Oxford Improvisers are unusual in being both musicians and promoters. This allows concerts to be a combination of players from the local members and the international scene. The fact that free improvisation today straddles classical and jazz influences allows for further breadth of expression. An evening at the Port Mahon was a perfect example of this. It began with a trio with veins of classical through to more jazz-based influences, resulting in improvisations of exceptional delicacy and strength. There was particular sensitivity of response between Philipp Wachsmann on violin and David Stent’s shifts and thrusts on electric guitar over restrained sounds from Martin Hackett’s synthesiser.

The second half was one of the first outings of a new quartet, Predicate, the child of the renown clarinettist and guitarist Alex Ward (pictured), a man who was playing with the finest improvisers at an age when the rest of us were still struggling with scales. With saxophonist Tim Hill, Mark Saunders on drums and Oxford’s Dominic Lash on bass this group is a vehicle for Ward to show that he not only plays guitar loudly and fiercely but also with virtuosity and musical intent.

Laying aside the openiness of free improvisation, Ward’s compositions for Predicate are all bound by sharp, tightly written melodies with a deliberate towards the likes of Zappa and Beefheart in which both Ward and Hill were able to move from structured phrases into solos that crunched and soared while Saunders and Lash laid down a rhythmic undertow far removed from any simple rock roots. In such an intimate space the remarkable intricacies of Ward’s guitar work were note clear and thus all the more gripping, as were the leaps and bounds of Hill on both alto and baritone.

Philipp Wachsmann is also a featured soloist along with Steve Williamson and others on a forthcoming CD from FDR of Four Compositions by Pat Thomas recorded with the full Oxford Improvisers Orchestra.

This powerful CD showing Thomas’s abilities as composer and conductor is coming out to mark the 50th birthday of one of the country’s finest keyboard improvisers.