Beresford Hammond

Time to break the silence of the Summer.

https://the52nd.bandcamp.com/album/each-edge-of-the-field

The new Beresford Hammond CD Each Edge of the Field has received some really great reviews including a 4 star review in the Jazz Journal just follow the links.

“With a strong sense of cohesion to distinguish this work from so much oldschool improv, Beresford Hammond have hit upon a winning blend.” Fred Grand - Jazz Journal ****

http://jazzjournal.co.uk/UserFiles/File/September%202017/JJ%20September%202017,%20p20-21.pdf

“Although this album completes a trilogy, it should not be regarded as an ending. Across these three albums they have demonstrated that they have the capacity to generate fresh, engaging music endlessly.“
John Eyles All About Jazz ****.5

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/each-edge-of-the-field-beresford-hammond-the-52nd-review-by-john-eyles.php

"The duo’s ability to summon unusual textures from their three instruments is remarkable.”
Adrian Pallant AP Reviews

https://ap-reviews.com/2017/07/10/each-edge-of-the-field-beresford-hammond/

We are currently putting some shows together in December and we will touring in the Spring next year.

charlieberesford:

Nice review for ‘Each Edge of the Field’ courtesy of ‘thejazzmann.com’…

http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/beresford-hammond-each-edge-of-the-field/

charlieberesford:

You can pre-order the new Beresford Hammond CD ‘Each Edge of the Field’ here now….. Very excited about this record..

https://the52nd.bandcamp.com/album/each-edge-of-the-field

19th November at St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye concert tickets can be purchased online at: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/378822

and

2nd December Weybridge, Surrey. Tickets on the door at this one.

Here in the hills we continue to pursue our creativity separately and as a duo or trio with Carolyn Hume.  Last week took us deeper into the countryside to an amazing acoustic that Sonia has played classical concerts in many times in the last decade.

Our two recent videos “She meets he” and  “Bryngwyn” are the latest output with Charlie working his magic on the visuals and playing guitar.

We are releasing an improvised piece a month on the 52nd bandcamp, the first one is up.

https://the52nd.bandcamp.com/track/at-the-moment-it-broke

‘The Lightning Bell’ has had a great review from Bad Alchemy magazine based in Germany; here is an English translation.

‘THE LIGHTNING BELL’ Beresford Hammond Hume

A lot more than just the 52^nd parallel links Gaena da Sylva and Charlie Beresford across 3000 miles. They share a vision and a sense for the most delicate of grey in greys, the photographer from Quebec and the artist from Shropshire, who brings music to these shades of grey with his acoustic guitar and whispered singing voice. On their reunion after their ‘Winterreise’ ‘The Science of Snow’, da Sylva releases doves in the air and, alongside the wistful cello of Sonia Hammond, Carolyn Hume, Beresford’s partner in Fourth Page and Crystal Moth, feels for braille messages of sorrow from the piano. From the Castalia and Parva Springs string quartets, the St Woolos Players and the Brecknock Sinfonia, Hammond is tuned in to a sense for Schubert and Mahler, the emotional landscapes of Vaughan Williams and Hamish MacCunn, to ‘Tears of Gaia’ and ‘Reveries on a River Journey’, as well as with Troy Redfern to the firestorm over Dresden. When softly  humming, she underpins what Beresford starts to sing in a fragile whisper, time seems  to consist of dark, crumbling hours. A pun like ‘Feather War Cast’ gives the melancholy a sarcastic undertone, around which they play, Beresford in random Spanish like a pecking bird, Hume with dreamy welling cascades of notes, and Hammond with a resonant sadness and gossamer threads. ‘Then the Cloud Comes’, marked with shimmering guitar strings, increases its appeal with the gentle voice of Judie Tzuke, matching Beresford note for note like the grey on grey of 52^nd parallel’s aesthetic. When the gloss of the cello contrasts with the gloom of Hume’s left hand, as in ‘The Heavy Branch’, that only deepens the twilight in which this muffled world is immersed. The tempo is always down, the voice never more than a breath or a whisper. A guitar sound both smooth and bubbling and polished piping cello strings show the finesse of this playing, as well as the strong empathy of Beresford and Hammond shared from the Radnor Improvisers. ‘As If All was Within’ is part of this intimacy, and Beresford seesaws between the strings, as the sadness compresses into a cloud of darkness. Erratic knocking sounds set the tone for ‘In the Dark Hours’, and Tzuke breathes on her face in the mirror against a string sound which moves in the depths like a will o’ the wisp in a ghostly near-permeability between the worlds in front of and behind the mirror. Gently quaking, swirling and warbling and in the darkest of piano tones, the session, the séance in Cwm Gwilym School House finally arrives at a resonant current, but deeply infused in the minor key.

Rigo Dittmann 2016

http://www.badalchemy.de/

Also another great review from AP Reviews.

https://ap-reviews.com/2016/07/05/the-lightning-bell-beresford-hammond-hume/

Post equinox the crepuscular creatures bring more inspiration and we’re looking forward to two trio  concerts in Hay –on-Wye on 19^th November and Weybridge on December 2^nd. Details of both concerts will be posted shortly.