Draft:Mark Wastell

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  • Comment: Not ready for main space: reads more like a resume, and lacks proper secondary sourcing. Drmies (talk) 19:29, 9 January 2024 (UTC)
Mark Wastell
Mark Wastell in performance
Background information
BornColchester, England
GenresFree improvisation
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Cello, piano, percussion, electronics, tam tam
Years active1994–present
LabelsConfront Recordings

Mark Wastell (born Orsett, 1968) is an English free improvisation musician who plays cello, double bass, electronics, tam tam and percussion. He performs solo and in various group and collaborative situations, notably IST and The Sealed Knot.[1] He has led The Seen, a large improvising ensemble, since 2003.[2]

Since 1996 he has run the Confront Recordings label[3]. Between 2001 and 2010 he ran Sound 323, a record shop and mail order service that also hosted performances from artists including Keith Rowe, Derek Bailey, David Toop and Taku Sugimoto. [4][5] [6]

Through his work as a performer, publisher and concert promoter, Wastell's influence on free improvisation music has been acknowledged worldwide as significant. During the late 1990s Wastell was one of the originators of the New London Silence, a form of free improvisation that focused on soft sounds, delicate attack and low volume. [7] [8] During its time in operation, Sound 323 was described by Clive Bell in The Wire as "an epicentre of much of London's improvised music".[9] In the same article Bell characterised Wastell's playing thus: "the chargrilled sizzling of his laptop or tam tam sits firmly at the centre of many performances, and the careful timing and multiple timbres of his string bass can determine the atmosphere of a whole piece."[10] Confront Recordings has been described as "one of the most original and intelligent labels of contemporary avant and improvised music".[11]

Career[edit]

Wastell is a self-taught musician, initially on piano and double bass before focusing on cello.[12][13] He became interested in modern jazz in his teens, attending concerts locally in Colchester and then at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho. He credits a 1989 show featuring the Anthony Braxton Trio with Tony Oxley on drums, and an Evan Parker solo set, as kickstarting his interest in free improvisation.[14] It was at a concert at Colchester Arts Centre in 1993 that Wastell met composer and double bassist Simon H. Fell. The duo rehearsed and played several gigs together before being joined by harpist Rhodri Davies to form IST. [15][16] Following attendance at the London Improvisation Workshops convened by Eddie Prévost in 1996 he was invited to join Chris Burn's Ensemble. Here he met Phil Durrant and started a long-running musical partnership that included the quartets Assumed Possibilities and Quatuor Accorde.[17]

Wastell has continued to build collaborative relationships with musicians throughout this time and to the present day.[18] He became a member of Derek Bailey's Company[19], Evan Parker’s String Orchestra[20]. He co-formed The Sealed Knot with Rhodri Davies and Burkhard Beins in 2000. Since 2015 Wastell has released two collaborations with David Sylvian: 2015's Playing the Schoolhouse (with Jan Bang) and 2017's There Is No Love (with Rhodri Davies). Wastell and Sylvian had been aware each of other since the start of the millennium, when Wastell's Sound 323 shop stocked Sylvian's releases (notably Blemish and Derek Bailey's associated Blemish Sessions). [21]

Wastell has also been a member of The Scotch of St. James, +minus and Oceans of Silver and Blood. He continues to record and perform solo and in collaboration with artists including Maggie Nichols, David Toop, John Butcher, Thurston Moore and David Sylvian.[22]

IST[edit]

Formed with Simon H. Fell and Rhodri Davies, IST was in operation between 1997-2002. The trio used accoustic string instruments (cello, double bass, harp), deploying extended techniques and preparations[23] to combine free improvisation with semi-composed pieces[24] [25] [26]. The trio gigged extensively, in the UK and internationally. They supported Derek Bailey and John Zorn at the Barbican London and performed in Italy, Berlin and New York.[27] Wastell has stated that the trio's approach has provided the foundation for his activities since:"Hard work, commitment, diligence, attention to detail, pulling resources together to form a strong unity".[28] According to Richard Cochrane, "While many free improv groups saw away at their instruments striving to be "difficult", IST seem to be genuinely trying to make their extremely intricate music communicate as clearly as possible".[29]

In a review of the trio's Consequences (Of Time And Place) for HiFi News & Record Review Ben Watson stated: "IST operate at such a pitch of invention they transcend the divide between art and science. Harp, upright bass and cello are played at the horizon of known technique. Simultaneously lush and abrasive, the trio push string sounds into new zones of strange beauty".[30]

