A reunion and jam session for the bands
Gobi Desert Yachting Club, Vanishing Point (aka Living Space),
Sheep In Fog, The Wire Band
On Saturday 22 April 2006, Murray and Oliver Cheesman organised a
group reunion for the bands they have played in over many years,
at The Maltings arts centre, Farnham, Surrey. In total, thirteen
musicians were able to attend and participate in an improvisation
session that ran from 1pm to 7pm. There was also a small invited
audience, consisting of friends and family of the various groups.
There were some who were unable to attend, and others who were not
contactable, as it had been over 20 years since most were involved
playing music together. The people who did make it came from
locations as far afield as Vancouver, Western Ireland, Glasgow,
Cornwall, Dorset, Brighton and London. An epic number of miles had
been travelled in the days leading up to this event and many had
little idea of what to expect.
After the initial introductions and slight problems of recognition,
it became apparent that the jam session itself worked best when all
intended connections and references to original compositions were
abandoned, in what became at times, a high-energy exploration of
totally improvised passages. I am hoping that some of the 'good
bits' have made it onto the limited recording systems available.
There was no engineer available to do a proper job, as is so often
the case in such situations. Many photographs were taken at this
event, and a selection which best represents what happened appears
on these pages. It was light-heartedly agreed by everyone in
attendance that we shouldn't leave it another 20 years before we
do it all again! |
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