© Logo design by Ror Conaty
This two-horns-no-chords quartet was established by drummer Matthew Jacobson in 2007 as a creative outlet for his compositions as well as his somewhat perverse fascination with anagrams. While he failed to find such avid fellow followers of wordplays, he did find and enlist the help of improv and rhythmic specialists Derek Whyte (bass), Nick Roth (alto sax) and Colm O'Hara (trombone).
The band play all original compositions from Jacobson ("a European jazz artist of growing charisma" - the Guardian) with influences as diverse as Charles Mingus, the Books, Deerhoof and Tim Berne. The formula for putting all this together in one palindromic setting is downtown grooves with catchy riffs, interlocking melodies and collective improvs.
ReDiviDeR have recorded three albums for Diatribe, Ireland’s leading record label for new sounds. ‘Never odd or eveN’ was released in November 2011 to a four-star review in the Irish Times and a "one to watch out for" recommendation in All About Jazz. ‘Meets I Dig Monk, Tuned’ was released in October 2013 and has been called "an inspired endeavour" (No More Workhorse), "a big leap forward" (Marlbank) and "a striking musical collage… recommended for those generally disposed to imaginative, genre-bending music" (All About Jazz).
After a brief sabbatical from public performances following their second album, the group developed a new approach, aiming to give maximum freedom to each of the musicians’ considerable improvisatory instincts, while still retaining Jacobson’s penchant for off-kilter grooves and interlocking melodies. The resulting album 'Mere Nation' was launched at New Music Dublin Festival on the 29th February 2020 and has been described as "a colourful box of delights" (All About Jazz) and "yet another document of this fabulous quartet and their way of rethinking jazz" (Bernard Clarke, RTE Lyric FM)
The group have performed extensively across Ireland and the UK as well as touring and playing festivals in France, Italy and Sweden.
The band play all original compositions from Jacobson ("a European jazz artist of growing charisma" - the Guardian) with influences as diverse as Charles Mingus, the Books, Deerhoof and Tim Berne. The formula for putting all this together in one palindromic setting is downtown grooves with catchy riffs, interlocking melodies and collective improvs.
ReDiviDeR have recorded three albums for Diatribe, Ireland’s leading record label for new sounds. ‘Never odd or eveN’ was released in November 2011 to a four-star review in the Irish Times and a "one to watch out for" recommendation in All About Jazz. ‘Meets I Dig Monk, Tuned’ was released in October 2013 and has been called "an inspired endeavour" (No More Workhorse), "a big leap forward" (Marlbank) and "a striking musical collage… recommended for those generally disposed to imaginative, genre-bending music" (All About Jazz).
After a brief sabbatical from public performances following their second album, the group developed a new approach, aiming to give maximum freedom to each of the musicians’ considerable improvisatory instincts, while still retaining Jacobson’s penchant for off-kilter grooves and interlocking melodies. The resulting album 'Mere Nation' was launched at New Music Dublin Festival on the 29th February 2020 and has been described as "a colourful box of delights" (All About Jazz) and "yet another document of this fabulous quartet and their way of rethinking jazz" (Bernard Clarke, RTE Lyric FM)
The group have performed extensively across Ireland and the UK as well as touring and playing festivals in France, Italy and Sweden.
