[short_description]
Martin Archer – saxophones
Charlotte Keeffe – trumpet
Chris Sharkey – guitar
Anton Hunter – guitar
Orphy Robinson – vibraphone
Pat Thomas – keyboards
Dave Sturt – bass guitar
Peter Fairclough – drums
Taking the electric music of Miles Davis as its starting point, Anthropology Band is about finding the atmosphere through a deep rhythm, a searing blues run, a delicate melody, or a cascading solo statement. Band leader Martin Archer has kept the music as simple as possible – often driven by the bassline – and the structures loose, to enable this who’s who of UK creative musicians to let the music breathe in a different way each time it is played. There are multiple chordal instruments in the centre of the sound, allowing each soloist to sit on a kaleidoscopic wave of intercrossing figures which push the music forward.
The band’s first album is available now from Discus Music as a double CD with two versions of the music – one by the stripped down concert group, and the other version adding an adventurous 11 piece horn section to the basic tracks.
“Martin Archer's aesthetic is an intriguing and transformative one—whatever enters his world comes out changed, if not utterly, then beautifully.” – Duncan Heining, All About Jazz.
The Anthropology Band will be supported with an opening set by UK-Swiss collaboration Moonmot. In 2017, Cath Roberts and Dee Byrne, saxophonists from London, were invited to take part in Jazzwerkstatt, Bern. From their quartet, Word of Moth, they brought over bassist Seth Bennett and drummer Johnny Hunter to work with Swiss musicians Oli Kuster (piano) and Simon Petermann (trombone). The group then played at that year's London Jazz Festival and later toured Switzerland where they were involved in the BeJazz TransNational event. They have recently released their debut self-titled album.
