This is a programme I recorded recently for London based experimental radio station Resonance FM. It features me playing a solo set on vibes and electronics, and chatting to presenter Carole Finer about the music. There are solo versions of four of my pieces - "A Stillness At Appomattox", "Weaving The Spell", "Making The Point", and a first outing for "Plainsong". I hope you enjoy it!

Martin Pyne live on Resonance FM

Track 1 from my first home produced electronica album, "Long Voyage Home" , inspired by Homer's Odyssey

Siren Song

Track 3 from my album inspired by Homer's Odyssey "Long Voyage Home" - a surreal dreamscape as Penelope longs for her husbands return. Sax - Dai Pritchard, voice Sarah Walker

Penelope Dreaming

From my album "Long Voyage Home" inspired by Homer's Odyssey. Bass Clarinet - Dai Pritchard

Stringing The Bow

From my album "Long Voyage Home" inspired by Homer's Odyssey

Nocturne

Closing track from my album "Long Voyage Home" inspired by Homer's Odyssey

Slaying The Suitors

This is the piece I wrote in memory of Cheryl King, a dear friend, wonderful musician and teacher, and all round beautiful person, who died suddenly and unexpectedly last December. It was written in the early hours of Christmas Day just after I received the terrible news. I worked with Cheryl many times in a trio with bass player Marianne Windham, and Marianne and I premiered the piece at a packed memorial gig in Guildford. This a very basic recording of Marianne and me playing the piece in my front room. In time there'll be a more "deluxe" version, but I hope this will do for now.

Miss You Already  (Song for Cheryl)

A live score to the 1920 expressionist film "From Morning To Midnight", directed by Karlheinz Martin. This is a good example of the collaboration I have with leading silent film pianist Stephen Horne.
The music was recorded from the sound desk at a screening at The Barbican Centre in London in February 2016. The music is largely improvised , but uses a couple of prepared thematic ideas.
Stephen Horne - piano, accordion, flute
Martin Pyne - drums, percussion, vibraphone

From Morning To Midnight  -  live silent film score

From my solo vibes album, "Behind The Mist", inspired by tales of Faeries from the British Isles. Asrai are water faeries who dissolve when captured.
You can download or stream high quality audio of the album, or buy a CD via bandcamp  https://martinpyne.bandcamp.com/album/behind-the-mist

Bounces

Asrai

First of two recordings by a new band, KEPLER ORBIT at the excellent Sonic Imperfections experimental music night in South London.
Ed Riches - Guitar / FX
Tom Ward - Bass Clarinet
Martin Pyne - Vibes / electronic percussion

Kepler Orbit Live at SONIC IMPERFECTIONS pt 1

An extract from a group of improvisations recorded on a Zoom stereo recorder in my front room one Friday, by myself on vibes, and the superlative pianist Alex Maguire.

Friday Afternoon - an improvisation by Alex Maguire and Martin Pyne

Another rough mix from a front room recording session by myself and pianist Alex Maguire. The title is Alex's comment immediately after playing. Relatively short, and I spend much of the time playing the vibes with rattles, before we find our way to a sort of Waltz.

"A Strange Little Etude"

More music, in rough mix' recorded in my front room, by myself and pianist Alex Maguire. We deliberately set out one afternoon to make a set of very short pieces, in contrast to the long extended ones that we've recorded previously

Fleeting

Another, contrasting miniature, improvised in my front room, by pianist Alex Maguire and myself on the vibraphone.

Floating

Title track from our second album. Inspired by, and taking its title from, a particularly magical and mysterious passage in Simon Armitage's translation of "Gawain and the Green Night", in which Gawain rests after an exhausting journey at a strange Castle, and while the Lord of the castle is out hunting, his lady comes to Gawain's bed chamber and puts his chivalry to the test!

by tapering torchlight

A sad, gently rocking ballad, that I wrote between midnight and 3 am on Christmas Day a couple of years ago, immediately after receiving news of the sudden unexpected death of my dear friend, and wonderful musician, Cheryl King. This is a new recording with Marianne Windham and Russell Jarrett, both also friends and colleagues of Cheryl. Many thanks to David Beebee for a lovely job on the recording.

