Pretty excited to say I’m going to be presenting MY IRIS – usual dream-team of Chris Montague, Ross Stanley & James Maddren – at Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club for the first time on March 8th for International Women’s Day … with special guests vocalist Lauren Kinsella and cellist Louise McMonagle. Kinsella is an utterly unique improvisor and guested with MY IRIS for the first time in November at the 606 Club for the London Jazz Festival. McMonagle is a powerful and infinitely creative cellist and has been a collaborator of Clowes since their music college days, including appearances as ‘The Odd Couple’ (they were scheduled to appear at Punkt Birmingham 2020), and recording for BBC Radio 3 studio sessions and Clowes’s first two albums on Basho Records. I’ve put some more info on these two awesome musicians below…
“A modernist, Kinsella is pushing vocal improvisation into new areas” – AllAboutJazz
Lauren Kinsella is an Irish vocalist based in London. Her work as a composer, improviser, collaborator and performer has been described as “truly captivating” (For Folk’s Sake), “stunning” (BBC Radio 3) and with “inventive curiosity and imagination” (Irish Examiner). A regular performer at many of London’s celebrated venues and festivals including Kings Place, Cafe Oto, the Vortex, the Royal Albert Hall, Southbank Centre, Songlines Encounters and the London Jazz Festival, she has also performed at several European festivals including Unerhört Jazz (Switzerland), InJazz (Netherlands), Cool Britannia (Vienna), Klaeng (Cologne), Down With Jazz (Ireland), Ankara International Music Festival (Istanbul), 12 Points (Porto), Dublin Literary Festival (Ireland), European Jazznights (Oslo), Jazzy Colours (Paris), Belfast Literary Festival (UK), Südtirol Jazz Festival (Italy) and the Cardiff Poetry Festival (Wales). She specialises in improvisation and her unique style of vocalisation involves exploring the different types of vocabulary connected with vocal and instrumental sound. From singing to speech, utterance to lexicon, syllabic deconstruction to stream of consciousness, Lauren’s work celebrates the human voice in multi-faceted ways. “A modernist, Kinsella is pushing vocal improvisation into new areas” (AllAboutJazz) Kinsella also works as a soloist with several celebrated composers from contemporary classical (Ian Wilson, Ed Bennett) to film (Harry Escott) and writers (Cherry Smyth, Sally O’Reilly).
“Cellist Louise McMonagle’s playing was especially vivid, with its powerful combination of precision and intensity.” – Bachtrack
Louise McMonagle, a Scottish cellist in London, is a versatile performer who enjoys making music in many environments. Highlights include winning the Ernst Von Siemens Ensemble prize (2020), performing at Wigmore Hall (London), playing as soloist in Boulez Messagesquisse at the VIVA Cello Festival (Switzerland), recording Berio Sequenza XIV with Four Ten Media, and performing with eminent jazz musicians such as Trish Clowes (BBC NGA), Kit Downes (Mercury prize nominee), Evan Parker etc. Louise loves playing music by living composers, and has found a musical home in the Riot Ensemble as cellist and Artistic Board Member. In this role she works as performer, curator, commissioner and collaborator; creating and producing a diverse array of projects around Europe. Described as “volcanically creative” by Alex Ross (The New Yorker), Riot Ensemble have given around 200 World and UK Premieres by composers from more than 30 countries.Their discography includes releases on HCR/NMC Recordings and Coviello Classics. Louise has performed at festivals such as Wien Modern (Austria), HDS ZAMP (Croatia), Dark Music Days (Iceland), Tampere Biennale (Finland), Nordic Music Days (Sweden), November Music (Holland), SOUND (Scotland), Spitalfields Music Festival (London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (England), and Santander Music Festival (Spain). Select upcoming engagements include concerts at Mozarteum Salzburg, and Darmstadt Music Festival.