Sid Peacock comes to mac Theatre on Sat 7th Feb, bringing with him a twenty strong big band – Surge. In addition to adding further string players, Sid Peacock & Surge Orchestra will feature two musicians as soloists: pianist Steve Tromans and drummer Mark Sanders.
Doors open at 8pm. Tickets are £12 (£10), available through mac box office.
Supported by Jazzlines, Sid Peacock & Surge Orchestra will be playing original compositions inspired by Sid’s recent experiences working with Ulster marching bands, traditional Irish musicians and as a British Council musician in Chongqing, China, in 2014. The concert also marks the culmination of Sid Peacock’s year as associate artist at mac.
Sid borrows the phrase ‘Bog Gothic’ from novelist Patrick McCabe to describe his new compositions. “McCabe’s books Butcher Boy and The Dead School dig deeply into the farcical and macabre side of everyday small town life,” says Sid.
Surge was formed in 2003 with a commission from Paul Murphy to mark the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Birmingham. Since then the ensemble has released two CDs, Live in Birmingham 04 and La Fete, alongside performing live at Belfast, Cheltenham & London jazz festivals.
La Fete was recorded live for BBC Radio 3, with the track Hallucinogenic Garden nominated for a British Composers Award. The CD launch of La Fete, also at mac, featured Django Bates as special guest.
Reviewing Surge’s La Fete concert, thejazzbreakfast blog’s Peter Bacon said: “This band and this music has a clear musical lineage – that tussle of order and chaos, and riding the balancing line between them, was a crucial feature of the Charles Mingus band, is there in Hermeto Pascoal’s music, and fed the exhilaration in Loose Tubes.”
Cheltenham Jazz Festival programme advisor Tony Dudley-Evans further calls Sid Peacock “one of the most exciting composers in that difficult-to-define area between jazz, contemporary music and improv” and refers to his ”truly original voice”.
Sid Peacock & Surge Orchestra come to mac Theatre on Sat 7th Feb ’15. For further information & tickets visit http://macbirmingham.co.uk/event/sid-peacock-and-surge-orchestra/ or phone (0121) 446 3232.
For more on Sid Peacock, visit http://www.sidpeacock.com/
For more from mac, including a full events & exhibition programme, visit http://macbirmingham.co.uk/