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About the show
The Gigspanner Big Band are a unique force in British folk music.
Their high-energy, virtuosic performances appeal equally to traditionalists and to those seeking something more experimental, and they have garnered praise from publications as varied as fRoots, The Telegraph and The Wire, where they were described as “melodically folk-rooted yet open and innovative beyond the constraints of genre.”
Beginning life as a trio – with legendary Steeleye Span fiddle player Peter Knight joined by percussionist Sacha Trochet and guitarist Roger Flack – the line-up has since expanded to form the Gigspanner Big Band. Acclaimed multi-instrumental duo Edgelarks (Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin – BBC Folk Awards ‘Best Duo’) and Bellowhead co-founder and melodeon player extraordinaire John Spiers have joined the fray.
While Peter Knight, as part of Steeleye Span’s classic 1970s line-up, helped invent a brand of folk rock that remains influential today, John Spiers has had an equally profound impact on the landscape of traditional music over the last two decades.
Characterised by riotous inventiveness, technically gifted individual playing and subtle collaborative interaction, this coming together of several of the biggest names on the folk-roots scene combines a deep knowledge of roots traditions with a ceaselessly boundary-pushing approach.
Unsurprisingly, the superlatives have come thick and fast…
“Their collective elan has a forceful presence unmatched in British folk”
The Guardian
Featuring
Peter Knight's Gigspanner
In the wake of his departure from Steeleye Span, fiddle player Peter Knight has turned his full attention to his trio Gigspanner, and in the process has established their reputation as a genuinely ground-breaking force on the British folk scene, described by Folk Radio UK as one of the “most quietly brilliant sets of musicians in the folk world and beyond”.
“Unhindered by the limits of technical ability” (Spiral Earth), they take self-penned material along with music rooted in the British Isles and with the flick of a bow, a finely chosen chord or slip of a beat, produce richly atmospheric arrangements layered in a wealth of subliminal musical influences “with notes seemingly plucked from the stars and rhythms from the equator”
What makes Gigspanner unique is the variety of musical colours on their palette. What makes them brilliant is how they blend them without ever muddying the landscape ~ Spiral Earth
2016 was a vintage year for the trio, with Peter receiving Fatea Magazine's 'Instrumentalist of the Year' Award and ‘Best Musician’ in the inaugural folking. com Awards as voted for by the concert going public. Their album 'Layers of Ages' was included in many of the end of year 'Best of ' lists, including The Telegraph, which gave the album a rare five stars.
The advent of Gigspanner has introduced a whole new audience to the extraordinary musicianship of Peter Knight, a violinist whom many consider to be in a league of his own. The late author Sir Terry Pratchett in praising Peter's great gift wrote with typical lyricism "Peter Knight can spin the world on his Bow"
Peter is joined by Roger Flack on Guitar and Sacha Trochet on Percussion, both powerful and intelligent musicians in their own right.
See Peter Knight's Gigspanner tour dates