Alexander Hawkins Willow Music – Day Two (Residency)

Alexander Hawkins returns to present his first new music for large ensemble since 2020’s Togetherness Music (Intakt Records), which itself was premiered with Evan Parker and the Riot Ensemble at Cafe OTO in 2019. That album, reviewed by one critic as ‘a masterpiece that can stand next to the best works of Mitchell, Braxton or Parker’, built on the earlier Unit[e] (2017) and One Tree Found (2013) - each books of music first heard at Cafe OTO.

This line-up comprises a mix of trusted long-term collaborators, and new relationships, and, whilst sounding completely distinct from the earlier large ensemble music, nevertheless develops many aspects of its language. Although most often heard solo or in small group settings, and rarely presenting his large ensemble in live settings, Hawkins has nevertheless worked in the larger format in ensembles led by musicians as singular as Anthony Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker, Michael Formanek, Wayne Horvitz, Ole-Morten Vagen, and more - all experiences which at some level have informed his own highly personal soundworld.