[54.3] "F**K DANCE, LET'S ART!"

Free-improv, jazz 'n' scratch DJ's Spring Heel Jack (see NFE, 'Right Said Jack', 24 December 2002) are about to begin their tour. The Guardian's John Fordham has a good profile in the paper today, "Just Chill". A couple of choice quotations:

'It may seem bizarre that two dance DJs should be entering the unforgiving world of free-jazz, but from [Matthew] Shipp's point of view, the collaboration is only natural. The less dancefloor-bound of DJs are fascinated by free-music, he says, because "they like to deal with scraps of information, and free-jazz is a volcano of information. The DJs are always trying to mix and match and stitch together things that don't seem on the surface as if they should work together." '

'[T]o [Spring Heel Jack], the pursuit of the unfamiliar is vital. Wales points out that he lives on the Nightingale Estate in Hackney, hardly an arthouse environment, and he has friends and neighbours there who are cheering him on. "Some of the people I know there have had no exposure to classical music, jazz or anything. Play something unusual to them and they're often fascinated." '

Improv collaborator Matthew Shipp's new CD, 'Equilibrium' is due out on 21 January, incidentally.

Spring Heel Jack play the Michael Tippett Centre, Bath (01225 875696), Wednesday, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London SE1 (020-7960 4242), Thursday, then tour until 31 January 2003.