11 Gillett Square
Tue 1 Sept · 19:45 · £15
Doors 7:45 PM, Music 8:30 PM - 2 set(s) of music Line-up: Ashkan Layegh - Piano Sam Norris - Alto saxophone Gonçalo Maia Caetano - Bass guitar Harry Ling - Drum kit Johanna Summer (special guest) - Piano About: Formed in 2021 by Iranian composer and multi-instrumentalist, Ashkan Layegh, Phemo Quartet aims to broaden the spectrum of live-action interplay through a highly-detailed score. The band includes some of the UK’s most progressive instrumentalists; Ashkan Layegh (composer, piano, guitar) Sam Norris (alto saxophone) Gonçalo Maia Caetano (bass guitar) and Harry Ling (drums). Phemo Quartet won the second prize at the 16th European Young Artists’ Jazz Award at the 2026 Burghausen Jazz Festival. They performed alongside the London Sinfonietta for the premiere of Ephemerality and Recurrence— Layegh’s recent multi-media project commissioned by London Sinfonietta— as part of the 2025 EFG Jazz Festival. They premiered their debut project Anti-Revelation (2022)— an hour-long 5-movement cycle— at the Vortex Jazz Club. They also shared the stage at the Kings Place with ECM recording artist, Nik Bärtsch. For this concert, celebrating the release of their debut album ‘Anti-Revelation’, Phemo Quartet will be joined by German pianist and composer Johanna Summer. Summer is praised for her open and flexible playing style and her ability to set classical music in an improvised context. Her first album, ‘Schumann Kaleidoscope’ dealt with compositions by Robert Schumann and was nominated for the German Jazz Prize in 2021. Johanna was a member of the German National Jazz Orchestra (Bundesjazzorchester) and is a regular guest at national and international jazz and classical music festivals. At the beginning of 2023 she finished her master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne and is currently living in Leipzig. Her solo record ‘Resonances’ was released in January 2023. With her varied concert programme she works to refine the concept of her debut and makes pieces from different composers, ranging from Bach to Ligeti, the basis of the continuing narrative of her music.
Not the same tradition as the lineage above — a genuinely different thread to pull, if you want one.