Ingrid Laubrock’s Sleepthief

The band:

Ingrid Laubrock’s Sleepthief Ingrid Laubrock’s Sleepthief - photo by Lydia Polzer

About Ingrid Laubrock’s Sleepthief

This group started as a session at Liam Noble’s house in London. Liam and I had collaborated for a few years, mainly playing standards and improvisations. I have always loved his thoughtful, lyrical, harmonically very interesting, yet slightly cranky and knotty way of playing the piano. The three of us improvised and it immediately felt so good that I decided to turn it into a band. Even though we live in different cities now, our interplay keeps growing with every tour.

German born saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock is teaming up with acclaimed UK pianist Liam Noble and one of New York's finest drummers, Tom Rainey for an exciting brand of new improvised music. Sleepthief play with a wide spectrum of sound, rhythm, space and colour whilst maintaining a strong feeling for form.

Press quotes

This is a remarkable assemblage of three musicians. All three understand subtlety and understatement is one of the most attractive elements of this group.(…)Ingrid Laubrock seems to be mindful of the old dictum "jazz is the element of surprise". The entire trio seems to be operating on this principle and therein lies the success of The Madness Of Crowds. And that makes it one of the best free jazz albums that have been released recently.
Stuart Kremsky/Cadence USA

Ingrid Laubrock – Saxophones

“Some young jazz musicians find their style and move in lock, stock and barrel, making little refinements over the years but basically keeping their place. Ingrid Laubrock, a German saxophonist who started her career in London and has spent the last 15 years playing there, sounds happily unsettled. On tenor and soprano, she’s omnivorous and pointed, slouching and precise, humorous and austere (…) You didn’t walk away thinking, well, that sounded like a certain person, place or time. Ms. Laubrock encouraged its constant sense of renewal.”
Ben Ratliff/NY Times

Originally from Germany, Ingrid Laubrock has been living in the UK since 1989 is and now residing in Brooklyn.

She performed and recorded with: Anthony Braxton, Dave Douglas, Kenny Wheeler, Tim Berne, Mark Helias, Michael Formanek, Mary Halvorson, Tyshawn Sorey, Evan Parker, Steve Beresford, John Edwards,Veryan Weston, Luc Ex,Django Bates’ Human Chain, Evan Parker, The Continuum Ensemble and others.

As part of the F-ire Collective, she won the BBC Jazz Award for Innovation in 2004,was nominated for the BBC Jazz Award for ‘Rising Star’ in 2005 and won a Fellowship in Jazz Composition by the Arts Foundation in 2006. She won the 2009 SWR German Radio Jazz Prize the and was one of the final nominees for the 2009 Westfalen Jazz Preis .

In 2011 Ingrid was commissioned to compose, rehearse and record for the prestigious New-Jazz Meeting, an annual production by the SWR and an institution since its inception in 1966 Her chosen octet featured Drew Gress, Mary Halvorson, Tom Rainey, Ted Reichman, Liam Noble, Tom Arthurs, Ben Davis and herself, the music will be released on Intakt Records in 2012.

Her current groups are Sleepthief, the new octet, the NY based quartet Anti-House and and the collaboration Paradoxical Frog with pianist Kris Davis and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. She is also part of the Tom Rainey Trio, Mary Halvorson’s Septet, Kris’ Davis Quintet, Catatumbo, Haste and Luc Ex’ Sol 6 and Sol 12.

Liam Noble – Piano

“…A brilliant pianist…who hardly plays a solo without at least one turn of phrase that brings you to the edge of your seat”
John Fordham, The Guardian

After studying music at Oxford University and the postgraduate course at the Guildhall, Liam became the regular pianist with Stan Sulzmann . He went on to work with Anita Wardell, Harry Beckett, Tim Whitehead and John Stevens as well as recording and touring with cult minimalist composer Moondog. He also performed with John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler and Lol Coxhill.

Three years after leaving the Guildhall, Liam recorded the solo piano album ‘Close Your Eyes’, which featured free improvisations, compositions and interpretations of tunes by (amongst others) Ornette Coleman, Annette Peacock and Richard Rodgers.

In 1997, he joined the Bobby Wellins Quartet and he’s featured on the CD, ‘The Best is Yet to Come’ (Jazzizit Records). He is also a member of the Christine Tobin Band and the Randy Brecker English Sextet and has a duo project with Paul Clarvis playing music from West Side Story combines well-known material with a “stream of consciousness” improvisatory angle.

His band, the Liam Noble Group, features StanSulzmann, Chris Biscoe, Paul Clarvis and Mick Hutton. Influenced by “downtown” New Yorkers such as Wayne Horvitz and Bill Frisell, the compositions also reflect an interest in longer forms derived from studying Stravinsky and other classical composers. Their album, ‘In the Meantime’ is out on Basho Records.

In April 2002, a commission from Birmingham Jazz resulted in a song cycle based on Japanese Death Poetry featuring the contrasting voices of KelseyMichael (vocalist with the High Llammas) and Christine Tobin, with Dave Wickins and Chris Biscoe. Liam plays keyboards and samples throughout, marking a new foray into electronica inspired by artists such as Aphex Twin and Arto Lindsay.

He recently released ‘Romance among the Fishes’, a quartet album with Phil Robson, Drew Gress and Tom Rainey was recorded in New York. ‘Let’s Call This’, his duo album with Ingrid Laubrock is due to be released in April 2006.

He has transcribed over 30 Bill Evans trio performances and written “Jazz Piano; an In-depth Look at the Styles of the Masters”, both for the American publisher Hal Leonard.

Liam recently released the duo CD “Starry Starry Night” awith Paul Clarvis nd Brubeck with Dave Whitford and Dave Wickins to much critical acclaim.

His newest release is the 2010 collaboration “Tapestry Unveiled” with singer Christine Tobim.

Tom Rainey drums

“Tom Rainey is a player who swerves between avant-garde notions and a mainstream sensibility and when he plays the smell of invention is in the air”
Joseph Woodard, L.A Times

Percussionist Tom Rainey was born in Los Angeles, California in 1957.

Since moving to New York City in 1979 he has performed at festivals and clubs throughout North America and Europe with a wide range of artists, including John Abercrombie, Ray Anderson, Tim Berne, Jane Ira Bloom, Ted Curson, Marc Ducret, George Gruntz,David Torn, Mark Helias, Fred Hersch, Andy Laster, Joe Lovano, Carmen McRae, Mike Nock, Simon Nabatov, New and Used, Matthias Schubert, Tom Varner, WDR Big Band, Ken Werner and Denny Zeitlin.

Tom Rainey received an National Endowment for the Arts grant to compose and perform a concert of music for percussion and drums featuring Dave Samuels and Arto Tuncboyaci.

Rainey's voluminous recording credits and the artistic caliber of the musicians he's supported would easily place him on the A-list of drummers closely identified with the New York City modern creative jazz scene roughly from the late '80s onward.

Tom Rainey recorded his debut album as a leader,’Pool School’ for Cleanfeed Records in May 2010.The CD also features Mary Halvorson on guitar and Ingrid Laubrock on saxophone.The trio’s follow-up CD ‘Camino Cielo Echo’ was just released on Intakt Records.

Contact information
Ingrid Laubrock, 83 Warren St Brooklyn, NY 11201,USA
+1-718-2225077 | +1-718-8255317 (cell)
ingridlaubrock@verizon.net
www.ingridlaubrock.com | www.myspace.com/ingridlaubrock