Miss You Already (Song for Cheryl)

A trio improvisation by MPH:
Alex Maguire - piano
Martin Pyne - vibraphone
Mark Hewins - guitar and electronics

Taken from their forthcoming album.
See a version with a film by Mark Hewins at https://youtu.be/vyk9Qf9EpIY

Lamina

Another improvised piece from a forthcoming album by MPH

Alex Maguire - piano
Martin Pyne - vibraphone
Mark Hewins - guitar

A strange blues inflected invention

FingerMuscle

A track from a forthcoming album by
MPH 

Alex Maguire - Hammond Organ
Martin Pyne - drums / perc
Mark Hewins - guitar

Sally Lightfoot is the name of a type of crab

Sally Lightfoot

More slow threes. Musically this is groups of three 2/4 bars

Slow Threes (3)

More slow threes. Musically this is a cycle of three bars of 6/8

Slow Threes (2)

A slow groove in three. Lots of cymbals, very sustained.

Slow Threes (1)

A slow subtle groove in four played with brushes

Slow groove in four

A quick rolling groove in four (12/8) - good for bounces among other things

Bright groove in four (12/8)

Fast Loose Swing In Four

Medium swing, but quite loose , not many heavy backbeats or downbeats.

Medium Loose Swing Time In Four

Medium Loose Swing - Brushes

Bright 5 (Quasi Afro Cuban 15/8)

Sundrum 5

Slow 5 (1)

Slow 5 (2 ) (sextuplet subdivision)

Jazz  5/4 Swing Feel (loosely in the style of Take 5)

I'm a composer and improviser. I play vibraphone, drums, and percussion . My music draws on a wide range of influences - jazz, free improv, Americana, traditional musics and classical all feed into what I do.
Current projects include MPH, an improv trio with Alex Maguire and Mark Hewins, and Martin PyneQuartet, playing my own compositions with Philippe Guyard, Russell Jarrett and Marianne Windham. I also have an ongoing songwriting collaboration with singer Laura Zakian.
I work regularly with contemporary dance, and have ongoing collaborations with choreographers Zamira Kate Mummery and Sharon Wray. I also have a longstanding collaborative partnership with visual artist Maria Hayes.
My music has been featured on BBC 6 Music "The Freak Zone", and on BBC Radio 3 Late Junction.

“Busnoys offer an intelligent, imaginative combination of vibes, bass guitar and drums. Recalling Gary Burton’s             sixties group with Steve Swallow, this is a genuinely contemporary record that should appeal to new as well as                                                                                                 established jazz fans”
JAZZ UK reviewing Busnoys’ debut album San Angelo.

“The beautiful sound of Busnoys.”
Fiona Talkington on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction

“One of those albums that seems to open a new door with each successive listen...
...a fascinating listening experience”  Dave Sumner – Bird Is The Worm


Busnoys create beautiful and engaging soundworlds  - evocative musical pictures, and imaginary soundtracks for stories old and new. A Busnoys performance will take listeners through a kaleidoscope of tales – some as ancient as the Arthurian legends, and the Greek myths, some as contemporary as the gritty novels of Cormac McCarthy -  and paint portraits of tragic heroes, feisty heroines, and lovelorn poets.
Ostensibly a chamber jazz trio, the group’s musical palette is in fact much more wide ranging, drawing on classical composers, Americana, electronica, and the avant-garde to create a distinctive, colourful and highly engaging ensemble sound. Influences from within the jazz tradition include Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry, Walt Dickerson and Bill Frisell, and beyond that the band draw on things such as medieval vocal music, Stravinsky, the minimalist sound of Steve Reich, the quirky inventiveness of John Cage,  the electronic flavours of the Radiophonic workshop, and the simple direct emotionalism of much Americana and country music.  Beautiful melodies, extraordinary, magical sounds, and dynamic improvisational interplay are all vital ingredients in this unique band’s musical recipe.
The band is fronted by vibes player Martin Pyne, a passionate improviser who makes subtle use of electronics to take his instrument into unexpected sonic territories, as well occasionally throwing small percussion sounds and toy piano into the mix. He is joined by two musicians who have emerged from the wonderfully vibrant Bristol music scene, bassist Jeff Spencer, main man of The Resonation Big Band and now his London based ensemble Crocodile, and drummer Trevor Davies, who has accompanied many of the foremost soloists in the country. The trio's repertoire is based around Pyne’s striking compositions, which create strongly focused atmospheres for the players to explore through improvisation.

Busnoys photo by Sheryl Tait

CONTACT BUSNOYS:
Email: busnoys1@googlemail.com       Tel: 01784 438521       38 Strode St, Egham, Surrey tw20 9bx  

      http://tallguyrecords.com/index.htm             http://busnoys.bandcamp.com/                   https://twitter.com/#!/MartinPyne                            www.soundcloud.com/busnoys1

Martin Pyne

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