TORI FREESTONE/ALCYONA MICK DUO
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Tori Freestone and Alcyona Mick have known each other for many years. Tori has been working with many of the most noted musicians on the UK and International Jazz Scene for many years induding the Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra alongside the likes of Stan Sulzmann, Mark Nightingale, Jason Yarde and Henry Lowther, the award winning Nikki Iles Jazz Orchestra the UK All Star Big Band alongside Hermeto Pascoal, the London Jazz Orchestra, Huw Warren, Zoe Rahman, the Ivo Neame Quintet alongside Jasper Hoiby and Jim Hart, the Andre Canniere Quintet alongside Mike Janisch and Ted Poor and her own trio with three releases on Whirlwind recordings. Her writing and playing has a range of influeces from folk to straight ahead jazz and Brazilian music. She was won numerous awards including the Parliamentary Jazz Award Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year 2017 and The Arts Foundation Award for Jazz Composition 2017 shortlists and the Ivor Novello award for jazz composition 2022.
Alcyona has been performing internationally for many years, working with Arabic artist Natacha Atlas all over the world and has performed extensively in France in recent years. She has won many awards and received a shortlist for best jazz instrumentalist at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2023. She is a member of the esteemed London Jazz Orchestra - for whom she also writes, the John Warren nonet, and has a trio with Paul Clarvis/Stuart Hall, she has performed on TRT Turkish TV with many Turkish artists, and performed with a wide array of other musicians including Samy Bishai (Egypt), Ibrahim Maalouf (Fr), Macadi Nahhas (Jordan), Zoe Rahman, Merit Stephanos, Jerry Dammers Spatial orchestra, Yazz Ahmed, Blink, Fae Simon. She has composed music for many independent short films, documentaries, silent cinema, and released three albums.
After working together on the London jazz scene in various large ensembles including the London Jazz Orchestra and then travelling together to work on a project in the Canary Islands in 2014, they decided to fuse their unique writing styles and improvisational approaches to explore some new material and contemporary standards with a twist. Given their wealth of experience working with unusual instrumentation in a variety of formats, the duo is the ideal setting to blend their unique and distinct voices for a more intimate exploration of this engaging and innovative material. Performances have included the Royal Albert Hall Elgar Room for the 2021 EFG London Jazz Festival in collaboration with Steinway, the Up and Down Festival, Canary Islands in Dec 2021, Symphony Hall in Birmingham, St Ann's Church (Manchester Jazz Festival), the Lancaster Jazz Festival, The Vortex, museo del Grifo in Lanzarote (Spain), and concerts in Germany recorded live on Radio Bremen.
Their debut album 'Criss Cross' was recorded in Artesuono studios, Italy in 2017 and released on the Whirlwind recordings label in March 2018 to wide critical acclaim alongside an extensive tour of the UK and Germany. The album also features Brigitte Beraha on vocals who is much on demand in the UK scene. In 2020 they won the Help Musician’s DID and Record and release awards to write and release a follow up album during the lockdown period. Recorded, mixed and mastered at the famous Artesuono studios in Italy with Stefano Amerio, the release also features Brigitte Beraha and renowned word singer Natacha Atlas and has been much anticipated with one of the tracks already receiving an Ivor Novello Award.
‘Make one Little Room an Everywhere was released Sep 2023 and has been critically acclaimed as ‘an album of the year’ by Jazzwise Magazine amongst others. They have been touring the UK and Germany in 2024 and are available for bookings for concerts and workshops. For bookings please visit the press page
REVIEWS
‘MAKE ONE LITTLE ROOM AN EVERYWHERE’
‘this saxophone-piano duo album of Tori Freestone and Alcyona Mick is a beautiful achievement and is certainly one of the best jazz albums of the UK we have heard this year’. Malbank.net
“Freestone and Mick enter that duo zone where close musical collaboration turns into symbiosis. Neither appears to lead or follow: they are simply co-creating the flow. “ - London Jazz News
‘speaking is one thing, making music is another. speaking through the music this is tori freestone and alcyona mick.. the variety and expression possibilities of the duo are certainly endless. new ways are explored to blur the boundaries between the written and the improvised, ’ - Concerto Magazine, Austria
‘An album of the year’ - Jazzwise Magazine
‘A remarkable and fascinating approach from Tori Freestone & Alcyona Mick…This music knows no shortcuts and, as always in such cases, you have to take your time. I assure you it will be worth it!’ Jazz-Fun.de (Germany)
‘CRISS CROSS’
"The no-hiding-place exposure of an improvising sax/piano duo is a tough call but the British pairing of pianist Alcyona Mick and tenor saxophonist Tori Freestone make light of it."
The Guardian
"elegant, engaging and original music, played with magnificent panache."
★★★★ All about Jaz
" a fine listen."
Bebop Spoken Here
"de-ranging, empathetic and quirkily humorou."
Jazz Views
"A warm and distinctive duo recording. The musical chemistry between the pair is pleasingly obvious throughout."
