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Late Junction Sessions
Late Junction invites musicians, who have never previously collaborated, to perform in a session. Hauschka & Oren Marshall January 2011 For this month’s collaboration, Late Junction approached German pianist Hauschka and the British tuba player Oren Marshall. Hauschka, real name Volker Bertelmann, is based in Düsseldorf, and has made a name for himself with his spontaneous creations on pianos: pianos which he prepares with a variety of items, including ping pong balls, crocodile clips and miscellaneous pieces of metal. It seemed natural that he should be paired with one of the UK’s foremost improvisers who similarly re-constructs his instrument to find new sounds. The two had never met before, but within minutes of sitting down in the BBC studio they had the basic track for an epic they christened ‘Inhale’. From there the music spilled out into the early hours. Download podcast (from 21 January) See photos See programme playlist Ty, Jason Yarde & Hannah Peel December 2010 For this end-of-year session, we invited rapper and poet Ty, saxophonist/composer Jason Yarde, and singer-songwriter Hannah Peel to record together for the first time. Max Reinhardt proposed that they devise material around the theme of Italo Calvino’s book 'If on a winter’s night, a traveller'. When they met at Maida Vale Studio 3, Hannah had a new arrangement of an old song from The Twilight Zone (Come Wander With Me) for her music box (she punches the holes in the paper strip by hand), to which Jason added soprano sax. Ty came up with a Christmas story with a twist, that developed into a mini radio play with sound effects and acting from the trio. Jason asked Hannah to get her trombone out for a groove-based number he called Winter Rubadub, and for their last number, they reworked Come Wander with spoken word from Ty and a lush orchestration of multi-tracked saxes. Download podcast (from 24 December) See photos See programme playlist Khyam Allami, Matthew Barley & Crawford Blair November 2010 After several broadcasts this year as the subject of BBC Radio 3’s first World Routes Academy, we invited the ‘ud player Khyam Allami to join up with 'probably the world’s most adventurous cellist' Matthew Barley for a late night session at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios. The result is an atmospheric meeting of melodic lines from East and West, underpinned by dark drones, loops and shruti box effects from the electric bass of Crawford Blair, a founding member of the pioneering bass guitar group Rothko. And after several intense hours in a darkened studio, they decided to improvise a piece based on the drawing of chocolate lots... See photos See programme playlist Tucker Zimmerman & Jason Steel October 2010 This month's Late Junction Session brought together two singer/songwriters - Tucker Zimmerman from the US folkadelia scene of the 1960s, and Jason Steel from the UK's nu-folk movement. Meeting for the first time, their collaboration produced brand-new songs, and poems with musical accompaniments, using not only 12-string guitar and banjo, but also Fender Rhodes electric piano, during an intensive day's recording at the BBC Maida Vale studios. See photos See programme playlist Pekka Kuusisto & Valgeir Sigurðsson September 2010 Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto and Icelandic producer Valgeir Sigurðsson share many of the same musical ideals. They both hail from isolated countries, and feel most at home in the recording studio. They jumped at the chance to collaborate together for the first time for Late Junction. Pekka has built up an international solo career as an artist across both classical and more contemporary idioms. He takes his double violin case, which houses his Guadagnini and electric violin, to all concerts and is regularly found dragging a large suitcase full of effects pedals behind him. Valgeir runs his own studio and record label from Reykjavik and has produced albums by artists including Björk, The Magic Numbers and Nico Muhly. He is a master of using the studio as a musical tool and was able to morph acoustic sounds beyond recognition live during the session by routing them through his laptop. They augmented their usual setup of violin and laptop by drawing on the full range of instruments available to them in the BBC's Maida Vale studios including 2 Steinway grand pianos, Fender Rhodes, celeste and timpani. The result was three completely original and contrasting works. Pekka confided afterwards that he had a secret proposal to present to Valgeir over dinner for a future collaborative project. It may well have something to do with taking an inflatable timpani from Helsinki to Reykjavik... See photos See programme playlist Ruth Wall & Cevanne & Nina August 2010 Having never met before being invited to collaborate for Late Junction, Ruth Wall and Cevanne arranged to meet up at the Latitude Festival a week before the session itself at Maida Vale. It was a chance for Ruth to hear Cevanne and her sister Nina sing together, and that planted a creative seed in Ruth’s mind; Cevanne meanwhile was inspired by a chance meeting with another musician at the festival to write a poem which she then set to music. In a first for a Late Junction Session, both Ruth and Cevanne turned up to the studio with scores in hand, but they left plenty of room for reacting to each other’s ideas and styles. The result is two perfectly formed and distinctive new works, with Ruth concentrating on the harps, Cevanne singing (and dancing on a wooden board found at the back of the studio) and Nina on additional prepared harp and vocals. See photos See programme playlist James Blackshaw & Nancy Elizabeth July 2010 James and Nancy had never recorded together before, but they recently did a tour together (along with Hauschka) in a project called Kept Impulses - so they had got to know each other before they met up at Maida Vale. Nevertheless, they started from scratch in the studio, bringing ideas and half-written pieces, to see what might work. They each brought a guitar, and when they found there were two Steinway grands in the studio, they were both eager to use the pianos too. Three finished works were accomplished by the end of the afternoon, all live takes straight to stereo except for some added harmony vocal overdubs on the third piece. Nancy also persuaded James to do a bit of singing... See photos See programme playlist Jan Bang & Eivind Aarset June 2010 Fiona Talkington invited remix maestro Jan Bang and virtuoso