Fire! Orchestra and Soul Jazz Sound System, The Laundry

With the support of veteran Lebanese DJ Morphosis and members of London’s Soul Jazz Collective, the 28 piece Swedish behemoth Fire! Orchestra  is set to tear up this London fields club with a night of visceral collective improvisation. 

Led by Mats Gustafsson, saxophonist with free jazz trio The Thing, bassist Johan Berthling  of Tape, and Andreas Werliin, drummer for Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Fire! are proof that improvised music can work on a vast scale. 

Drawing inspiration from the sound of heavy industry as much as from jazz, rock, punk and electronica, they’re unsurprisingly capable of thrilling cacophony, with vocalists, multiple drummers, horns, string players and keyboardists all piling into the mix with abandon. Yet, as their 2013 release Exit! goes to show, dramatic shifts in texture and sudden passages of calm also feature, keeping both the band and the audience on their toes. 

This is not a gig for the faint hearted, but those who like their jazz chaotic and unrestrained will struggle to find anything that fits the bill better than this.