Many listeners will recognize James Mainwaring as a saxophonist and a member the Mercury Music Prize nominated Roller Trio. He co-founded the band with Luke Wynter, guitarist, and Luke Reddin-Williams. Mainwaring is still involved in Roller Trio, but Mainwaring has also been working with Mercury nominees Django Django. Space F!ght is another project that Mainwaring has been involved with. It’s an electro-improvising collective headed by Radek Rudnicki, which released the EP “Sci-Fi” in 2014. Mainwaring has been performing solo sets with saxophone, electronics. In 2014, I saw Mainwaring supporting John Escreet’s trio at Kings Place in the EFG London Jazz Festival. The performance was intense and uncompromising, which was quite different from the more accessible Roller Trio’s music. Mainwaring’s new project is Tipping Point. This quartet includes Matthew Bourne (piano master), who plays Fender Rhodes exclusively. Joost Hendrickx on the drums and Michael Bardon on the double bass complete the line-up. Both are graduates of Leeds College of Music’s jazz course. Bardon and Hendrickx also belong to the Leeds-based sextet Shatner’s Bassoon. Mainwaring and Bardon’s love of extended duo jams were the catalyst for Tipping Point. Bourne taught the three youngest members of Tipping point at Leeds. Mainwaring described the music of his new group as “a lot of time thinking about and practicing improvisation, absorbing contemporary world and classical influences, and looking at different ways to sound together while being free, and different ways to organise sounds.” Bourne has a PhD in it. Through improvisation and composition, the band’s music seeks to “evoke playfulness and mindfulness, darkness, extremes of emotion and humor, terror, angst, and patience”. From www.thejazzmann.com
