Toshinori Kondo / Roger Turner DUO

Toshinori Kondo  trumpet, electronics

Toshinori Kondo (b. 1948) is an avant-garde jazz and fusion trumpeter. Kondo attended Kyoto university in 1967, and became close friends with percussionist Tsuchitori Toshiyuki. In 1972 the pair left university, and Toshiyuki went on to work with Peter Brook, while Kondo joined Yosuke Yamashita. In 1978 Kondo moved to New York, and began performing with Bill Laswell, John Zorn, Fred Frith, and Eraldo Bernocchi. A year later he released his first recording, toured Europe with Eugene Chadbourne, and collaborated with European musicians such as Peter Brötzmann. Returning to Japan, he worked with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kazumi Watanabe, and Herbie Hancock. In the mid-1980s he began focusing on his own career, blending his avant-garde origins with electronic music. He founded the band Kondo IMA in 1984. Kondo IMA achieved commercial success but moved to Amsterdam to be alone and to start “Blow the Earth” in 1993. In 2002, he worked on an international peace festival in Hiroshima after being approached by the Dalai Lama about organizing one. He is a former member of Praxis. Kondo cooperated with Bill Laswell to make the album Inamorata in 2007. “Blow the Earth in Japan” began in 2007 and ended in 2011. Kondo also directed t
he film Blow the Earth in Japan.
Toshinori Kondo official site

Roger Turner drums and percussion

Roger Turner grew up amongst the Canterbury musical life of the 1960s with a strong broad jazz root. His first formal performance in improvisation was in duo with Chris Biscoe for the British Council, Brighton in 1966. He moved to London in 1968 and worked with the Ghanian drum ensemble Mask and toured with the experimental and innovative Ritual Theatre. Since 1974, he has primarily concentrated on opening the way to a more personal percussion language. Extensive solo work followed (including concerts at the Bracknell Jazz Festival and the Bruxelles Festival of Percussion) and he was also granted two Arts Council bursaries (1980 and 1983) for investigation into percussion and electronics. It was during this period that he recorded his solo LP The blur between, though it focusses on very specific aspects of percussion and certainly does not represent his wide current interests. In 1984 and 1985, he undertook workshop residences at Alan Silva’s Institut Art Cultur Perception in Paris. In the same period, collaborations with experimental rock musics and open song form included extensive duo work with Annette Peacock (1983-1985) and recordings with post-wave band The Nose Flutes (1986-1987). Roger Turner has worked with numerous jazz-based ensembles including those of Elton Dean, Alan Silva and Lol Coxhill. Music making with European and international improvisors in ad hoc and group collaborations has over the years included Toshinori Kondo, Derek Bailey, Trio’z with Carlos Zingaro and Tom Cora, Evan Parker, Cecil Taylor, Otomo Yoshihide, Shelley Hirsch, Joëlle Léandre; Keith Rowe; Wolfgang Fuchs and many others. Collaborations with film-makers and image projection include work with Martin Klapper & Chikako Oyama and music for dance includes work with Alexander Frangenheim’s concepts of doing (Stuttgart); Matthew Hawkins Company (London); Carlos Zingaro’s Encontros projects (Lisbon & Macau, China). Roger Turner’s current main collaborations are The tradition trio with Alan Silva and Johannes Bauer; The Recedents with Lol Coxhill and Mike Cooper; Konk Pack with Tim Hodgkinson and Thomas Lehn; The Phil Minton Quartet with Veryan Weston and John Butcher; duos with John Russell and Phil Minton. Performances in major festivals have included: Edinburgh; Actual, London; Setubal and Avante, Portugal; CRIM, Pisa; Bracknell, England; Ulrichsberg and Nickelsdorf Austria; Kongsberg, Norway; Philadelphia Free Music; Taklos, Switzerland; Chantenay, France; Budapest; Berlin Jazzfest; Camden Jazz Festival, London; Vancouver; Victoriaville; Sound Symposium, Newfoundland; Banlieu Bleu, Paris; Vandoeuvre; Copenhagen Voice Festival; Macau; etc.
Roger Turner Official site
Roger Turner Wikipedia