artist
spike mason


Spike Mason: creating a blend of beauty and tension

BIOGRAPHY

Spike Mason is an improvising musicianer who is dedicated to developing the facility that enables him to transfer the musical ideas he hears in his head onto his saxophones, or any other instrument that is available.

He has studied the way of improvisation under the tutelage of improvising musicians Lee Konitz, Paul McNamara, Roger Frampton, Edouard Bronson, Graeme Lyall, Mike Nock, Judy Bailey, Ken James, Craig Scott, and Gordon Brisker, and has recently completed a Masters of Music (Jazz Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium.

Over the past 10 years he has played and recorded improvised music all over the world in countries including Australia, England, Scotland, Turkey, Greece, Singapore, Italy, Holland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Canada, and the U.S.A.

He is the co founder of FREE FOR ALL which a weekly improvised art performance, for musicians, dancers, wordsmiths, visual artists and other interested people. For more information check out www.spikemason.com

QUOTES

"Saxophonist Spike Mason has a theory, and it's a pretty intriguing one. Hear the beautiful, airy music that results on his CD of the theory, OXIMETRIC. The object is not the random juxtaposition of hostile pieces of music, but the creation of something entirely natural, despite its divergent pulses and harmonies... the result is not a jumble of sounds but often a strange serenity, with points of convergence. Rather than being unrelentingly busy, the multiple layers tend towards discerning restraint, engendering a blend of beauty and tension."
John Shand - Sydney Morning Herald

"OXIMETRIC is a new way of playing that Spike Mason has been developing for some years. Rather than locking in together on common grooves and harmonic structures, the OXIMETRIC concept sees the artists within the ensemble playing independent ideas, often unrelated rhythmically, harmonically and melodically. The result is a music that, free from the restrictions of pre-composed structure, resembles the natural, flowing rhythms of human conversation and interaction."
Jasmine Crittenden - The Drum Media

"Spike Mason has given us a deliberate essay in disjunct rhythms. But it doesn't sound like an exercise. The tunes are often poignant and folk-like, and they are played like calm, plangent brass chorales."
John Clare - Sydney Morning Herald

MUSIC

SPIKE MASON - Oximetric

 

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