Jonathan Crossley: Inhale
Genre
Contemporary
Tickets
FREE, booking required
South African musician and the University of Liverpool lecturer, Jonathan Crossley, launches the album Inhale as part of the Musical Futures concert series.
Crossley is joined by renowned South African bassist Carlo Mombelli and drummer Jonno Sweetman to present the seven new compositions from the album. Guitar Moderne has described Crossley’s work as ‘the poster boy for modern guitar’ whilst BBC Radio London has described Mombelli’s work as ‘hauntingly beautiful’. String arrangements were provided by the young South African composer, Nicholas Horsten.
The album was recorded at Flame Studios in April of 2022 in Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, a studio built into the very jails cells that incarcerated Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi during apartheid. The music is at times beautiful, at times overwhelming, moving freely from ambient soundscapes to heavy and dense post-rock capturing diverse influences from across the globe underpinned by a rhythmic sensibility that is definably from the global south.
Part of Musical Futures, an annual series of concerts and events that explore the future of music-making, digital creativity, and new ways to perform, experience and interact with music.
About Jonathan Crossley
Jonathan Crossley is a composer, performer, and Lecturer in Music Technology at the University of Liverpool where he leads courses in hardware hacking, hyper instruments, and free improvisation. He has a specialised interest in poly-genre musical cultures, creative practices, and mediative technologies. Using the guitar, he explores stylistic outings from classical to improvisation, jazz through electronic and developing instrumental and system innovations.
Early works include albums such as the acoustic album Dreams of Skilia (2001), the chamber jazz album My Friends and I (2004), the rock/funk albums Funk for the Shaolin Monk (2007) and Got Funk Will Travel (2009). Funk for the Shaolin Monk and Got Funk Will Travel toured extensively from 2007-2014 with performances in South Africa, Turkey, Spain, Belgium, Slovakia, and The Czech Republic.
The free-improvisatory album What if the Machines Spoke Back to You (2011) marked a shift away from lead sheet-based improvisation towards systems-enabled free improvisational practices. A range of albums and performances have explored these technologies such as The Settlement (2017) with Mpho Molikeng, Blipz (2018) with Reza Khota and Jonno Sweetman, Deep Spacer – 433 Eros (2020), 3 Cities (2015) with Lukas Ligeti and Sweetman and the four son0_morph albums released during 2021 with Carlo Mombelli, Sweetman, Kathleen Tagg and Cameron Harris.
He has relentlessly pursued innovation in research which led to the development of an extended guitar system or hyper-instrument, the Cyber-Guitar, which extended the capacities of the traditional electric guitar beyond the use of the hands, encompassing the joints of the upper body using a mechanical exoskeleton.
For more information, please visit Jonathan's website.
About Carlo Mombelli
In his 40-year career as a bass player, band leader and composer, the South African Carlo Mombelli (currently living in Johannesburg) has bridged gaps between genres, musicians and audiences.
A self-taught musician, he has recorded and performed at many respected music clubs and festivals, including the Roma Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival, the Stockholm Jazz Festival, the German Moers Festival, The Leipziger Jazztage, The BimHuis in Amsterdam, The Berliner Philharnonie, ‘On the Edge of Wrong’ festival in Norway, the Banlieues Bleues festival in Paris, Cape Town International Jazz festival, Festival Mundial in the Netherlands, the JazzWerkstadt in Bern, Switzerland, & ‘Rio Loco’ festival in Toulouse France, to name a few.
In these performances he has pefromed with (amongst others), Mick Goodrick, Charlie Mariano, Konstantin Wecker, Jeroen van Vliet, Malcolm Braff, Jorge Rossy, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Dejan Terzic, Wolfgang Haffner, Bill Elgart, Francois Jeanneau, Carine Bonnefoy, Samual Blaser, Barbara Dennerlein, Frodo Nymo, Håkon Mjåset Johansen, Kyle Shepherd and Adrian Mears.
He has also recorded for Enja Records with Egberto Gismonti as well as with Lee Konitz, and has contributed music and played on the 1989 tribute for Jaco Pastorius, Basstorius, that also features the bassists Mathew Garrison and Carles Benavent. In South Africa he has performed and worked with Duke Makazi, Ray Phiri, Barney Rachabane, Lionel Pillay, Hotep Galeta, Afrika Mhkize, Themba Mkhize, Khaya Mahlangu, Vuma Levin, Jono Sweetman, JB Arthur, Nduduzo Makhathini and Thandi Ntuli, to name a few, and can be heard as a bassist on many recordings with amongst others, Marcus Wyatt, Zim Ngqawana, Tony Cox, Tlale Makhene, Johnny Fourie, Jonathan Crossley, Simphiwe Dana, Kyle Shepherd, Keenan Ahrends, Siya Makuzeni, Nontuthuzelo Puoane, Kesivan Naidoo, Sibongile Khumalo, and Miriam Makeba.
In 2018 the Swiss/Italian 15-piece ‘Euregio’ Large Ensemble spent the year performing Carlo’s music at festivals around Europe.
In 2021 the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York presented Carlo performing his music together with the Grammy award-winning New York String Quartet ‘Ethel’.
About Jonno Sweetman
Jonno Sweetman is one of the most original and sensitive drummers on South Africa’s exploding music scene. His sound and approach attract attention wherever he plays and in whatever context he finds himself. Drumming is in his blood. His father, the late Robert Sweetman, was a great drummer who played professionally in the 60’s and 70’s.
Displaying a characteristic openness to all authentic musical forms, Jonno performs with Dan Patlansky, Gerald Clark and Albert Frost – three of South Africa’s best-established blues artists. He recorded with Clark on his 2016 release The Golden Goose and with Frost on The Wake Up. Both albums were nominated for South African Music Awards.
About Nick Horsten
Nick Horsten is a media composer from Johannesburg, South Africa. His compositions explore the boundaries between the acoustic and the electronic with sensitivity to craft and the moving image, while still maintaining a love for traditional composition. His classical guitar training fused with a passion for electronics creates a foundation for compositions with an idiosyncratic edge.