John Russel

Born 1954, London.

John Russell got his first guitar in 1965 while living in Kent and  began to play in and around London from 1971 onwards.

An early  involvement with the emerging free improvisation scene (from 1972)  followed, seeing him play in such places as The Little Theatre Club,  Ronnie Scott’s, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Musicians’ Co-Op and the London Musicians’ Collective.

From 1974 his work extended  into teaching, broadcasts (radio and television) and touring in the United Kingdom and, ever extensively, in other countries around the world . He has played with many of the world’s leading improvisers and his work can be heard on over 50 CDs and albums.

In 1981, he founded QuaQua, a large bank of  improvisers put together in different combinations for specific  projects and, in 1991, he started Mopomoso which has become the UK’s  longest running concert series featuring mainly improvised music.