Julian Cowley reviewed A More Attractive Way, a 5-CD box set documenting IST's live performances from 1996 to 2000, for The Wire in April 2021. "The intensity of IST was a matter of concentration rather than projected ferocity. Their music, bristling with inner tension, had a clenched feel , a grip that makes listening a particularly involving and suspenseful experience. Hearing the performances gathered here, recorded at various venues between 1996 and 2000, it’s striking how tightly integrated the trio were from the outset."[31]

The Sealed Knot[edit]

The Sealed Knot is an ongoing collaborative project between Wastell, Rhodri Davies and Burkhard Beins, starting in 2000. Wastell and Davies have been keen to differentiate the group's aesthetic from that of IST, with the introduction of electronic sources (as opposed to IST's purely acoustic sounds), the use of repetition and the emphasis on pure improvisation all feeding into the group's mode of operation.[32] Speaking to Will Montgomery for The Wire in 2002, Wastell says "I think a lot of what´s different about The Sealed Knot´s music has to do with the pace of the music ­ the pulse. It´s about a much slower paced unfolding of ideas, which some people have called a furtherance of the AMM aesthetic."[33]

Michael Rosenstein's review of and we disappear described the release as "a consummate example of the refined, spontaneously composed forms the three have mastered, working with a concentrated range of elemental acoustic properties of bowed and scraped cymbals and drum heads, bowed and beaten bass, and harp harmonics and overtones."[34]

The trio's Surface/Plane was listed as one of The Wire's Top 10 Improvised Music Records for 2003.[35]

Confront Recordings[edit]

Wastell formed Confront Recordings in 1995, initially as a platform for releasing his own music[36], inspired by labels such as Derek Bailey's Incus Records and Simon H. Fell's Bruce's Fingers.[37] Having developed musical relationships across the improvisation scene the label expanded to release work from other artists from the UK and across the world. Its catalogue includes Derek Bailey, Steve Beresford, Tony Oxley, David Sylvian, Sidsel Endresen, Arild Andersen, Simon H. Fell, Keith Rowe, Phil Minton, Joëlle Léandre and many others.[38] [39] [40]

The Seen[edit]

The Seen is a large-group ensemble, convened by Wastell for specific performances[41]. Line-ups are evolving and never repeated, with participants selected by Wastell from across the fields of free improvisation and experimental musics.[42] Performances are generally improvised, although Wastell provides some instruction to musicians or sub-groups of musicians within the larger ensemble prior to performance.[43] The Seen's live performances were, at first, sporadic and its recordings non-existent. This changed with the release of The Seen Archive: Volumes I-V, spanning concerts the group played between 2005 and 2009. A second archival release documented increasing activity, and the ensemble continues to be a going concern.[44]

Discography[edit]

IST[edit]

  • Anagrams To Avoid (Siwa, 1997)
  • Consequences (Of Time And Place) (Confront Recordings, 1997)
  • Ghost Notes (Bruce's Fingers, 1998)
  • Lodi (Confront Recordings, 2005)
  • Berlin (Confront Recordings, 2013)
  • London: Conway Hall (Confront Recordings, 2014)
  • Featuring John Zorn – New York (Confront Recordings, 2015)
  • Archif #13: BMIC 17/09/1997 (Rhodri Davies self-released, 2020)
  • Archif #23: The Picket 11/11/1998 (Rhodri Davies self-released, 2020)
  • At The Club Room (For Simon H. Fell) (Scatter, Confront Recordings, 2020)
  • A More Attractive Way (Confront Recordings, 2021)
  • IST – 3+3+2 (Confront Recordings, 2022)

The Sealed Knot[edit]

  • The Sealed Knot (Confront Recordings, 2000)
  • Surface/Plane (Meniscus, 2003)
  • Unwanted Object (Confront Recordings, 2004 - Re-issued in 2010)
  • Live at the Red Hedgehog (Confront Recordings, 2007)
  • and we disappear (another timbre, 2009)
  • Live at Cafe Oto (Confront Recordings, 2013)
  • Trembling Shade (Confront Recordings, 2016)
  • Twenty (Confront Recordings, 2020)

The Seen[edit]

  • Archives : Volumes I - V : 2005 To 2009 (Confront Recordings, 2017)
  • Onca Gallery, Brighton 2018-11-07 (Confront Recordings, 2018)
  • Archives : Volumes VI - X : 2014 To 2016 (Confront Recordings, 2019)
  • DisCon Festival, London 2019-11-16 (Confront Recordings, 2019)
  • For Sake Of Joy Of Study Of Oneself Together (Confront Recordings, 2020)
  • For Sake of Joy: Live (Confront Recordings, 2021)
  • Edition 26: Live (Confront Recordings, 2021)


