Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Irene Aranda was born in Jaén, Andalucía, Spain on September 2, 1980 and started to play piano at age seven under the guidance of her maternal grandparents. She graduated from the Conservatory of Music in Granada and complimented her classical training by attending piano performance and composition classes with Gerardo López Laguna, Guillermo González, Fernando Puchol, Pilar Bilbao, Antonio J. Flores and Javier Darías, among the most notable.
She was self-taught in jazz and free improvisation, she later studied with Peter Zack, Eduard Simons, Chano Domínguez, Nikky Illes, Mike Ph. Mosman, Greg Hopkins, David Pastor, Jordi Farrés Tomás, Pete Churchill, Perico Sambeat, Tony Reedus, etc.
Her first work as a leader, Interfrequency 23 7, brought her great critical acclaim which led her to participate in numerous festivals. Since her debut release in 2007 she has released six more albums.
Freed from stereotypes, Irene has gone on to perform and collaborate with Paolo Fresu, Toots Thielemans, Maria Pia De Vito, Baldo Martínez and Bojan Z among others. Aranda has played with Don Malfon, Brandon López, Markus Breuss, Johannes Nästestjö, Samuel Blasser, Germán Díaz, Agustí Fernández, Joanna Mattrey, Lucía Martínez, Javier Carmona, Núria Andorrà, Marc Egea and numerous others.
Pianist, improviser, composer Irene Aranda continues to swim against the stream of pianists with her creativity and exploration in her music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Graham Peter Hall, generally known as GP Hall was born July 15, 1943 in Hampton Hill, London, UK. Schooled in classical, flamenco and jazz, he went on to develop his skills as a guitarist in the British blues boom of the late 1960s. As a teenager, he played in the Odd Lot Band and set up the Odd Lot Club as a venue for their music, which in turn attracted more established bands and players for concerts.
As he became better known, Hall went on to play at more celebrated London venues including The Roundhouse, the Middle Earth club and took up residency at the 100 Club. He supported the likes of Deep Purple, The Hollies, and Chris Farlowe and played on stage with original American blues heroes John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson.
In the early 1970s he studied with renowned flamenco guitarist Manitas de Plata and subsequently became involved in more avant-garde work, writing, producing and performing. GP was commissioned by the South Hill Park Arts Centre to write The Estates which was a large and complex musical piece. Scored for a large ensemble, it was recorded and released on album by Prototype Records in 1972. It was his debut recording.
At around this time, Hall’s promising career was cut short by personal trauma. This led to alcoholism, depression, periods of homelessness, loss of confidence and self worth. It would be more than a decade before he returned to music. During the 1980s he began returning to music but it was a slow process to becoming sober.
He would go on to compose, record and release seventeen albums to various labels as well as his own self-releases over the next thirty-three years. His last self-released album in 2019 is titled Be Strong. Guitarist, composer and improviser GP Hall continues to explore the realms of music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Fred Van Hove was born on February 19, 1937 in Antwerp, Belgium. He studied musical theory, harmony, and piano, beginning his association with saxophonist Peter Brötzmann in 1966, playing on his early quartet and sextet recordings including 1968’s Machine Gun album. He then was a part of a trio with Brötzmann and drummer Han Bennink.
A pioneer of European free jazz he is a pianist, accordionist, church organist, and carillonist, an improviser and a composer. He has performed in a variety of duos and as a solo artist, notably with saxophonists Steve Lacy and Lol Coxhill and with trombonists Albert Mangelsdorff and Vinko Globokar.
He has composed for film and theatre and taught local musicians in Berlin, Germany, as well as holding workshops in Germany, France, England, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Fred has held studios at the University of Lille III, has collaborated with a number of his fellow Belgian musicians and in 1996 was given the title of Cultural Ambassador of Flanders by the Belgian government. Pianist, improviser, and composer Fred Van Hove, who also played the accordion, organ, and carillon, passed away on January 13, 2022.
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