Alongside the good news that “The Space II“, a new partnership between the BBC and Arts Council England to launch The Space II in Spring/Summer 2014 there is also a disappointment:  

The existing footage of the pilot version of the Space is to be taken down on 31 October 2013.

LEE PATERSON, who directed and co-produced the project writes:

“LIVE Vortex takes you into the intimate Vortex Jazz Club with 3 concerts filmed before an audience in May and June 2012. 14 episodes bring you extracts from the concerts along with interviews with musicians and archival excerpts of tangents and influences – from John Cage in conversation from 1967, to the economist Dr E.F. Schumacher, to Loose Tubes on Wogan 1987 and Stinky Winkles who were, in 1979, Young Jazz Musicians of the Year.

CONCERTS BY:

– Sol6

A masterful chamber-hybrid of cabaret, punk, deep groove and free improvisation – Erik Satie, Burt Bacharach, Charles Ives, Bertolt Brecht and own compositions from the best of British and European improvisers. Led by a pioneer of the British improv scene pianist, Veryan Weston, and Dutch bassist Luc Ex – ex of punk Nederlanders, The Ex, with Ingrid Laubrock (sax), Hannah Marshall (cello), Mandy Drummond (viola) and Mark Sanders on drums.

Includes a piano solo by Veryan Weston – an extract from longer composition Tessellations I.

– Sons of Kemet

Hailing from the shadowy world of the London post-jazz scene, the incandescent Sons of Kemet are saxist/clarinetist Shabaka Hutchings, tuba virtuoso Oren Marshall, and the stunning double-drums team of Tom Skinner and Seb Rochford, powering a mix of dancefloor hooks and New Orleans street music with the percussive intricacy of west African drum music, a dose of Caribbean dub, and free jazz.

Includes a thrilling solo Tuba piece by Oren Marshall – The Story of Spedy Sponda (Part 2)

– Township Comets

Featuring the vocalist Pinise Saul, The Comets play the searing, joyous music of saxophonist Dudu Pukwana, a towering figure in South African jazz and the European improv scene, and an exile to London, like Pinise, from the apartheid regime. With the stellar line-up of trumpeter Chris Batchelor, trombonist Harry Brown, Jason Yarde on saxophone, Adam Glasser piano, Dudley Phillips bass and Frank Tontoh, drums.”

(Lee Paterson and Sebastian Scotney are both trustees of the Vortex Foundation)