Chain Reactions by Caroline Kraabel for LIO

Chain Reactions
Instigated by Caroline Kraabel for the London Improvisers Orchestra, 7 June 2020.

The London Improvisers Orchestra has been playing live large group improvised music on the first Sunday of each month since 1998. In those more than 21 years, lack of funds has never stopped us, and the closure (because of high rents, rates, gentrification, audiences priced out) of so many of London's venues for interesting music hasn't stopped us either. But the novel coronavirus pandemic made it essential that we cease live performance in order to protect each other: audiences, musicians, promoters, venue staff, London public transport users and staff, and the families of all these people. Like (most!) other Londoners, we've been staying apart for the sake of all of London.

This is our third month of not performing live. Instead we've been making improvisations remotely, digitally – mostly as individuals (except where two or more LIO members live in the same household), but together in spirit and listening, from London to Wales to Baltimore... and beyond.

Chain Reactions is a sparse initial recording by Caroline Kraabel, and instructions asking LIO musicians to record themselves playing with it and then send this on to another player. In the space of just a month, the ramifications have become as convoluted as those of an ancient tree. The piece might also have been called Contagion, or Nail Soup... but what's important is the co-operation, exploration, discovery and generosity of these isolated musicians reaching out to each other and to our listeners!

The London Improvisers Orchestra is dedicated to free and conducted improvisation.
It draws on a large and shifting pool of improvising musicians from London and beyond,
and plays in London monthly, generally on the first Sunday of the month.

londonimprovisersorchestra.co.uk
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