Ledley is a highly original album of immersive, improvised electroacoustic music by acclaimed musicians: Raph Clarkson (trombone, FX), Chris Williams (saxophone, FX) and Riaan Vosloo (electronics, post-production)
Eponymously titled, Ledley is the duo’s debut release – a brilliant and adventurous tribute to legendary Spurs footballer, Ledley King – due for release via celebrated British creative music label, Impossible Ark Records
At times one thinks more of North Europe than of North London – the desolate ambiences of Biosphere, the lonely peals of Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen or his compatriot the saxophonist Jan Garbarek, his rich phrases rearing from deep space. However, the magnificent twin suites that comprise Ledley are most definitely, psycho-geographically linked to Tottenham, as titles such as “Seven Sisters Road” and “Lordship Lane”, both close to Spurs’ ground at White Hart Lane, attest. Ledley sets out to not only to show that improv practice and a love of football are by no means incompatible – the album is dedicated to Peter Freeman, doyen of the London free improv scene and fellow Spurs fan – but that through instrumental improv, deeper themes and emotions underlying the football supporting experience can be explored.
Comprising of virtuosos: Raph Clarkson on trombone and saxophonist Chris Williiams, both of whom utilise effects pedals as an intrinsic part of their performance, and with Riaan Vosloo providing further electronics and post-production, LEDLEY take their name from the legendary Spurs centre-half Ledley King, whose career was blighted by knee injuries but whose distinguished career and resilience in the face of adversity made him a universally revered figure, a worthy subject for meditation.
Side A’s pieces segue naturally into one another, commencing with “Better Than” in which LEDLEY seem to evolve into being, birth themselves, emerge slowly from their own womb, an altogether new musical creature. Flurries of alto, oblique drones, obscure scrapings and scurryings abound; by “F.O.B.T.W. part 2,” there’s a low end counterpoint of terse, rhythmical trombone rasps, a quite singular use of the instrument, as alto phrases circulate, illuminate the dark mix. “The King” salutes its subject in the manner of a New Orleans funeral march, or Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, dank, solemn sweeps of trailing brass. “Away Days” (only the most dedicated fans watch their team home and away) is a darkly beautiful tribute to the stoicism of the football supporter, whose lot is mostly frustration, disappointment, compulsively revisited week in, week out, plumbing the sublime with its long, looming horn motifs.
Side B begins not dissimilarly to side A, emerging from a burble of nascent electronics, static interference, a new strain of avant jazz born. “The Ambassador” (referencing King’s current role at the club) has about it an almost genial, glad-handing air, while “One Knee” has about it the cadences of a half-time chat over a pie and pint – rueful, cordial, fraternal in spirit. However, with “One Of Our Own” and “One Club”, meditative thought clouds rise once more in the mix, reverberant, salutary, a survey in a language antithetical to the terrace chant or football song yet one which speaks with unmatched eloquence and emotion about what LEDLEY describe as “the ritual, friendship, commitment, glory and struggle, pride in place and one’s roots; a dense meditation on what forms and shapes community”. LEDLEY’s Ledley is one of the most extraordinary tributes ever paid to a footballer.
In support of the album release LEDLEY will be performing material from the album at the following dates:
Tues 8th April 2025 – The Cube, Bristol