Engine Room Favourites was formed in 2012 by Martin Archer, initially for a one off performance, and following that as a recording unit and permanent configuration. The concept of the group is to write music structured primarily around the four drummers / percussionists, and to orchestrate this with material from the other players giving them a great deal of freedom to re-invent and re-interpret their scored material with each new performance.
The format harks back to Archer's earliest experience in creative music, as a follower of the AACM school of music pioneered by Art Ensemble of Chicago, Leo Smith, and Anthony Braxton. This is a style which has never been really followed up by European musicians, nevertheless it remains the model for Archer's contributions to jazz based music. Archer has said "the appeal of this style to me is that it remains considered, spacious and open, without sacrificing any of the improvisational heat and energy which places its exponent players firmly in the avant garde tradition".
"If Martin Archer's career is so fascinating, it is in large part because of the artist's unabashed eclecticism. Blue Meat, Black Diesel & Engine Room Favourites is a free jazz project, AACM style - and an entirely acoustic project. Archer (saxes, bass clarinet, bass recorder, bass harmonica) is backed by 11 musicians: brass, strings, piano, vibes and four other percussionists. The CD features three tracks of increasing duration, from 4 to 42 minutes. Composed cells with lots of room to improvise, "heads" surfacing here and there, fluxes coalescing into vamps - I'm reminded of the compositional systems of Roscoe Mitchell and Anthony Braxton, of Sun Ra's immediacy too . A tribute? A demonstration of creative strength? A new direction? A little bit of all of that, and Archer pulls it all off brilliantly." - FRANCOIS COUTURE, MONSIUER DELIRE
Martin Archer - sopranino, alto & baritone saxophones, bass clarinet
Laura Cole - piano
Corey Mwamba - vibraphone
Graham Clark - violin
Seth Bennett - bass
James Archer - bass clarinet
Kim Macari - trumpet
Lee Hallam - trombone
Peter Fairclough - percussion
Walt Shaw - percussion
Johnny Hunter - percussion
Steve Dinsdale - percussion
