Prolific, restlessly imaginative, and occasionally controversial, pianist Matthew Bourne (pictured left), marks the end of a busy year – in which he released his widely praised solo piano album Montauk Variations (Leaf Label), and launched new doom-jazz quartet Collider – by embarking on a four-date ‘world tour’ of London. Each of the four London concerts will see the wildly creative pianist in a variety of musical settings, all featuring his intense blend of fast moving free improv and virtuosic abandon.

The first of these shows, on Tuesday 9 October at Deptford’s Laban Theatre, will be an epic Piano Relay featuring five leading UK pianists alongside Bourne, including Liam Noble, Kit Downes, Robert Mitchell, Alcyona Mick and Pat Thomas. The concert will feature duo performances and a relay in which all six musicians perform an extended, improvised piece in spontaneous combinations. The performance will also be recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Jazz On 3 show.

Bourne’s second ‘world tour’ concert sees him performing on the opening night of Talvin Singh’s Symbiosis Of Sound festival at King’s Place on 11 October, where he will play improvisations on solo piano. The bill includes support from 20-year old Dublin-based, Indian piano prodigy Utsav Lal whose music utilises the Indian classical melodies and raga rhythm cycles to hypnotic effect. Talvin Singh will give a pre-concert talk.

The following night, Bourne makes a headline appearance at the prestigious St John’s Smith Square classical venue to perform pieces from his Montauk Variations album, and the whistle stop series concludes on Sunday 14 October in the much more low-key setting of Dalston’s Shacklewell Arms. Headlining will be Billy Moon, a new duo project between Bourne and London-based vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Seaming To. They will be performing brand new material which will be the basis of an album set for release in 2013. Bourne will also appear in support as part of gruff-voiced singer Andrew Plummer’s World Sanguine Report.

The pianist also plays two shows outside London that include a solo show on prepared piano Monday 29 October at the Richmond Atrium, University of Bradford, on a triple bill alongside singer/pianist Imani Hekima and solo pianist Stephen Grew, while Bourne plays a final solo show at The Shed, Brawby, Malton, North Yorkshire on 3 November.

The Leaf Label are offering the chance to win tickets to all of the ‘world tour’ concerts – click here for more info.

– Mike Flynn

Here’s a typically irreverent interpretation of ‘God Save The Queen’ – which Bourne recorded to mark this Jubilee Year.