Solo, other groups and configurations[edit]

  • Icarus with Philipp Wachsmann, Roger Curphy, Carol Ann Jackson, Trevor Taylor (FMR, 1995)
  • Refraction as Collision Duo, with Nick Smith (Confront Recordings, 1996)
  • Scant (Confront Recordings, 1996).
  • Little movements with Varyan Weston Trio – one track on sampler CD (1997, FMR)
  • Navigations with Chris Burn's Ensemble (Acta, 1997)
  • Constructions I - IV with John Edwards, Mark Sanders, Andrew Sparling and Axel Dörner. Compositions by John Wall. (Utterpsalm CD4, 1997-1999)
  • Strings with Evan Parker with Evan Parker, Phil Durrant, Kaffe Matthews, Marcio Mattos, John Edwards, Rhodri Davies, Peter Cusack, John Russell, Hugh Davies, Philipp Wachsmann, Susanna Ferrar (Emanem, 1998)
  • Composition No. 30: Compilation III (Bruce's Fingers, 1998)
  • Assumed possibilities with Chris Burn, Rhodri Davies and Phil Durrant (Confront Recordings, 1998)
  • Company in Marseille as part of Company (Incus, 1999)
  • Spectral soprano, Lol Coxhill as part of London Improvisers Orchestra (one track) (Emanem, 1999)
  • The hearing continues... as part of London Improvisers Orchestra (Emanem, 2000)
  • Relay eight with Phil Durrant, David Leahy, Jonathan Bohman, Adam Bohman, Gail Brand, Angharad Davies, Ivor Kalin, Talya Davies, Knut Aufermann, Phil Minton, Pat Thomas, Charlotte Hug, Burkhard Beins, Rhodri Davies, John Butcher, John Bisset (2:13 Music, 2000)
  • Angel gate as Quatuor Accorde, with Phil Durrant, Charlotte Hug, Tony Wren (Emanem, 2000)
  • Davies/Rombola/Davis/Wastell with Rhodri Davies, Alessandra Rombola, Matt Davis, (Confront Recordings, 2000)
  • Durrant/Davis/Wastell with Phil Durrant and Matt Davis (Confront Recordings, 2000)
  • Freedom of the city 2001: large groups as part of Strings with/without Evan Parker (Emanem, 2001)
  • Freedom of the city 2001: small groups with Phil Durrant, Charlotte Hug, Tony Wren, (Emanem, 2001).
  • Total Music Meeting 2001: Audiology - 11 groups live in Berlin One track by IST on this compilation CD (A/L/L 2001)
  • Still point as part of Assumed Possibilities (Rossbin, 2001)
  • Horizontals white as part of Chris Burn Ensemble (Emanem, 2001)
  • Meeting at Off Site vol. 2 Akiyama/Nakamura/Sugimoto/Wastell on one track (Improvised Music from Japan 2002)
  • Foldings with Tetuzi Akiyama, Toshimaru Nakamura, Taku Sugimoto (Confront Recordings 2002)
  • I've never thought you would have done it... One track on special compilation wedding album (Rossbin, 2002)
  • Derby/Liverpool with Matt Davis (Absurd, 2002)
  • Vault as Belaska, with Mattin (w.mo/r 2002)
  • London duos and trios Hans Koch (Intakt 2002)
  • Done as Broken Consort, with Matt Davis, Rhodri Davies (Quakebasket 2002)
  • Faktura with Graham Halliwell (Absurd, 2002)
  • open with Matt Davis, Phil Durrant (Erstwhile, 2003)
  • Small sounds in a quiet round with Taku Unami (Hibari Music, 2003)
  • Freedom of the city 2003: small groups (Emanem, 2003)
  • Never give up on the margins of logic as Sakada, with Margarida Garcia, Rhodri Davies (ANTIOPIC, 2003)
  • London strings with Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, Phil Durrant (absinthRecords, 2004)
  • Live at AMPLIFY 2004: addition as The Scotch of St. James (Confront Recordings, 2004)
  • +minus [First Meeting] as +minus, with Bernhard Günter, Graham Halliwell (Trente Oiseaux, 2004)
  • A rainy koran verse [UK live] as +minus, with Bernhard Günter, Graham Halliwell (Trente Oiseaux, 2004)
  • L'Écoute Libéré as +minus, with Bernhard Günter, Graham Halliwell (Trente Oiseaux, 2005)
  • Recorded delivery with Graham Halliwell (Confront Recordings, 2004)
  • Vibra #2 (Longbox Recordings, 2004)
  • Kiss of acid with Lasse Marhaug (Monotype Records, 2004)
  • Live in Melbourne with Rhodri Davies (mikroton, 2005)
  • Archi.Texture Vol.1 with Hervé Boghossian, John Tilbury (Cathnor Recordings, 2006)
  • Untitled with Keith Rowe (Confront Recordings, 2006)
  • Live Concert From The I-And-E Festival with David Lacey, Paul Vogel (Confront Recordings, 2006)
  • Amoungst English Men (absinthRecords, 2006)
  • Caressed on the brow by unseen hands with Tetuzi Akiyama, Benedict Drew, Mattin, Michael Duch, Annette Krebs, Nishide Takehiro, Rhodri Davies, Andrea Neumann, Graham Halliwell, Paul Hood (L'Innomable, 2006)
