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Time machine: Basquiat Strings as they were

They might have to graffiti the news on the walls but Basquiat Strings, a band that led the way in fusing cutting edge jazz within a strings format, is returning after an extended hiatus to release an album long in the can called Part Two next month. A new-look Basquiats line-up will also tour. 

Part Two (F-IRE) was recorded just two years on from picking up what was a welcome but surprise Mercury nomination in 2007 that cemented their reputation and paved the way for the zeitgeist across Europe to encompass other similarly minded ensembles, such as radio.string.quartet.vienna and later the Atom String Quartet in Poland.

The Basquiats on their debut album Basquiat Strings With Seb Rochford were able to reimagine material such as Ornette Coleman’s ‘Lonely Woman’ but now the band’s leader Ben Davis says Part Two: “Is an extension of the first record, producing an alternative string sound from the spontaneity of jazz, rawness of ethnic sounds, and finesse and heavy arco attacking fusion of classical/contemporary music.”

Second coming: album due on 13 May

The Basquiats on the album are the violins of Emma Smith (who also features on the acclaimed new Ellington in Anticipation record) and Vicky Fifield; with Jennymay Logan, viola; Ben Davis, cello; Richard Pryce, double bass and Seb Rochford, drums; plus violinist Amanda Drummond and Outhouse drummer Dave Smith, on some tracks. All the tunes all composed by Ben Davis apart from the final track and are: ‘Calum Campbell’, ‘Bobette II’, ‘History of Her’, ‘Slopes’, ‘Scam’, Great Gables’, ‘Bebella’ ‘Jack and Jill’, ‘Hop Scotch’, and ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’. Tour dates with Davis joined by Seb Rochford, Fly Agaric’s Fred Thomas on bass, and Newt guitarist Graeme Stephen are: Village Hall, Hunton (Kent) 16 May; Vortex, London 17-18 May; Stables, Milton Keynes, 19 May; Queen’s theatre, Barnstaple, 22 May; St George’s, Bristol, 23 May; and Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, 25 May.