Media symposium takes place from 1pm until 4pm also in the Foyle Studio. The focus will be on jazz collectives and their use of social media. Guest speakers include Sebastian Scotney (London Jazz) and Andrew Dubber. You can book tickets here. Following the symposium we are presenting a Collectives Triple Bill with The 265 Quartet from Manchester’s Efpi collective, Noose from Cobweb Collective and the return of Pierre-Alexandre Tremblay with Loop Collective’s Splice. These three bands are from three of the most creative collectives in the UK, all on one ticket from 4.30pm in the Hexagon Theatre. Simultaneously, Birmingham Jazz will be presenting a special Rush Hour Blues concert with a new band led by drummer Miles Levin at 5.30pm in Symphony Hall Foyer.

Headlining Day 1 of Harmonic will be a very special performance by Arve Henriksen and Dreams Of Tall Buildings at 8pm in the main theatre. Having worked together on the stunning album Rope parts I,II & III & Drowning the heart sounds this will be the very first live performance from them commissioned especially for Harmonic. They will be playing a new work based on the journey of water and it promises to be very special indeed. Tickets are available from the MAC website but are selling fast.

Finally our best of Cobweb Collective series rounds off Day 1. Playing in the cafe after the Arve & DOTB gig will be the Jonathan Silk Quartet, a fantastic drummer-led band. Grab a drink, grab a seat and get ready for Day 2.

If you want to book tickets for anything during Harmonic, please call the MAC on 0121 446 3232 or visit their website:
http://www.macarts.co.uk/events/Performances/Harmonic%20Jazz%20Festival

You can see full details of the events taking place on our programme page as well as on the MAC website.Each event has an individual ticket price, but there are 25 day passes available at £40 (£30 Concessions) for Friday and Saturday. These will allow you to get into all the ticketed events for that day. Hurry up if you want one of those as they won’t be around forever!

As ever, you can get in touch with us if you have any questions or comments:
info@harmonicfestival.co.uk
www.facebook.com/harmonicfest
twitter.com/harmonicfest
Or via our Contact page

The Ensemble meet on the first Sunday of each month from 1pm until 4pm with the next rehearsal on 3rd July, so come down, hang out, have a coffee and check out some new music in the making.

more info at www.cobwebcollective.com

Thursday 29th September

Harmonic launch party – The Yardbird

Husk

If this is anything like last year’s launch party or our programme launch last month this will be a very special night at The Yardbird. So far we have confirmed Sam Wooster’s Husk. Sam will be putting together a special performance for the festival with his heavy metal-inspired band Husk. Husk are an awesome band. You can check them out at our programme launch party here.

Friday 30th September

Norwegian trumpet player Arve Henriksen makes a long awaited return to Birmingham, and for the first time with Birmingham-based duo Dreams of Tall Buildings. Although they have made an album together, the trio have never performed together live. The music is hauntingly beautiful, and the blend between Arve’s rich trumpet sound and the soundscapes created by DOTB is breathtaking. DOTB site-specific approach to making music led them to perform at the closing of MAC before its refurbishment where their music was made up of recordings taken around the building.

http://www.arvehenriksen.no/
http://www.dreamsoftallbuildings.com/

We have also teamed up with Birmingham City University to deliver the second instalment of their Jazz And The Media conference. Following on from the very successful inaugural concert in 2010, this years focus will be on jazz musicians use of online media as well as on jazz collectives.

As a part of the day we will be presenting three sest from three different UK based collectives. Representing Cobweb Collective from Birmingham will be Lluis Mather’s band Noose. Lluis’s thoughtful and intelligent tenor sax playing is reflected in his composition through this fascinating quartet of sax, vocals, piano and drums. From London’s Loop Collective we have Splice. Splice recently performed for the first time at the Loop festival which was broadcast on Jazz On 3. The band explores electro-acoustic improvisation and features Robin Fincker on sax, Alex Bonney on trumpet, Pierre-Alexandre Tremblay on bass and Dave Smith on drums. Finally from Manchester’s Efpi Collective we have The 265 Quartet. Efpi are really making a name for themselves, especially with the Beats & Pieces Big Band. This quartet is somewhat gentler but nevertheless intriguing.

Saturday 1st October

The third day of Hamonic will be the longest of the festival running from around midday until 11pm. We’ll be making full use of the MAC’s fantastic spaces by using as much of it as possible. In the main theatre we are very pleased to present Food. Iain Ballamy and Thomas Stronen will be joined by some very special guest musicians from Birmingham and further afield. This concert is a jointly presented by Birmingham Jazz. Festvial Director Percy Pursglove will be giving his new project Enchanted Heart with guest Hans Koller a debut airing at the festival. Percy’s ability as a trumpet player is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Here he will be flexing his compositional muscles with collaborator and friend, Hans Koller.

http://www.ballamy.com/

Mike Hurley will be curating a day of free music in the Hexagon Theatre with a food theme. Tasting Notes will feature some of Mike’s regular guests and collaborators from the Fizzle free improv nights as well as some very special guests.

Harmonic will also be presenting some music in the Foyer of the MAC throughout the day. Bands from Cobweb Collective will be providing free entertainment throughout the day with Greyish Quartet, Jonathan Silk Quartet and new band Elda all confirmed so far.

Directions in Music will be a marathon performance from pianist/composer Steve Tromans stretching across the course of the entire day, Steve’s focus will be on performing the uncapturable by performing for at least 11 hours solidly. This will be a truly one-off event.

Sunday 2nd October

MAC, Cannon Hill Park

We’ll have some exciting activity on Sunday afternoon at the MAC on the final day of Harmonic 2011. We’re still finalising the plans for this day, but don’t worry, Harmonic’s creativity, music and atmosphere will all be present!

As if that wasn’t enough, we’ll be announcing the artists we have confirmed for Harmonic 2011 so far as well as giving away a pair of tickets for the festival. The guys who are playing are doing so to raise money for this year’s festival so do please come down and support. It’s free entry and we’ll kick off around 9pm

Please take a moment to look at the lovely video here;

http://interactivecultures.org/uncategorized/tony-levin-1940-2011