Square Pusher: Tom Jenkinson Solo Bass Shows

August 6th 2007, by Tobias |

Tom Jenkinson is set to continue his activities as a solo bass performer with a new gig scheduled for September 7th at the Jazz a la Villette festival in Paris. Jenkinson will be known to most under his nom de pluie Squarepusher, one of the acts that helped cement Warp’s fame as a leading label in the field of innovative electronic music, but he has never hidden his education as a classically trained musician. Previous Squarepusher shows have regularly seen Tom Jenkinson pick up his instrument to deliver some heavy funk grounding to his completely over-the-top broken beats assualt. But up until the Hendrix tribute concert in 2006, he has always seen this as part of the Squarepusher show, as a further element to spice up the already eclectic style mix. Things took a further turn in July with Jenkinson’s live collaboration with Evan Parker, extraordinay Saxophonist, Free Jazz icon and a purveyor of group improvisation as a superior compositional technique. Their joint gig at London’s “Queen Elizabeth Hall” was “an eye-opening performance and a great contrast to usual indie attitudes towards musicianship.” according to UK-based online magazine Drowned in Sound and made a crowd consisting of “many more dreadlocked stoner-types than you’d expect at your average South Bank free-jazz show” “go a little ape”. To put it bluntly: The show seems to have been a massive success and even though Tom Jenkinson is not simply going to repeat the concert one to one in Paris, instead opting to join forces with French composer Pierre Bastien known for his sound installations, we’d advise you to be quick to catch a glimpse of a ticket.

Interestingly, Squarepusher’s last album on Warp, “Hello Everything” has been greeted with positive, albeit mixed reactions throughout, but his bass abilities have been applauded by some of the most famous players in the game. The Red Hot Chillier Peppers’ Flea has been quoted on saying: "I am listening to Squarepusher. He is the best electric bass player on the earth, he is pushing the instrument the farthest. He is the best." And if you read his reviews for references, you will find almost all of them allude to his bass playing in some form or the other.

Warp records have put up a video of Tom Jenkinson perform on the BBC’s “Culture Show” and it is definitely proves that he is a man who not only cares for technique, but for feeling and subtle nuances as well, and who has developed a style that incorporates a lot of genres but refuses to be categorised. As such, he is not all that far off his main project, Squarepusher, after all.

Homepage: Tom Jenkinson/Squarepusher
Homepage: Warp Records