Jump For Joy!

Jump for Joy! is a group of improvisers, of particular interest to fans of the genre as it includes members of cult groups Henry Cow and Faust. Jump for Joy! Was formed out of the ashes of You Me & Us (3), following the sudden withdrawal of Daevid Allen in May 2014, unable to perform due to his health deteriorating (he died 10 months later). The band was still booked to play at Jean-Hervé Peron’s Avantgarde Festival in Schiphorst in June 2014, so the 2 remaining members (Chris Cutler and Yumi Hara-Cawkwell) were joined on this occasion by Jean-Hervé Peron’s band Faust to play an all improvised set, with Geoff Leigh also jumping in (for joy). After the festival, what was to be a one-off event transformed into an established band who played for a few more occasions at Festival “Jazz Is Dangerous”, Gothenburg, Sweden in 2015, and Festival “Rock in Opposition”, in France in 2016. Note the similarity of this story with that of The Artaud Beats (involving also musicians Yumi Hara-Cawkwell, Chris Cutler and Geoff Leigh), who was also formed after a chance encounter a few years earlier, during the same Avant-Garde festival, and also at the initiative of Jean-Hervé Péron.