Sam Eastmond

John Zorn’s Bagatelles

* Programme subject to change

The London-based composer, arranger, and trumpeter presents a new perspective on a selection from John Zorn’s Bagatelles cycle, composed of three hundred short pieces. Through a contemporary chamber ensemble, he explores these works with an open, collaborative, and expressive approach, while maintaining their experimental essence and rhythmic and harmonic character.

The concert follows a journey of contrasts: between the violent and the subtle, the structured and the spontaneous. Each piece becomes a starting point for a unique interpretation, allowing space for improvisation and collective play.

For Eastmond, these compositions burst into his daily life “like a flock of green parakeets in the sky of West London”: an unexpected flash that transforms the landscape. Within them, he finds a fertile ground where each performance opens the door to new possibilities and a sense of wonder that never fades.

 

Artists

Press quotes

“Zorn’s melody becomes the foundation for a seven-minute fantasy of depth, weight, and surreal expression.”

Tom Service. BBC Radio 3 – New Music Show

“Avant-garde jazz composer John Zorn continues his series Las Bagatelles, in which different ensembles perform selected pieces from a book of 300 total compositions. For this recording, the arrangements are handled by Sam Eastmond and his twelve-piece ensemble, resulting in a sound that is fuller and denser than what is usually heard on most recordings under Zorn’s name. With eight tracks ranging between seven and eleven minutes, this is an epic affair.”

Musiquemachine.com

"There is nothing particularly digestible about this furious, torn, and explosive colossus in the woodwinds, and that is exactly how it should be. This album highlights that in a rather unexpected way: the way there is no predicting the highs and lows, nor the absolutely insane range it presents.”

Christopher Nosnibor. Aural Aggravation

“Where I live, in a gray, dirty and unremarkable part of West London, there’s a flock of wild green parakeets with red rings. They fly past my balcony twice a day, filling the sky with a vivid, iridescent flash of emerald, strikingly at odds with the dull background. Their grace and vitality feel incongruous among the crumbling, lifeless buildings, an exotic and vibrant glimpse of beauty in a world that doesn’t deserve it. John Zorn’s Bagatelles occupy a similar space in my consciousness. A vibrant, striking flash.”

Sam Eastmond

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