electric guitarist Eivind Aarset into the studio to do live remix improvisations! Jan Bang runs a festival called Punkt in Norway where he remixes a band's performance directly after their gig, and invites other musicians to improvise with his remix. So Late Junction sent them an earlier session: clarinettist David Rothenberg duetting with tropical bird calls, and with Lu Edmonds on the Turkish cümbüş – and in Maida Vale Studio 3, Jan and Eivind created three spacious and atmospheric new pieces which took fragments from that earlier session to completely new places. See photos See programme playlist Seb Rochford, Chartwell Dutiro, Leo Abrahams & Jyager May 2010 This four-way collaboration featured Chartwell Dutiro on mbira and vocals, Seb Rochford on drums, Leo Abrahams on guitar, and rap and vocals from Jyager. See photos See programme playlist AGF & Gudrun Gut April 2010 (Repeat of March 2009 Session) Recorded in Berlin, AGF & Gudrun Gut combine e-poetry, loops, field recording, glitchy electronica and smoky vocals to produce a nocturnal, urban yet intimate sound in this unique session More Details See programme playlist Stian Westerhus & Swati Natekar March 2010 For the March Late Junction collaboration, Norwegian experimental guitarist Stian Westerhus and classical Indian singer Swati Natekar came together for a day at BBC Maida Vale. They had never met, and had had very little contact with each other’s music, but spent a rainy Sunday creating a session that mixes the startling noises of Stian’s guitars with Swati’s soaring voice. See Photos More Details See programme playlist Malcolm Middleton & Mira Calix February 2010 (Repeat of Aug 09 session) Electronic composer Mira Calix and singer-songwriter Malcolm Middleton, wrote and performed new material. See Photos More Details See programme playlist BJ Cole & Nils Økland January 2010 Continuing Late Junction's series of unique studio sessions, we invited Norwegian Hardanger fiddler Nils Økland to collaborate with British pedal steel guitarist BJ Cole. They had never met before, and they had just one day in BBC's Maida Vale studios to devise four duets. The resulting music is a unique blend of the Norwegian folk traditions of the Hardanger fiddle with the pedal steel guitar, which has its roots in Hawaiian music and American country styles. BJ Cole has been described by Sting as "the world's greatest pedal steel player", and he has played with a huge range of artists over a forty year career, including Elton John, David Sylvian, Harold Budd, John Cale and Luke Vibert. Nils Økland is a renowned master of Norway’s national instrument, the Hardanger fiddle. His musical outlook is far wider than just traditional music; both as an instrumentalist and as a composer he interlaces elements of classical, jazz and contemporary music with traditional Norwegian expression. See programme playlist Debs Newbold, Mary Hampton & Dave Price 'A Midwinter Tale' December 2009 Verity Sharp brought together a storyteller, folk singer and experimental percussionist, to weave a unique tapestry of sounds, story and song on a Winter theme. Debs Newbold, Mary Hampton and Dave Price had never worked together before Late Junction approached them and they spent a day at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios crafting an evocative story, part soundscape, part folk ballad, telling ‘A Midwinter Tale’ More Details See programme playlist Sweet Billy Pilgrim & Adem November 2009 (Repeat of Apr 09 session) Two figures from the world of experimental folktronica were brought together: Tim Elsenburg, of Sweet Billy Pilgrim, and Adem Ilhan, known as Adem. More details See programme playlist Tortoise & Colin Newman October 2009 An exclusive collaborative session between Chicago's post rock pioneers Tortoise and front man of legendary post punk band Wire, Colin Newman. Newman and Tortoise met together at the BBC's Maida Vale studios, for an unplanned and unprepared day of music making. See Photos See programme playlist 10th anniversary concert Featuring Huw Warren, The Roots Union, Max de Wardener and Stian Carstensen with Ola Kvernberg September 2009 For the programme's tenth anniversary edition, Fiona Talkington and Verity Sharp hosted a studio concert, recorded at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios, featuring some favourite artists: pianist Huw Warren, members of The Roots Union, Max De Wardener playing Cloud Bowls, plus the Norwegian duo of accordionist Stian Carstensen and violinist Ola Kvernberg. See photos Watch video See programme playlist Malcolm Middleton & Mira Calix August 2009 Electronic composer Mira Calix and singer-songwriter Malcolm Middleton, wrote and performed new material. See Photos More Details See programme playlist David Rothenberg & Lu Edmonds July 2009 American clarinettist David Rothenberg - duetting with tropical birds in London Zoo’s aviary, and joined in the studio by Lu Edmonds on the Turkish cümbüş . See photos See programme playlist Wildbirds & Peacedrums with Micachu June 2009 Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Micachu with Sweden's drums and vocals duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums. See Photos See programme playlist Eugenia Georgieva, Jeremy Birchall & Shahid Khan May 2009 Three vocalists from very different traditions – Bulgarian singer Eugenia Georgieva, Indian classical vocalist Shahid Khan and British opera singer Jeremy Birchall. Their collaboration was inspired by chant traditions from the three countries. See Photos More Details See programme playlist Sweet Billy Pilgrim & Adem April 2009 Two figures from the world of experimental folktronica were brought together: Tim Elsenburg, of Sweet Billy Pilgrim, and Adem Ilhan, known as Adem. More Details See programme playlist AGF & Gudrun Gut March 2009 Recorded in Berlin, AGF & Gudrun Gut combine e-poetry, loops, field recording, glitchy electronica and smoky vocals to produce a nocturnal, urban yet intimate sound in this unique session More Details See programme playlist Tunng & members of Tinariwen February 2009 British twisted folk-pop-rock collective Tunng collaborated with members of Tinariwen, the Touareg rockers from the Southern Sahara. The two bands had never met before the Late Junction team brought them together for a unique recording at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios See Photos See programme playlist BACK TO THE TOP		Related Links on radio 3 Late Junction Homepage The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.

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