Graham Clark profile picture

Graham Clark

"Music is the best".- Zappa.

About Me

I have been playing jazz on violin professionally since 1982. I cut my jazz teeth while living in Bristol and London in the 1980s, by sitting in everywhere. From 1988 - 1992 I was a member of cult psychedelic jazz-rock band "GONG", touring extensively in France, Italy and the UK, and recording several albums.Based in NW England since 1996, I play regularly on the thriving Manchester jazz scene. In 2003, I did a solo improvisation tour supporting the American "No-Neck Blues Band" (Paris, Amsterdam, London). Also performed with Bryan Glancy, supporting David Gray, amongst many other shows.I also play with 'TOOLSHED,' an experimental fusion of techno and big band jazz led by Graham Massey, of 808 State. In 2004 I performed with Toolshed for a Radio Three broadcast from Belfast, as part of the BBC Music Live festival. I have also been seen with Lamb, Elbow, La Timbala, Salsa Pa'Gozar, & Liz Fletcher, amongst others. I still give both solo and collaborative improvised performances.Current projects include a free improvising string quartet, a guitar bass and violin trio, and a book on approaches to improvisation, drawing on over twenty years of teaching experience combined with a knowledge of cognitive psychology.In October 2004, I recorded a series of improvised duets with US violinist Mark Feldman. These were broadcast in February 2005 on Radio 3's "Mixing it".I was the solo Electric Violinist for the Jean-Claude Vannier concert at the Barbican on 21st October 2006, with Big Jim Sullivan, Vic Flick, Herbie Flowers and Dougie Wright, as well as the BBC Concert Orchestra and Crouch End Festival ChorusA new project is to develop solo improvisations with improvised dance. As this idea grows, I am hoping to use the Improvising String quartet with dance. Most recently the string quartet has worked with a quartet of improvising singers in Morecambe.I have also recently begun to work with Stephen Fretwell.
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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/15/2005
Band Website: grahamviolin.com
Band Members: The guitar/bass trio has either Uli Elbracht, orAndy Mackenzie on guitar, and Frank Grime on bass.I have often worked, with Liz Fletcher, especially when she comes up North to sing, usually with Dave Green on bass, and Pat McCarthy on guitar.And in the an improvising corner there is a string quartet - "Four Candles", a duo with Stephen Grew, and I also perform solo.
Influences: Mike Brecker, Nathan Milstein, Jimi Hendrix, JS Bach, Jack Goldzweig, Eric Dolphy, Robert Anton Wilson, Jan Garbarek, Mark Feldman, Lester Bowie, Didier Malherbe, Ralph Towner, Bela Bartok, Prince, P-Funk, David Butler, Jeff Beck, Jackie Mason, Frank Zappa, John Maynard Smith, Allan Holdsworth, ..Daevid Allen, Andy Sheppard, Les Clark, Evan Parker, BB King, Esme Clark, Buddy Guy, Len Palmer, Eberhard Weber, Charlie Mariano, John Taylor, Pharoah Sanders, Stan Sulzman, Richard Gregory, Bill Evans, Karl Popper, John Coltrane, Arthur Blythe, Emperor Joshua Norton ...
Sounds Like: Graham Clark.. width="425" height="350" ..
Type of Label: None

My Blog

MONDO MANCUNIA CANCELLED

MONDO MANCUNIA CANCELLEDNo gig with Massey et al at Shunt underneath London Bridge railway station on 1, 2, 3, 4 OctoberSorry sorry sorry - not venue's fault, BUT my gig with Stephen Grew at Jesters' ...
Posted by Graham Clark on Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:04:00 PST

Kogan Paganini

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovnky2hwgWM oooh!...
Posted by Graham Clark on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:55:00 PST

Ticket Sales for Moose Factory gig

Click below to buy tickets for Clark/Grew on 1st October at ..tr valign="top">..table> ..tr>..table> ..tr>Jester Bar at Cross Kings [Edit] [Cancel] ...
Posted by Graham Clark on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:38:00 PST

GCs Scale Method (c) 2008

GC's Scale Method (c) 2008When asked about beginners' approach to practising scales in improvisation and jazz, I tend to shy away from talking about it in any detail because, quite often, too strong a...
Posted by Graham Clark on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:26:00 PST

Karaoke Jazz

Here is something I wrote a few years ago:-KARAOKE JAZZ Over the past ten years the karaoke has become a standard weekly feature at many pubs in Britain. People get up and sing a favourite song to a ...
Posted by Graham Clark on Wed, 15 Feb 2006 04:44:00 PST

Isthmus review

Robert Spencer's review of my 1997 album "Isthmus"http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=2566
Posted by Graham Clark on Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:32:00 PST

Experimental Strings on Web Radio

An extraordinary webcasting site specialising in alternative strings www.bowed.org
Posted by Graham Clark on Sun, 19 Feb 2006 06:38:00 PST

Video with Aron Paul

Here is a video of me with Aron Paul:- http://strummermag.info/AronPaul_web.wmv gc
Posted by Graham Clark on Wed, 15 Feb 2006 08:25:00 PST

some MP3s

You can find three pages of MP3 links here:- http://www.akroeger.com/grahamclark/ There is a wide range of my stuff from solo free improv to pretty straight rock. It is all quite old now but will give...
Posted by Graham Clark on Wed, 15 Feb 2006 07:03:00 PST