ELDA is the longstanding collaboration between Andrew Woodhead and Aaron Diaz, mixing acoustic sounds with live electronics and soundscapes. Often performing in collaboration with special guests, their music explores the boundaries between the worlds of jazz, improv, electronica and folk.
For their performance at The Globe in Newcastle the duo will be joined by Faye MacCalman of Archipelago.
The debut CD ‘Shiny/Things’ from Elda featuring Norwegian vocalist Kari Eskild Havenstrøm was released in May 2016, followed by digital-only lockdown collaboration releases ‘Live at BEAST’ with Georgia Denham, ‘Hippocampinae’ with Faye MacCalman, ‘a different name for the same river’ with Chris Mapp and Sam Wooster, ‘Metal Built’ with Anton Hunter, debut duo release ‘Na Madraí’, ‘Primary/Secondary/Tertiary’ with John Derek Bishop, and ‘Hello Spirit’ with Meesha Fones. These are collected together in physical format for the first time in their box set release ‘Collaborations 2020-2022’.
Pope & Garner had been working together for some years before formalising their duo, born out of regular meet-ups to play together between lockdowns across 2020-21. At first finding common ground in free improvisation they eventually moved on to playing pieces by some of their favourite composers, mostly figures somewhat overlooked in the classic jazz repertoire. That spirit of discovery and forward-thinking creativity which this music embodies became a touchstone for the two musicians, inspiring them to approach the music with open-minds and the spontaneous surrender of the free improviser. This duo recording, made in Newcastle upon Tyne in 2021, captures the sense of joy, the depth of emotion, the weight of tribute and the irreverence of play that the duo bring to their live performances.
The duo are currently promoting their debut album ‘Water Music’ released through the Newcastle based New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings label.
The unlikely but richly-textured pairing of double bass and violin come together to explore and celebrate the music of some of the most revered avant-garde and ‘new thing’ composers of the 20th Century. These two adventurous musicians pay tribute to such luminaries as Ornette Coleman, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton and Alice Coltrane on this intimate acoustic recording, filled with humour, surprises and wit, settling into or playfully deconstructing the compositions like old friends picking up a years-long conversation.
This concert is presented by Jazz North East in association with the Globe