nEiLo
Well-Known Member
JOHN BUTCHER
Saxophonist/Composer
Performs at LAZYBIRD,
International Bar,
Wicklow Street, Dublin2
Sunday 29th JUNE
Doors 8.00pm
Adm: 7 euros
John Butcher lives in London and began playing saxophone professionally in the early 80s. He initially worked in jazz (inc. the ŒBBC Award¹ winning Chris Burn Group¹s ³Mingus Suite²), contemporary dance and music theatre. At this time he was completing his research in Physics.
Since leaving academia in 1982 he has worked almost exclusively in improvisation and Œnew music¹. His music ranges through free improvisation, various structurings, his own compositions (such as 'Funforall' and 'no
stops, only commas' for Chris Burn¹s ENSEMBLE, and music for the Austrian group Polwechsel), multitracked pieces, work with pre-recorded tape, and also live electronics.
His first LP was Fonetiks (1985) - a duo with pianist Chris Burn, whom he continues to work with in many contexts. In 1984 he began another long term commitment - a trio with Phil Durrant and John Russell - later adding Radu
Malfatti and Paul Lovens to form News from the Shed. In 1987 he began running the record label ACTA, which now has 14 releases.
Solo concerts have long been a particular enthusiasm and challenge. 2000/01included performances in England, USA, Italy, Spain, Canada, Poland, Greece and France. He first recorded multitracked saxophones on Thirteen Friendly Numbers (Œ92) - receiving three Arts Council Bursaries to research this and multiphonic possibilities. His other solo CDs, London and Cologne (Œ96) and Fixations (14) (2001) focus on live performance. He was featured, performing solo, in the BBC TV series Date with an Artist.
A long standing interest in electronic music has led to a recent live electro-manipulations duo with Phil Durrant - CDs Secret Measures and Requests and Antisongs. A selection of groups he has played with include Derek Bailey¹s Company Weeks - the final version of John Stevens¹ Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Frisque Concordance with Georg Graewe - The Phil Minton Quartet¹s mouthful of ecstasy project - Fred van Hove¹s t¹nonet - Butch Morris¹ London Skyscraper - the Austrian new-music group Polwecshel. As an improviser he continues to play in many occasional, often once-only settings. These have included, for instance, duos with Fred Frith, Misha Mengelberg, Derek Bailey, Carlos Zingaro, Steve Beresford, Kaffe Matthews, Joe Morris, Jin Hi Kim. Workshops and lectures/demonstrations given by Butcher include events at the Third Internationale Tagung for Improvisation
(Luzern Conservatoire, Switzerland), Hurta Cordel (Madrid, Spain), Other Sounds (Seattle, USA), Sound Symposium (St. John¹s, Newfoundland), Vancouver Jazz Festival (Canada), Barcelona Conservatory (Spain), and the Royal
Academy of Music (London, England). He recently spoke at the 1st Symposium for Contemporary Music in Copenhagen, Denmark.
³John Butcher is currently the most radical saxophone experimenter on the planet.²
JAZZ-KVADRAT (Russia)
³A player who breaks open the extremes of free saxophone in order to find a more considered tongue.²
SUNDAY TIMES (UK)
³Butcher is now quite simply one of the most effective free players in Europe: exact, unfussy and full of ideas.²
PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ ON CD (UK)
"In the world of saxophone music, players using extended techniques to make unusual sounds with the horn are common, but few have established a voice as original as John Butcher's. His saxophone acts as an extension of his own voice as he employs such techniques as growling and flutter tonguing to make his saxophone talk, sing, cry, whisper and laugh. What is more impressive is how he has incorporated all of this into a musical language that is both complicated and accessible. One of the central figures in Europe's avant-garde music scene."
SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN (USA)
The 43 year old saxophonist has developed a unique style which he has used to assert himself as one of the most original saxophone voices of the late 20th century.
CODA (Canada)
"English saxophonist John Butcher long ago tossed out 90% of his instrument's conventional vocabulary and created a highly individual dialect from the sounds that were left. He's so developed his mastery of multiphonics that he can shift between grainy gargles and pure sculpted tones, and back again, within a single phrase. He's also an impressive manipulator of acoustic effects: the last time I saw him, he set up a pattern of overones whose dizzying psychoacoustic effects were in the same league as the electronic music of Marianne Amacher, Alvin Lucier and Ryoji
Ikeda."
