PHIL MINTON QUARTET

‘Phil Minton is perhaps the most powerful vocal performer working in Europe today’, says Penguin Guide to Jazz about the groundbreaking British vocalist, who in the past 40 years has developed an immense range of voices and sounds, through improvisation. His quartet with John Butcher, Veryan Weston and Roger Turner has recorded the 1996 masterpiece Mouthfull of Ecstasy, which is based on James Joyce’s novel Finnegans Wake. Free music clashes with free verse, with explosive results.

As a war child he imitated the sounds of sirens and military aircrafts and early on he started singing in the church choir. His boy soprano evolved into a rich baritone, which could be heard in the bands of Mike Westbrook. Influenced by John Coltrane on the one hand and James Joyce on the other, Phil Minton developed his own spectrum of techniques, far outside the regular vocal range. Since 1965 he has collaborated on over 100 albums, mostly with purely improvised music.

‘The sheer humanity of his vocalising comes across most effectively when there are no other instruments around, and even when the sounds produced are trans-human’ (The Wire).

‘Phil Minton has an unparalleled physical intensity, which can be intimidating as well as disarming’ (de Volkskrant).

‘A sound poet, a one-man vocal apocalypse’ (The Wire).

Afterwards at the café: DJ Dikeman.

The Bimhuis restaurant is open prior to the concert from 6.30 til 8.30PM (reservations via 020-7882158). After the concert, the Bimhuis Café is open (free entrance).