A duo of musicians with huge artistic achievements, with a rich palette of means of expression and a sensational technique, who through their work foreground the role of drums in contemporary improvised music. Hamid Drake is the undisputed icon of free jazz music. He is a drummer associated primarily with the Chicago environment of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), also contributing to formations that are closer to the mainstream of world music. Hamid Drake plays on a standard drum set, but he also often uses ethnic instruments. The roster of artists, with whom he worked, is impressive: there are the biggest stars of free jazz music, including Evan Parker, Peter Brötzmann, William Parker, Fred Anderson and Don Cherry, as well as jazz legends to a lesser extent associated with the avant-garde scene, like Herbie Hancock or Wayne Shorter. Simon Barker is one of the most interesting drummers in Australia. In his career so far he has taken part in the recording of almost seventy albums and performed with such artists as Jason Moran, Marilyn Crispell, Tim Berne and Joe Lovano. For years, he has been developing his own solo projects. As one of the few drummers performing and recording CDs alone, he is valued for his musical imagination and originality. Simon Barker is also a lecturer at the Sydney Music Conservatory, as well as running master workshops around the world.
A big composition named Bigger Vicious has been created by Avishaia Cohen - a musician who prepares the premiere of this new material for a concert in Wrocław. Born in Tel Aviv, and living in New York, the trumpeteris currently associated with the Munich label ECM, on which he has released two well-received albums so far. Avishai Cohen regularly wins high positions in the annual lists of industry magazines and radio stations (such as, among others, JazzTimes, Jazz Magazine France, DownBeat or TSF Jazz). In addition to his own projects, he has also co-founded important formations, such as SFJAZZ Collective or Mark Turner Quartet. So far, the band named Big Vicious was a quintet, and the idea of found the group was born during jam sessions taking place in the south-east of Manhattan. Then Avishai Cohen decided to bring to life a group in which he would combine his trumpet playing with electronic effects and the use of a double rhythm section. The effect of the genre mix created by Big Vicious were instrumental songs based on rock riffs and filled with improvisations of the leader. The final line-up of the band was made up of two percussionists and two guitarists. Thanks to inviting a double bassist and a keyboard player to join the group, it has been possible to expand the band’s current stylistics. Bigger Vicious is a new septet led by one of the most interesting and versatile trumpeters on the contemporary jazz scene.