  • Tractatus De Imagine Mundi with Graham Halliwell (Kning Disc, 2006)
  • Come Crimson Rays (Kning Disc, 2007)
  • A life saved by a spider and two doves with Max Eastley, Graham Halliwell, Evan Parker (another timbre, 2007)
  • For Hugh Davies with Hugh Davies, Adam Bohman, Lee Patterson (another timbre, 2008)
  • After Hours (Cathnor, 2009)
  • Atal / 20090718 with Jonathan McHugh (Angharad Davies also performs solo on one track)
  • John Cage: Four4 with Simon Allen, Chris Burn, Lee Patterson (another timbre, 2010)
  • Membrane with Burkhard Beins, John Butcher (Confront Recordings, 2014)
  • Quartet with Alan Wilkinson, Olie Brice, Dominic Lash (Confront Recordings, 2015)
  • Vibra: Trent (Linear Obsessional Recordings, 2015)
  • There Is No Love with Rhodri Davies, David Sylvian (Confront Recordings, 2017)
  • Unraveling The Waterfall with Julie Tippetts (Confront Recordings, 2017)
  • Tales Of Hackney with Arild Andersen, Clive Bell (Confront Recordings, 2019)
  • John Coltrane 50th Memorial Concert At Cafe Oto with Alan Skidmore, Paul Dunmall, Howard Cottle, Julie Kjær, Ståle Liavik Solberg, Olie Brice, Anthony Bianco
  • At Cafe Oto with The Dogmatics (Confront Recordings, 2019)
  • The Map Is Not The Territory with Max Eastley, Fergus Kelly (Confront Recordings, 2019)
  • John Stevens 3. 4. 5. with Ståle Liavik Solberg (Confront Recordings, 2019)
  • Sound Mirrors with Mike Cooper (Confront Recordings, 2019)
  • Archif #5: Davies / Smith / Wastell 22​/​07/1996 with Rhodri Davies, Nick Smith (Rhodri Davies self released, 2020)
  • Archif #7: Oakwood Arts Centre 18​/​10​/​1996 with Rhodri Davies, Stuart Hall, Nick Smith (Rhodri Davies self released, 2020)
  • Archif #22: The Chapel 3​/​12​/​1998 with John Bisset, Chris Cundy, Rhodri Davies, Mindy Lee (Rhodri Davies self released, 2020)
  • Human To Human with Oli Brice, John Russell, and Rhodri Davies solo (Hundred Years Gallery, 2020)
  • Thus : Excerpts From A Smaller Work with Spencer Grady, Fermata Ark (Confront Recordings, 2020)
  • A Thousand Sacred Steps with Chris Abraham (Confront Recordings, 2021)
  • Bailey: With Apologies To G. Brecht with Simon H. Fell, Alex Ward (Confront Recordings, 2021)
  • Compound Full Of Bones, Translucent Thousands with David Toop, Jan Bang (Confront Recordings, 2021)
  • Cello-Intern Solos (Confront Recordings, 2022)
  • And John with Maggie Nichols (Confront Recordings, 2023)
  • Pre-existing Commitments (Hundred Years Gallery, 2023)
  • Meditating With The Father, Son, And Holy Ghost with Ed Jones, Dominic Lash (Confront Recordings, 2023)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "MARK WASTELL". www.paristransatlantic.com. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  2. ^ "Interview with Mark Wastell". Interview with Mark Wastell. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  3. ^ "MARK WASTELL". www.paristransatlantic.com. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  4. ^ "The Other Side of Silence". The Wire (260): 35. October 2005.
  5. ^ "Interview with Mark Wastell (Confront Recordings) by Andrea Dellapiana". David Sylvian : Expect Everything And Nothing Less. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  6. ^ Martino, Pierpaolo (18 June 2021). "Dialogue, Space and Multiplicity in British Improv. Confront Recordings at 25. Interview with Mark Wastell". Percorsi Musicali (in Italian). Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  7. ^ Blažanović, M. "the social and discursive contexts of a contemporary music scene". Dokumenten-Publikationsserver der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  8. ^ Marino, Luigi. "Revisiting a relational approach to Electronic music performance" (PDF). University of Birmingham. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  9. ^ "The Other Side of Silence". The Wire (260): 35. October 2005.
  10. ^ "The Other Side of Silence". The Wire (260): 35. October 2005.
