'LIFE ECHOES'

"Sheffield based reedsman Beck has been a fixture on the UK improv scene for a quarter century, and graced countless recordings as a sideman and collaborator - but this is his first solo venture proper: 13 single take live-in-the-studio tracks that, in Beck's own words "explore the ever fascinating boundary between conventional harmonies and looser playing. Largely , that means spontaneous improvisations showcasing a confident mastery of extended tenor saxophone techniques and an inquisitive dedication to unravelling the possibilities of the bassoon. In Beck's hands, this normally quaint and sedate woodwind , rarely associated with improvisation, becomes by turns a vicious, snarling entitiy or a sonorous well of complex overtones. This CD includes a couple of ttunes by Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy, and the final track..... with its playful tinkering with ocarina, recorder, swanny and tin whistle also reveals the influence of Roland Kirk - but for the most part, this is the work of an underrated British original."
- DANIEL SPICER, JAZZWISE

"MICK BECK'S album, Life Echoes, is not conventional listening. But seldom do instruments speak so loudly, or take on characters of their own. Opening track The Crocodile sounds like a conversation between two ducks. Indeed, Beck's album dwells on music's ability to speak in a literal sense. Many of the tracks would be well suited for a silent movie or a theatrical performance. The album, released on local label Discus Records, comprises a plethora of instrumentation. Throughout it Beck alternates between bassoon, whistles, saxophone, swanny, vixen call recorder, with each taking on a theme. But there are tracks, however, where he enters a conventional musical format. Three Twice is a melancholic number – somewhat downbeat compared to its jovial counterparts. Spanning many moods, many creatures and many sounds, Life Echoes does exactly what it says on the tin. And, much like life, it is impossible to fathom."
- Rachael Clegg SHEFFIELD TELEGRAPH

'WEAVELS'

Two bass register instruments and guitar might sound heavy, but here Weavels skip energetically through varied landscapes of experimentation from jungle to garage, and certainly to the Nether Edge.

On At Nether Edge (DISCUS 34CD), you can hear the assorted atonal free-improv whoops and bleats of UK players Chris Cundy, Alex Ward and Mick Beck, calling themselves Weavels for this outing. Alex Ward usually plays clarinet I think, but here he opts for amplified guitar work with a very slight avant-rock inflection, and leaves the woodwinds to Cundy, while Beck plays a very craggy-sounding bassoon. Each performer is allotted a solo cut to showcase their skills, but the CD really only works for me on the trio pieces – especially the farmyard-themed ‘Geese’ and ‘Sheep’ cuts. On the latter, they sound like a particularly worried flock of woolly bullies. - SOUND PROJECTOR

