“[Ron] Samworth, trumpeter Bill Clark, drummer Dylan van der Schyff and cellist Peggy Lee’s cinematic, adventurous compositions have gained Talking Pictures an international reputation as one of Canada’s finest modern jazz units.” – The Province (Canada)

Formed in 1993 by guitarist/composer Ron Samworth, Vancouver’s Talking Pictures is a quartet that synthesizes diverse musical experiences in a communion of form and freedom. With Bill Clark on trumpet, Dylan van der Schyff on drums, and Peggy Lee on cello, the group draws on a distinctive and wide ranging sonic palette and reveals an empathy that Canadian writer Mark Miller describes as “a closely attenuated style of group playing, deliberate yet wholly responsive, with a wonderful sense of space.” The jazz continuum from Armstrong to Zorn, the bold, abstract textures of new music and Jimi Hendrix, and the richly evocative spirit of Kurt Weill and Nino Rota all meet in a compelling sound world of near cinematic richness.

A frequent performer in their hometown, Talking Pictures has been featured in the Vancouver International Jazz Festival since 1993. They have toured across Canada and Europe where they have played at prestigious festivals and venues such as the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, the BIMhuis and De IJsbreker Music Centres in Amsterdam, Instants Chavirés in Paris and the Loft in Köln.

Talking Pictures also has a decidedly theatrical bent, having written and performed RubyCab, an original cabaret with the Ruby Slippers Theatre Company, as well as performed the music and text of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht with guest vocalists. They have also arranged and performed in an acclaimed production of Brecht’s Three Penny Opera.

Recordings: (available on itunes)
Intersection Poems, Talking Pictures and Wayne Horvitz (2005, Spool)
Humming, Talking Pictures and Jorrit Dijkstra (2000, Songlines)
The Mirror with a Memory (1997, Red Toucan)
Ciao Bella (1995, Red Toucan)

“…fragmented musical universes cohere wonderfully across this recording [Ciao Bella]. A mixture of parlorish, theatre-like musics that are unabashedly, swingingly danceable, [and] more unloosed horizontal trips across sound-becoming-song.” – Cadence Magazine (New York, USA)