Jazz North East are proud to be associated with this event, a celebration of the musical influence of German artist Kurt Schwitters, who ended his life in Cumbria and whose Merzbarn Wall is installed in Newcastle's Hatton Gallery.

Much of Schwitter's work was concerned with collage and creation from disparate materials, so it's fitting that this concert, curated by artist Helen Petts, brings together leading free improvisers working with found objects and text, electronics, sampling, extended vocal techniques . . . and a bicycle wheel! The featured artists are the hilarous Bohman Brothers, pianist Steve Beresford, maniacally brilliant singer Phil Minton, percussionist Roger Turner (an old friend of Jazz North East, last here with banjo maverick Eugene Chadbourne), Berlin-based vocal artist Ute Wassermann, and Hardanger fiddle and bicycle-wheel virtuoso Sylvia Hallett. Between them they will present a programme of free improvisations, settings of Schwitters' writings, and other pieces inspired by his ideas.


This concert is presented in conjunction with the Hatton Gallery, and is assisted by funding from the Cultural Olympiad.