  11. ^ Martino, Pierpaolo (18 June 2021). "Dialogue, Space and Multiplicity in British Improv. Confront Recordings at 25. Interview with Mark Wastell". Percorsi Musicali (in Italian). Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Interview with Mark Wastell". FeltThat- Reviews. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  13. ^ "MARK WASTELL". www.paristransatlantic.com. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  14. ^ Martino, Pierpaolo (18 June 2021). "Dialogue, Space and Multiplicity in British Improv. Confront Recordings at 25. Interview with Mark Wastell". Percorsi Musicali (in Italian). Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  15. ^ Dellapiana, Andrea (11 December 2015). "An interview with Mark Wastell of Confront Recordings". PAYNOMINDTOUS.IT. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  16. ^ "Simon H. Fell (1959-2020) - rest in peace". The Free Jazz Collective. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Matt Davis / Phil Durrant / Mark Wastell - open (CD)". erstwhile. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  18. ^ "Once this music touches you, it never really goes away: Mark Wastell and Confront Recordings". We need no swords. 9 September 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  19. ^ "Imrovised music from the Company group of musicians". www.incusrecords.force9.co.uk.
  20. ^ "EMANEM 4302: STRINGS WITH EVAN PARKER". www.emanemdisc.com. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  21. ^ "An interview with Mark Wastell of Confront Recordings". 11 December 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  22. ^ "Mark Wastell ← People ← Cafe OTO". www.cafeoto.co.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  23. ^ "IST". www.brucesfingers.co.uk. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  24. ^ Davies, Rhodri. "Simon H Fell remembered. By Rhodri Davies - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  25. ^ "(musings) IST review". intuitivemusic.dk. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  26. ^ "ist | rhodri davies | mark wastell | simon h fell | ghost notes". metropolis. 17 November 2006. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  27. ^ Davies, Rhodri. "Simon H Fell remembered. By Rhodri Davies - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music.
  28. ^ Martino, Pierpaolo (18 June 2021). "Dialogue, Space and Multiplicity in British Improv. Confront Recordings at 25. Interview with Mark Wastell". Percorsi Musicali (in Italian). Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  29. ^ "(musings) IST review". intuitivemusic.dk. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  30. ^ "Consequences (Of Time And Place), by IST". Bruce's Fingers. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  31. ^ "A More Attractive Way, by IST". Confront Recordings. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  32. ^ "What's New?". www.pointofdeparture.org. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  33. ^ "THE SEALED KNOT". www.burkhardbeins.de. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  34. ^ "FEBRUARY 2010". www.paristransatlantic.com. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  35. ^ "THE SEALED KNOT - SURFACE/PLANE". confront-recordings. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  36. ^ Dellapiana, Andrea (11 December 2015). "An interview with Mark Wastell of Confront Recordings". PAYNOMINDTOUS.IT. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  37. ^ "Interview with Mark Wastell, founder and director of the label Confront Recordings | Kathodik WebZine". Kathodik Webzine (in Italian). 26 June 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  38. ^ Martino, Pierpaolo (18 June 2021). "Dialogue, Space and Multiplicity in British Improv. Confront Recordings at 25. Interview with Mark Wastell". Percorsi Musicali (in Italian). Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  39. ^ "Confront Recordings ← Cafe OTO". www.cafeoto.co.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  40. ^ "Confront Recordings". Bandcamp. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  41. ^ "ARCHIVE : Volume I – THE SEEN ← Cafe OTO". www.cafeoto.co.uk. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  42. ^ "THE SEEN: Mark Wastell". O N C A.
  43. ^ "The Seen: Not necessarily quiet music". www.pointofdeparture.org. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  44. ^ "The Seen: Not necessarily quiet music". www.pointofdeparture.org.
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