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Other recordings. BLISTRAP: On Stage Full, live sets in London, Edinburgh and Manchester 2008. Beck with Jonny Drury (electric guitar / electronics) and Stefano Giust (drums). Released on Italian label Setola di Malale. " An incredibly powerful trio driven by Italian drummer Stefano Giust, who never loses energy throughout the 40min improv. Complimented by the often textural, often piercing guitar of Jonny Drury and the ever-inventive Mick Beck on sax and slide-whistle. The three seem to blend well together and yet not afraid to follow their own ideas with conviction, a great combination for free playing. Afterwards a friend said to me 'amazing to be able to start with such intensity and then still take it up even higher.' This is free-jazz turned up to 11..." The Noise Upstairs, Manchester 2008. Setola di Malale     Meanwhile, Back in Sheffield … (Derek Bailey guitar, Paul Hession drums, Mick Beck reeds, Discus 21 CD, Spring 2005. “ The opening track “After The Red Deer ” is a 30 minute evolution through many sound scapes. “Raining” develops into dense ensemble jostles, with the raucous entry of Beck’s bassoon. And on “Buckets”, the three players trade phrases as though hurling a hot coal back and fourth. These last two titles celebrate the apparent passage of the Sheffield rain through the roof, an event sure to convince free improvisers that there definitely is a god. - The Guardian   Shkrang: Some thoughts about. (Discus 25 CDl 2006)) (Mick Beck, Dave Tucker guitar and laptop, Paul Hession drums, “A top avant garde pick for 2006” (All About Jazz review) and “ One has to look back as far as early Amalgam to find free jazz / improv as compellingly rooted and adventurous as this" - The Wire   Grew Trio, It’s Morning (Discus 22 CD, 2005). “This release carries the hallmarks we've come to expect: an uncompromising and intense approach to non-idiomatic free music, delivered with an irrepressibly mischievous sense of humour. Ridiculously entertaining” - Jazzwise   Beck Drenching Pleasure: A Low Carbonation, (Discus 28 CD, Beck/Drenching/Pleasure, June 2006) A Low Carbonation immerses you in the interface between plumbing and low tech - this sound of music is more about construction of new forms than Mary Poppins." - Discus     Beck Drenching Pleasure, Live at HOTS-OD (FHB 023 2002) Fenland Hibrow : L     Fine / Beck / Hession: Motion Ejecta (Cadence Jazz Records 2003) Fine: clarinets / Beck - tenor sax / bassoon / Hession: drums) “It took Milo Fine, Mick Beck, and Paul Hession 56:43 to make this album. You’ll be listening to it for a lot longer than that!” Cadence Magazine , USA , “This is free Jazz at its most uncompromising and it's all the stronger for that. Able to double- and triple-tongue on a double reed, Beck creates dissonant textures you wouldn't associate with the usual orchestral instrument”.Cadence Jazz Records Cadence       BLISTRAP: Remotion Beck: tenor sax. Drury: electric guitar / electronics. Giust: drums. Remotion is the first project in collaboration between these artists devoted to improvised music, Mick and Jonny together in England and Stefano in Italy. A distance work. The sessions were then mixed with some effects, three tracks are the result of 'cut ups'. The speed of execution - 30 days - is an indication of a 'drama' focus throughout the process to achieve by playing the disc, this work aims to be relevant as result of a pure musical experience. (sleeve notes) "Funny, smart, jazzy and t the same time enjoyable." - Sodapop Setola di Malale   Something Else: Start Moving Earbuds (Bruce's Fingers 1993) Beck: tenor sax / recorder. Hession: drums / Fell: double bass) “Amazing.....simply one of the best English improv recordings I’ve heard in ages.” - Stefan Jaworzyn Scum List     Something Else: Playing with Tunes (Bruce's Fingers 1996) Beck: tenor sax / recorder. Hession: drums / Fell: double bass) " An impressive range of moods and timbres, from spirals of bop melody to fast and bulbous blasts of abstract anguish, intensified by Fell's gargantuan basslines." - Chris Blackford The Wire     Beck / Grew Duo: Picture August (Bruce's Fingers 1999) Beck plays tenor with conviction that can border on lawlessness. The music overall has a quality of formal order, enhanced by the chapel acoustics of the recording space, yet continually under threat from the duo's wry humour and teeming musical ideas." - Julian Cowley - The Wire     Feetpackets - Listen! (Discus 1CD) What's that sneaking around the corner? Is it the rising tide of social unrest behind the iron curtain? Is it the march of PCs into offices and the click-clack exit of staff from typing pools? No, it's Feetpackets! In 1989 this band of 14 improvisers based in or near Sheffield had, under Mick Beck's leadership, a full and frank developmental experience of musical composition and structure combined with free individual expression. Touring England three times in the period 1988 to 1990, the music of the band stamped itself indelibly in the memories of many improvised music fans. Mick still finds people at his current gigs who hark back to Feetpackets at London's Seven Dials or the Outside In festival at Crawley. This CD (made at a time when no-one else in the band owned a CD player) was recorded to capture some of its ideas, their uniqueness at the time in the UK (possibly Europe), and the energy of its performance. It is historical and in places very moving. It contains pieces by six of the band, and has a wealth of compositional ideas. The 3 Bs (Pat Thomas, Paul Hession, live at the Termite Festival, Leeds ). … To Play Music, (Stephen Grew Trio, live from Liverpool ). Contributions to Simon Fell's Compilations 4 and 3 and Piece for 10(0); Contributions to many of Martin Archer's releases such as recent Outward Sound’s Thunder in a clear sky.

Mick Beck (0114) 2584999 mick.beck1 AT btinternet.com

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