The second listen to live improvisation over field recordings today – Oxford Improvisers took on the challenge of a long, tense recording from on board a BA flight to Venice from Gatwick. It’s tense because it’s the period just before (and including) takeoff, so there’s the build of tension before the engines really kick in, and an almost palpable sense of tension in the recording (or maybe that’s just me as a nervous flyer, but coming out of a loud PA as it was that night, it certainly seemed tense). For the memory versions, there’s a subtle solo woodwind accompaniment, and a complete group improvisation (pictured), which is much more chaotic and louder.

City version:

 

Memory version 1:

 

Memory version 2: 

 

 

The musicians:

Veronica Cordova, voice and objects
Dan Goren, trumpet and flugelhorn
John Grieve, tenor and baritone saxes
Finn Hackett, electronics
Martin Hackett, melodica and chord harmonica
Paul Medley, Bb and bass clarinets
Robert Ridley Shackleton, miscellaneous electronics.