Performance highlights/awards/recordings:
- Galway Jazz Festival – supporting Chris Potter’s Underground - November 2010
- 12Points! Festival – representing Ireland - May 2011
- Cork Jazz Festival – ‘Best Young Irish Band’ - October 2011
- ‘Never odd or eveN’ – Diatribe - Album released November 2011
- Music Network Performance & Touring Award - Irish Album Launch Tour – November 2011
- Match&Fuse UK Tour – with London band WorldService Project (WSP) – January 2012
- Bray Jazz Festival – May 2012
- Match&Fuse Festival - London – June 2012
- BBC 3’s Somethin’ Else - broadcast of M&F Festival set & interviews - July 2012
- Music Network Recording Scheme Award - ReDiviDeR meets I Dig Monk, Tuned – 2012
- Down With Jazz Festival - Dublin - August 2012
- Arts Council of Ireland EU Presidency Award - for two Match&Fuse Irish Tours - 2013
- Match&Fuse Irish Tour - with WSP (UK) - March 2013
- Match&Fuse Irish Tour - with Alfie Ryner (FR) - June 2013
- 'meets I Dig Monk, Tuned' – Diatribe – Album released October 2013
- Match&Fuse Festival - Rome - June 2014
- MusicTown Festival - Triple Bill with OKO and Alarmist - April 2015
- Match&Fuse Swedish Tour - with Water Boogie System (SE) and Jazzpospolita (PL) - November 2015
- Down With Jazz Festival - Dublin - June 2016
- Dublin Jazz Coop - Dublin - April 2018
- IMC's Signal Series - Dublin - April 2019
- Bray Jazz Festival – May 2019
- City of Derry Jazz Festival - May 2019
- 'Mere Nation' Album Launch on Diatribe at New Music Dublin - February 2020
- Brilliant Corners Festival - March 2021
- Ballydehob Jazz Festival – May 2021
Press/Reviews
"... nevertheless, some performance-based videos work well on their own terms. Dublin-based quartet ReDiviDeR are captured in flat monochrome inside the featureless void of Belfast performance space the Black Box. Starved of distractions, the eye greedily feasts on the detailed interplay between drums, electric bass, sax and trombone as the quartet explored Dolphy-ish prog-jazz compositions with a marked 90s downtown NYC influence, fading to barely-there lower case improv and interludes of wafting delicacy.”
Daniel Spicer, The Wire (Review of Brilliant Corners Festival June, 2021)
"Mere Nation is a colorful box of delights. Rambunctious, brooding and tender in turn, drummer Matthew Jacobson's compositions explore a heady no man's land between discipline and freedom... Within Mere Nation's multi-layered textures resides a beguiling hybrid of simplicity and complexity, tunefulness and adventure. A powerful recording from a group that continues to build on something special."
Ian Patterson, All About Jazz (Full album review 12th May 2020)
"I thought that I knew what to expect from the set – free improvisation throughout – so when, entirely unpredicted but perfectly prepared, the beat dropped, it was an unspeakable release. ReDiViDeR’s breadth was remarkable: all four players could with equal musicality play the subtlest free-jazz soundscapes as well as expressive solos and explosive, complex grooves."
James Camien McGuiggan, The Journal of Music (Full gig review 5th March 2020)
“yet another document of this fabulous quartet and their way of rethinking jazz"
Bernard Clarke, RTE Lyric FM (Blue of the Night radio show 17th March 2020)
"Matthew Jacobson has come up with the goods big time on Mere Nation. Jacobson's sound lands in general terms somewhere between say Han Bennink and Bobby Previte and so what that means (in case you haven't heard him before and can't place what he is doing immediately) his is an open 'beyond the barline' soundworld, not necessarily banishing groove but not wholly dependent on it, pulse however always there and vital."
Stephen Graham, Marlbank (Full album review 7th March 2020)
“Redivider can hold their heads up with the most creative new jazz bands anywhere as there’s a thoughtfulness, swagger, and confidence about them that’s fresh and fulfilling and crucially they also really cut it live. A big leap forward.”
Stephen Graham, Marlbank (Full album review 20th Sep 2013)
“ReDiviDeR meets I Dig Monk, Tuned explores fertile new ground whilst maintaining the band's core groove-cum-improv sound. This striking musical collage is recommended for anagram/palindrome heads, nitwits and those generally disposed towards imaginative, genre-bending music.”
Ian Patterson, All About Jazz (Full album review 27th Sep 2013)
“…drummer/leader Matthew Jacobson is a European jazz artist of growing charisma. [Tim] Berne and Jim Black fans, among others, will feel at home with this variously melodious and unswervingly exploratory music.”
John Fordham, The Guardian (Full album review 11th Oct 2013)
“…an inspired endeavor… In assembling such a varied cast of performers, and giving such attention in the compositions to each component; ReDiviDeR and company have created music where each player has their voice heard, yet the sum is more again. Like some fine Italian cooking, a few ingredients used the right way produces something unexpected, satisfying and hugely enjoyable.”
Cormac Donnelly, No More Workhorse (Full album review 26th Sep 2013)
"On the outdoor stage the RedivideR quartet from Dublin weave a path through the cunning origami of drummer Matt Jacobson's compositions. On 'Royal Gardens' and 'In Aid Of' it's as if Jacobson's fascination with anagrams and palindromes has taken a seductive musical form. RedivideR know the mystery of a sudden decrescendo , and strike a nice balance between cerebral and groove."