★★★★ review from The Jazz Mann
INTERVIEW LINKS
ALBUM REVIEW LINKS:
All About Jazz * * * *
JAZZWISE review * * * * 'the album is warmer and more classically lyrical than you might expect from this mature yet inquisitive pair, but it's rooted in quirky intervention aswell'
JAZZ JOURNAL review 'the tracks contain some of the finest interplay I have heard since Stan Getz and Kenny Barron recorded People Time, the playing is that wondrous... Without a doubt one of the finest albums of the year'
UPCOMING DATES
2024 ALBUM RELEASE TOUR DATES
19 JAN - + RHYTHM SECTION @ THE CRYPT, CAMBERWELL
26 JAN - THE VERDICT, BRIGHTON
2 FEB - SENDESAAL CONCERT HALL, BREMEN, GERMANY
9 FEB - WORKSHOP AT LEEDS CONSERVATOIRE WITH BRIGITTE BERAHA
10 FEB - + RHYTHM SECTION @ PEGGY’S SKYLIGHT, NOTTINGHAM
11 FEB - 7 ARTS, LEEDS
16 FEB - 1000 TRADES, BIRMINGHAM
25 FEB - DB MUSEUM, NUREMBERG
7 MARCH - ATTENBOROUGH CENTRE, LEICESTER
15 MARCH - WAKEFIELD JAZZ CLUB
12 APRIL - DUO @ TOR40, JAZZAHEAD UK CLUBNIGHT, BREMEN, GERMANY
19 JUNE - DUO + QUARTET @ PIZZA EXPRESS, SOHO, LONDON
21 JUNE - WITH NATACHA ATLAS GROUP @ PIZZA EXPRESS
29 JUNE - DUO @ ANVIL ARTS, BASINGSTOKE
4 SEPTEMBER - QUARTET @ SHEFFIELD JAZZ
22 OCTOBER - QUARTET @ 606 JAZZ CLUB
12 DECEMBER - DUO WITH ZEROKCLASSIKAL FREE FLOW CLASSIKAL FESTIVAL ALONGSIDE JANAN SATHIENDRAN AND SIRIAM SHRIANANDA
13 DECEMBER - DUO LIVE ON BBC 3 ‘IN TUNE’ PERFORMANCE + INTERVIEW WITH PRESENTER KATIE DERHAM
14 DECEMBER - PERFORMING WITH THE DANKWORTH BIG BAND, XMAS SHOW @ THE STABLES, MILTON KEYNES
21 DECEMBER - DUO @ CAFE POSK JAZZ CLUB, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON
PAST DATES 2023
23 SEP - SCARBOROUGH JAZZ FESTIVAL
25 OCT - TORI AND ALCY PERFORMING WITH NATACHA ATLAS
26 OCT - ALBUM LAUNCH AT THE VORTEX FEAT. BRIGITTE BERAHA AND FRIENDS!
22 NOV - CAMBRIDGE JAZZ FESTIVAL
28 NOV - + RHYTHM SECTION AT EASTSIDE JAZZ CLUB LEYTONSTONE
2-4 DEC - TORI AND ALCY’S BIG BAND WORKS PERFORMED BY THE CONTEMPORARY JAZZ ORCHESTRA, LEEDS CONSERVATOIRE
8 DEC - + RHYTHM SECTION @ CAFE POSK, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON
ALBUM RELEASE TOUR DATES 2017/18
14 SEPTEMBER - KARAMEL CLUB, WOOD GREEN, LONDON (DOUBLE BILL WITH TORI FREESTONE TRIO)
2/3 OCTOBER - RECORDING AT ARTESUONO STUDIOS, UDINE, ITALY
8 OCTOBER - THE PAROCHIAL HALL, MARSDEN JAZZ FESTIVAL, YORKSHIRE
31 OCTOBER - OXFORD JAZZ SOCIETY @ THE MAD HATTER, OXFORD
9 NOVEMBER - THE WORLD'S LARDER, WANSTED, LONDON
FEB 4 - COLCHESTER ARTS CENTRE JAZZ CLUB, COLCHESTER
FEB 13 - PIZZA EXPRESS JAZZ CLUB, DEAN STREET, SOHO, LONDON
FEB 21 - MICHAEL TIPPETT CENTRE, BATH
FEB 22 - THE FUTURE INNS HOTEL, BRISTOL
FEB 23 - ASHBURTON LIVE, ST LAWRENCE CHAPEL, ASHBURTON, DEVON
FEB 25 - RAYS JAZZ @ FOYLES, SOHO, LONDON - MIDDAY
4 MARCH - THE VERDICT, BRIGHTON
13 MARCH - EMOTION FESTIVAL, BREMEN, GERMANY
18 MARCH - CLAPHAM OMNIBUS, CLAPHAM, LONDON
23 MARCH 2PM - WORKSHOP @ LEEDS COLLEGE OF MUSIC, QUARRY HILL, LEEDS
23 MARCH 8PM - YORK
24 MARCH 11AM - WORKSHOP, YORK
28 MARCH - SYMPHONY HALL, BIRMINGHAM
11 APRIL - THE VORTEX, GILLETT SQUARE, DALSTON, LONDON
18 APRIL - HALLE 424, HAMBURG, GERMANY
8 MAY - ST IVES JAZZ CLUB (FEATURING BRIGITTE BERAHA)
9 MAY - ASHBURTON LIVE, ASHBURTON (FEATURING BRIGITTE BERAHA)
17 NOVEMBER - TEIGNMOUTH JAZZ FESTIVAL
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