Biography of Fly Agaric

FLY AGARIC is a longstanding collaboration between four musicians who met during their studies. Jazz being their common ground, they each bring to the feast an array of seemingly unrelated and eclectic musical ingredients (African and Latin American dance music, Eastern European Folk, Classical and Contemporary music). Their material is original- at times thoroughly composed and arranged, at times riotously free. The band commands a broad palette of
sound settings, starting with the conventional jazz sax quartet and expanding into less well-charted territory through the use of accordion, brass clarinet, percussion and extended techniques.


Zac Gvi (sax, clarinet) is a multi-instrumentalist and composer from London and a graduate of the music programme at Oxford University. He has played various roles in different musical traditions – be it Jazz, Eastern European Folk, Improv, Contemporary Classical or Dance – and is an open-minded, versatile musician. He has been a member of the F-IRE Collective since 2011.

Composer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger Fred Thomas (drums, percussion) studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music. As a member of the F-IRE collective and curator of F-IRE Klang Codex, he now performs regularly with The Magic Lantern, Oren Marshall & KK Sound Archive. Fred has toured worldwide and appeared at such festivals as TED, Aldeburgh & Womad, and works with Harmonia Mundi, World Connection, Proper, F-IRE & Loop Records.

Jiri Slavik (contrabass) a Czech-born double bassist and composer is a graduate of Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome and Royal Academy of Music in London. His music has been broadcasted by radios such as France Culture or Czech Radio 3 Vltava and played in places ranging from the Forbidden City Hall in Beijing to Alexandria Centre of Art. He is endorsed by d’Addario Strings.

Born in Spain, Francesc Marco (piano, accordion) attended the Conservatoire of the City of Luxembourg during his childhood and completed a Postgraduate Course in jazz piano at the Royal Academy of Music of London. He has closely collaborated with the F-IRE collective, performing with Barak Schmool’s Méta méta and Timeline and recording with Rhythms of the City on keyboards and Brazilian percussion. He specialises in stride piano, regularly performing in London and the UK.