Clive Bell, The Wire (Review of London Match&Fuse Festival, June 2012
“…rarely compositions in the traditional sense, they provide rugged landscapes for the group to explore, and with open minds and considerable technical aplomb, the group do just that.”
Cormac Larkin, The Irish Times (Album review 18th Nov 2011)
"... nevertheless, some performance-based videos work well on their own terms. Dublin-based quartet ReDiviDeR are captured in flat monochrome inside the featureless void of Belfast performance space the Black Box. Starved of distractions, the eye greedily feasts on the detailed interplay between drums, electric bass, sax and trombone as the quartet explored Dolphy-ish prog-jazz compositions with a marked 90s downtown NYC influence, fading to barely-there lower case improv and interludes of wafting delicacy.”
Daniel Spicer, The Wire (Review of Brilliant Corners Festival June, 2021)
"Mere Nation is a colorful box of delights. Rambunctious, brooding and tender in turn, drummer Matthew Jacobson's compositions explore a heady no man's land between discipline and freedom... Within Mere Nation's multi-layered textures resides a beguiling hybrid of simplicity and complexity, tunefulness and adventure. A powerful recording from a group that continues to build on something special."
Ian Patterson, All About Jazz (Full album review 12th May 2020)
"I thought that I knew what to expect from the set – free improvisation throughout – so when, entirely unpredicted but perfectly prepared, the beat dropped, it was an unspeakable release. ReDiViDeR’s breadth was remarkable: all four players could with equal musicality play the subtlest free-jazz soundscapes as well as expressive solos and explosive, complex grooves."
James Camien McGuiggan, The Journal of Music (Full gig review 5th March 2020)
“yet another document of this fabulous quartet and their way of rethinking jazz"
Bernard Clarke, RTE Lyric FM (Blue of the Night radio show 17th March 2020)
"Matthew Jacobson has come up with the goods big time on Mere Nation. Jacobson's sound lands in general terms somewhere between say Han Bennink and Bobby Previte and so what that means (in case you haven't heard him before and can't place what he is doing immediately) his is an open 'beyond the barline' soundworld, not necessarily banishing groove but not wholly dependent on it, pulse however always there and vital."
Stephen Graham, Marlbank (Full album review 7th March 2020)
“Redivider can hold their heads up with the most creative new jazz bands anywhere as there’s a thoughtfulness, swagger, and confidence about them that’s fresh and fulfilling and crucially they also really cut it live. A big leap forward.”
Stephen Graham, Marlbank (Full album review 20th Sep 2013)
“ReDiviDeR meets I Dig Monk, Tuned explores fertile new ground whilst maintaining the band's core groove-cum-improv sound. This striking musical collage is recommended for anagram/palindrome heads, nitwits and those generally disposed towards imaginative, genre-bending music.”
Ian Patterson, All About Jazz (Full album review 27th Sep 2013)
“…drummer/leader Matthew Jacobson is a European jazz artist of growing charisma. [Tim] Berne and Jim Black fans, among others, will feel at home with this variously melodious and unswervingly exploratory music.”
John Fordham, The Guardian (Full album review 11th Oct 2013)
“…an inspired endeavor… In assembling such a varied cast of performers, and giving such attention in the compositions to each component; ReDiviDeR and company have created music where each player has their voice heard, yet the sum is more again. Like some fine Italian cooking, a few ingredients used the right way produces something unexpected, satisfying and hugely enjoyable.”
Cormac Donnelly, No More Workhorse (Full album review 26th Sep 2013)
"On the outdoor stage the RedivideR quartet from Dublin weave a path through the cunning origami of drummer Matt Jacobson's compositions. On 'Royal Gardens' and 'In Aid Of' it's as if Jacobson's fascination with anagrams and palindromes has taken a seductive musical form. RedivideR know the mystery of a sudden decrescendo , and strike a nice balance between cerebral and groove."
Clive Bell, The Wire (Review of London Match&Fuse Festival, June 2012
“…rarely compositions in the traditional sense, they provide rugged landscapes for the group to explore, and with open minds and considerable technical aplomb, the group do just that.”
Cormac Larkin, The Irish Times (Album review 18th Nov 2011)
Albums:
|
|
Videos:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photos:
