The Kris Wanders-Janicki Outfit

And, if any reminder was needed of the sweeping creative scope encompassed by jazz and improvising artists, it was provided by the Kris Wanders Unit… Wanders’ visceral set was an adrenalin-charged assault on the senses, with two tenor saxophones burning holes in the already firing rhythm section. The Age (Review of Half Bent Jazz Festival)

A powerful tenor saxophonist, Netherlands-born Kris Wanders was part of the European Improvised Music scene in the 1960’s. A member of the seminal Globe Unity Orchestra his collaborators since have included legendary figures such as Peter Brotzmann and Dave Liebman.

Residing in Australia since the late 1970s, Kris is now based in Melbourne, where he regularly works with local groups, including the Kris Wanders/Andy Sugg Unit and Embers, as well as performing internationally with a European edition of the “Unit”.

This upcoming tour will be a rare opportunity to catch Kris outside his regular Melbourne performances and European tours, with an exciting group consisting of some very fine musicians and improvisers.

Australian guitarist Tom Fryer has, over the last 25 years developed a unique musical language and an idiosyncratic guitar style. Principal areas of work are improvisation and composition, microtonality, sampling and signal processing, and ethnomusicology and he has travelled and performed widely.

Joining these two Melbournians are bassist Slawek Janicki, who started to play in the early 80s, becoming very well known on the local Polish scene, in music and art circles. In 2001 he became a resident of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in Sydney with Grzegorz Pleszynski, producing a piece for four bass players. Slawek has also made documentaries and splits his time between Poland and Australia, working on various multi-media projects.

Drummer Qba Janicki started to play drums at age of 4. From his early years he has performed with many different musicians through the MÓZG club in Bydgoszcz. He currently studies timpani and percussion at the Kraców Music Academy.

The music of Kris Wanders captures the best of contemporary free jazz in bold and brilliant form – don’t miss this!