Thursday February 18th 2027
7pm
£9 / £6 members + concs
The Rose Hill
Jessica Ackerley, Eli Wallace, Mark Hanslip and Nick Branton
We’re excited to welcome back to The Rose Hill guitarist Jessica Ackerley and pianist Eli Wallace, this time in a new quartet with reedsmen Mark Hanslip on Nick Branton.
Jessica Ackerley is a Canadian guitarist, improviser and composer based in Honolulu and New York City and has been described as “one of the most exciting guitarists to have emerged from the US free music scene in recent years” by Wire Magazine. Since 2017, Ackerley has released 19 albums to much critical acclaim with features in Wire Magazine, Pitchfork, BBC Radio, and Bandcamp.
Eli Wallace is a pianist, improviser, and composer who resides in Brooklyn, NY, leading his own projects, and collaborating with other like-minded artists. His work as a pianist displays a proclivity to free improvisation, incorporating elaborate piano preparations that John Lewis (The Guardian) says is “…pushing the boundaries of the prepared piano.”
Tenor saxophonist Mark Hanslip emerged in the mid-2000s as a key player on the London jazz scene, gigging nationally and internationally with groups including Outhouse and Nostalgia 77, and has appeared on over 30 recordings on labels including Babel, F-iRE, Tru Thoughts and FMR. Now based in the north, he co-leads organ trio The Revival Room with keyboardist Adam Fairhall, plays in trio with laptop wizard Federico Reuben and drum legend Paul Hession.
Clarinet and saxophone innovator Nick Branton is a key figure in the North West’s improvised scene, performing with David Birchall, Johnny Hunter, and Mark Hanslip.
Last/Lost Ensemble
Matt Clark is an improvising guitarist and composer based in Brighton.We are delighted to host his vision of getting together an ensemble of musicians to play his new Vivaldi ‘Four Seasons’ inspired pieces. Using graphic scores and improvisation which we always find exciting !
His work sidesteps traditional notions of harmony and melody, instead exploring the random and unexpected within improvisation around twelve tones, and the sonic possibilities of unorthodox techniques.
He regularly performs in Brighton and London with a number of collaborators and ensembles, and is a regular participant and member of Brighton’s Safehouse collective and London’s Mopomoso Improvised Music series. His music has been played on both local and national radio stations, including Resonance FM and BBC Radio 3.
“What started as a reimagining of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons developed into an exploration of existence, a document of a difficult year passed and inspired by one of Matt’s poems. Based on the changing seasons, the piece, by way of a graphic score in 7 movements, is inspired by modal jazz, free improvisation and, well, Vivaldi!” says Matt Clarke
“Brave and experimental as if the boundaries have shifted somehow – anything is allowed, and as long as it makes sense – which this album does totally – it is okay.” – Sammy Stein (Review of Sounds of The City) on Free Jazz Collective
“This trio produces a version of free playing which uses familiar traces of music to give a frame to its more radical elements . This brings an appealing warmth and humor to the work, and is a far cry from the usual forbidding stereotypes given to free music…” – Jerome Wilson (review of Sounds Of The City) on All About Jazz