Lluis Mather

Lluis Mather is a saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist and composer working across contemporary jazz, chamber music and free improvisation. Trained at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, he holds a First Class Honours degree and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, where he researched auditory perception and embodied cognition. He has been recognised with a Jerwood Jazz Fellowship, a Henri Selmer Paris artist residency and a Yamaha Jazz Scholarship, and was a finalist for WCOM Young Jazz Musician of the Year. Notable projects include a recording with the Mike Gibbs 12 dedicated to the music of Gil Evans, and The Trees, a nonet recorded live at the CBSO Centre under his Jazzlines Fellowship. His compositional language draws on Messiaen, Debussy, Berg and Takemitsu without abandoning improvisation as its core. He is currently preparing a new album for Stoney Lane Records — home to Bill Frisell and John O'Gallagher — setting poetry to music for voice, cello, saxophone/bass clarinet, piano and percussion. Based in Valencia, he performs regularly across Spain and the UK.

Lluis Mather performs on the Royal Global Polaris Low C Bass clarinet with a Buffet mouthpiece, and was formerly an artist for Selmer Paris. When asked why he plays Royal, he states, "The Polaris is a great instrument for a musician with a focus on jazz. The instrument feels great, and is a real joy to play. The response is excellent for improvising contexts — which suits the doubling situations in which I also play it — but it also has a fantastic warm sound, which is something I value across all my instruments." Explaining his switch to Royal, he shares, "I was looking for a high-end instrument to low C that could easily play the full range of styles — from free improvisation and jazz through to contemporary music — and that sounded great, in keeping with the sound I aim for on my tenor sax. And I found it! The keywork feels excellent, and the low end is fantastic right down to the low C. It's a real joy to play, and I can really get further inside the music playing it." Reflecting on the value Royal has brought to him, his artistry, and his studio, he notes, "One of the main things has been how well it sits alongside my tenor saxophone, and in general in improvised contexts. Finding an instrument with a tone matching what I aim for on tenor — with as much warmth, breadth and presence as possible — was something I hadn't found before on bass clarinet. The mechanism also feels very familiar from other clarinets I've played, so I felt comfortable on it very quickly. That ease of transition has genuinely expanded how, and how much, I use bass clarinet in my work."