dominic lash quartet

Dominic Lash - double bass, compositions, arrangements
Javier Carmona - percussion
Ricardo Tejero - reeds
Alex Ward - electric guitar and clarinet


Limulus (recorded live at Cafe Oto in January 2019) was released on Spoonhunt in summer 2021 (CD and digital).


The second album by the band - the first to feature Alex Ward on guitar and clarinet - released on Iluso Records in March 2017!

Also available on Bandcamp.



News on concert dates to follow!
  • Review by John Sharpe at All About Jazz (26/9/17): "an inquiring, wide ranging and irreverent mix"
  • Review at Bird is the Worm (26/6/17): "always full of intrigue and leaving the ear guessing"
  • Review in Attn:Magazine (30/5/17): "Was that all for real? Or was it all part of the show?"
  • Review (4 stars) by David Menestres at Free Jazz Blog (30/4/17): "... an adventurous album that manages to walk the line between improvisation and composition, producing an album with just enough form for your ear to lock unto and just enough freedom to keep your ears and your mind interested."
  • Review at Marlbank (24/4/17): "Easier to digest than before, the fact remains Lash is scandalously under-recognised. That must change and hopefully will as his elaborately conceived intuitive creativity is more than worth more of us getting to know."
  • Review by Stewart Smith at The Quietus (24/4/17): "Lash is a bassist and bandleader of distinction, and this album from his Anglo-Spanish quartet is one of his most impressive projects to date."
  • Review by Tim Owen at Dalston Sound (21/4/17): "... orchestrated... with precision economy... no flab or faff..."
  • Review (4 1/2 stars) by John Eyles at All About Jazz (11/4/17): "... thrilling listening... plenty here to savour time and time again."
  • Review by Sammy Stein at Kind of Jazz (25/3/17): "The reeds sound like demented wasps in some vast echoey space at one point..."
  • Review by Daev Tremblay at Can This Even Be Called Music? (16/3/17): "an incredibly enjoyable end product that’s mind-numbingly challenging to analyse musically"



Dominic Lash - double bass, compositions
Javier Carmona - percussion
Alexander Hawkins - piano
Ricardo Tejero - saxophones and clarinet


debut CD Opabinia still available
stream whole album for free, or buy CDs and digital downloads here

this album was recorded with support from Jazz Services and Arts Council England
to whom many thanks

  • Review from Marlbank (31/12/2013): "Lash makes you really listen: a rare gift."
  • Review by John Eyles for All About Jazz (26/1/2014): "The Dominic Lash Quartet deserves to be around for a long time; it is going to be fascinating to watch them and their music develop." 
  • Review by Jouko Kirstilä for Jazzrytmit [in Finnish] (30/1/2014)
  • Review by John Sharpe for All About Jazz (4/3/2014): "Sure there is a cerebral element to both the compositions and their interpretation, but there is also a fair dash of sideways thinking and wit in the execution which negates any hint of austerity. ... It's not often that such nuanced charts are matched by such expansive elucidation, but Lash's unit makes the equation seem easy."
  • Review by Jon Turney for LondonJazzNews (5/4/2014): "There are musical specimens here that have established themselves in our ecosystem - a funky bass lope here, a bluesy lead there. In between are more tentative, less recognisable sound formations, an abstract scuffle on the strings, a sprinkle of piano clusters, like new mutations seeking a niche. Fanciful? Perhaps. And if this conveys a little of Lash's calculated approach to composition, it doesn't do justice to how much fun this recording is."
  • Short review from Culture Jazz [in French] (March 2014):"Musique vivante, donc!" 
  • Review on Textura: "the quietly innovative recording is certainly one of which Lash can be proud, and that it's his first project as sole leader makes the result even more impressive."
  • Jazzism magazine [Dutch] (June 2014): four star review by Ken Vos 
  • Review by Greg Buium for Point of Departure (June 2014): "designed in a single, sweeping 45-minute arc"
  • Review by Ian Mann for The Jazz Mann (July 2014): "a worthy leadership début from one of Britain’s most imaginative and in demand improvising musicians."
  • Review by Marco Carcasi for Kathodik (October 2014): "C'è logica, calore, movimento fisico e volontà dialogante. Un ottimo esordio da leader. Difficile chiedere altro."

Radio play includes BBC Radio Three (Late Junction), BBC 6Music (Freak Zone), WMBR (Sound Principles) and an album review on Radio Cardiff (Jazz Special).

Chosen as an album of the year 2013 by both Taylor Ho Bynum and Harris Eisenstadt at el intrus.


video by Matt Mead