Simon Rose’s circular breathed saxophone, multiphonics and harmonic textures combines with Paul Stapleton’s self-designed instrument, the Volatile Assemblage (aka VOLA) to explore sonic possibilities through real-time interaction. The method of exploration commits to an open improvisation approach, with the music composed at the point of performance. Since meeting in 2010, Stapleton and Rose have performed as a duo in Germany and the UK, and as part of the trio Ens Ekt in Europe and North America. Their first duo CD ‘FAUNA‘ received acclaim from music critics such as Ken Waxman (Jazzword), Mark Corroto (All About Jazz), and Marc Medwin (New York City Jazz Record).

Simon Rose (UK/DE) is a musician-composer, researcher-author. He’s a recognised baritone saxophonist with a main interest in open improvisation and appears on over forty music releases. He performs regularly as a soloist and in numerous collaborations in Europe and North America. Additionally, he frequently performs in interdisciplinary settings with dancers, visual artists and others. He holds a PhD from Glasgow Caledonian University and has authored two books: ‘The lived experience of improvisation: in music, learning and life’ (2017) and ‘Relational Improvisation: Music, Dance and Contemporary Art’ (2024).

https://www.simonrose.org/ 

‘Procession’ [solo saxophone CD] is one of the finest statements from the saxophone I have ever had the pleasure to experience.’

Marc Medwin, CADENCE.

‘Rose gifted the audience with a beautiful performance, full of nuances, circular breathing and something like a theatrical attitude, but very near the essence and far from rhetoric.

Gian Paolo Galasi http://londonresonance.blogspot.com/