Chris Cundy
Playing bass clarinet, saxophones, and other woodwinds Chris is a composer, improviser and performer exploring experimental and pop music.
He tours internationally and has worked with Timber Timbre, Cold Specks, Guillemots, Fyfe Dangerfield, Little Annie, Devon Sproule, Longstone, and Kristin McClement. He appears on over sixty commercial recordings and has released a series of solo projects.
Growing up in the Medway towns he became friends with artist and musician Billy Childish who exposed him to the exploits of homemade music-making. This helped to instil a long lasting DIY approach in his own work and by the time he was 14 he had started out as a street busker. After hearing the Eric Dolphy Memorial Album he took up the bass clarinet. He is self-taught.
Also a visual artist, Chris studied painting at Cheltenham art college. During this period he started to explore improvised music in projects such as Grace & Delete - a duo with fellow painter and electronics musician James Dunn. He also began to establish self-developed playing techniques such as multi-phonics, circular breathing, micro tonality and generally speaking a more tactile approach to the instrument. This has led him to working with composers including Thanos Chrysakis, and Pete M Wyer. At Cheltenham he also met songwriter Fyfe Dangerfield who he has continued to collaborate with on a number of occasions since - most notably as an additional saxophonist with Mercury Prize nominated band Guillemots.``
He has also been involved with theatrical productions, and recently worked with composer Jon Nicholls on music for Florian Zellar's The Mother starring Gina McKee. In 2018 he was resident at Shakespeare's Globe performing original music by Theo Vidgen. He has also toured with NoFit State Circus.
One off sessions have seen Chris perform and record with Moby, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Lol Coxhill, Vieux Farka Touré, Fatoumata Diawara, Alexander Hawkins, and Lisa Hannigan.