The sacred clown of the Lakota, The Heyóka, is the perfect comedian. He speaks in gibberish, goes naked in freezing weather, starves when food is plentiful, dances backwards through holy rituals, washes in dirt, and shares his shame with everyone; The shaman-clowns of the pueblos, the koshare, descend from the rooftops, naked and howling, to…
When I, a comedian currently fashionable in broadsheets, and an uncomprehending fan of Free Improvisation, was invited to publicise and programme Freehouse, the Cheltenham jazz festival’s new experimental strand, Evan Parker was the first musician I wanted to contact. For me, the 66-year-old saxophonist is the greatest living exponent of free improvisation. Nearly half a…
Last year the director of the Cheltenham Jazz Festival started noticing me at lots of Free Improvisation gigs, and when I became an e-list TV comedian, he wondered if I might be able to help program and promote a new strand of experimental jazz during the festivities. I agreed, and suddenly the promotional duties are…
Over the May bank holiday weekend, the Cheltenham Jazz Festival bends its boundaries a little, making space for a music that’s entering its fifth decade of sustainable cult status, despite minimal airplay, minimal subsidy, and dismissal from mainstream critics. I’ve been pulled in to help promote three nights of so-called Free Improvisation, under the banner…