John Russell

born in London in 1954, began playing guitar in 1965 and started performing in clubs in and around London in 1971.

From 1972 he was part of the British free jazz scene and played in clubs such as The Little Theatre Club, Ronnie Scott’s, The Institute of Contemporary Arts and with the artist groups The Musicians’ Co-Op and The London Musicians’ Collective. In 1974 he played in a quintet with the pianist Steve Beresford (Teatime).

From 1974 he also worked as a teacher, appeared on television and radio and toured extensively throughout the UK and Europe. In 1978 he released his first album of solo improvisations (From Next to Last).

In June 1980, he performed in Günter Christmann’s band with Maggie Nichols, Maarten Altena and Paul Lovens at the Moers Jazz Festival. In 1981 he founded the Quaqua formation and recorded a series of albums for the Emanem and ACTA labels with John Butcher and Phil Durrant, among others. In 1988, he co-founded the long-running concert series for improvised music MOPOMOSO.

In addition to his own projects, Russell worked in the early 1990s with the Butcher/Durrant/Russell Trio, the Chris Burn Ensemble (Navigations 1997), in a duo with Stefan Keune as well as with Roger Turner, Phil Minton, Gina Southgate, Evan Parker, Hugh Davies and Luc Houtkamp and in the formation London Air Lift (1996/87) with Evan Parker, John Edwards and Mark Sanders. In 2005 he played in Evan Parker’s octet and in Lol Coxhill’s ensemble, and in 2006 in a formation with John Butcher, Roger Turner, Thomas Lehn, Dorothea Schürch and Günter Christmann. He plays in a trio with Roger Turner and Michel Doneda.

John Russel died on 19 January 2021.