SIGNAL TO NOISE (USA)
Saxophonist/Composer
Performs at LAZYBIRD,
International Bar,
Wicklow Street, Dublin2
Sunday 29th JUNE
Doors 8.00pm
Adm: 7 euros
John Butcher lives in London and began playing saxophone professionally in the early 80s. He initially worked in jazz (inc. the ŒBBC Award¹ winning Chris Burn Group¹s ³Mingus Suite²), contemporary dance and music theatre. At this time he was completing his research in Physics.
Since leaving academia in 1982 he has worked almost exclusively in improvisation and Œnew music¹. His music ranges through free improvisation, various structurings, his own compositions (such as 'Funforall' and 'no
stops, only commas' for Chris Burn¹s ENSEMBLE, and music for the Austrian group Polwechsel), multitracked pieces, work with pre-recorded tape, and also live electronics.
His first LP was Fonetiks (1985) - a duo with pianist Chris Burn, whom he continues to work with in many contexts. In 1984 he began another long term commitment - a trio with Phil Durrant and John Russell - later adding Radu
Malfatti and Paul Lovens to form News from the Shed. In 1987 he began running the record label ACTA, which now has 14 releases.
Solo concerts have long been a particular enthusiasm and challenge. 2000/01included performances in England, USA, Italy, Spain, Canada, Poland, Greece and France. He first recorded multitracked saxophones on Thirteen Friendly Numbers (Œ92) - receiving three Arts Council Bursaries to research this and multiphonic possibilities. His other solo CDs, London and Cologne (Œ96) and Fixations (14) (2001) focus on live performance. He was featured, performing solo, in the BBC TV series Date with an Artist.
A long standing interest in electronic music has led to a recent live electro-manipulations duo with Phil Durrant - CDs Secret Measures and Requests and Antisongs. A selection of groups he has played with include Derek Bailey¹s Company Weeks - the final version of John Stevens¹ Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Frisque Concordance with Georg Graewe - The Phil Minton Quartet¹s mouthful of ecstasy project - Fred van Hove¹s t¹nonet - Butch Morris¹ London Skyscraper - the Austrian new-music group Polwecshel. As an improviser he continues to play in many occasional, often once-only settings. These have included, for instance, duos with Fred Frith, Misha Mengelberg, Derek Bailey, Carlos Zingaro, Steve Beresford, Kaffe Matthews, Joe Morris, Jin Hi Kim. Workshops and lectures/demonstrations given by Butcher include events at the Third Internationale Tagung for Improvisation
(Luzern Conservatoire, Switzerland), Hurta Cordel (Madrid, Spain), Other Sounds (Seattle, USA), Sound Symposium (St. John¹s, Newfoundland), Vancouver Jazz Festival (Canada), Barcelona Conservatory (Spain), and the Royal
Academy of Music (London, England). He recently spoke at the 1st Symposium for Contemporary Music in Copenhagen, Denmark.
³John Butcher is currently the most radical saxophone experimenter on the planet.²
JAZZ-KVADRAT (Russia)
³A player who breaks open the extremes of free saxophone in order to find a more considered tongue.²
SUNDAY TIMES (UK)
³Butcher is now quite simply one of the most effective free players in Europe: exact, unfussy and full of ideas.²
PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ ON CD (UK)
"In the world of saxophone music, players using extended techniques to make unusual sounds with the horn are common, but few have established a voice as original as John Butcher's. His saxophone acts as an extension of his own voice as he employs such techniques as growling and flutter tonguing to make his saxophone talk, sing, cry, whisper and laugh. What is more impressive is how he has incorporated all of this into a musical language that is both complicated and accessible. One of the central figures in Europe's avant-garde music scene."
SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN (USA)
The 43 year old saxophonist has developed a unique style which he has used to assert himself as one of the most original saxophone voices of the late 20th century.
CODA (Canada)
"English saxophonist John Butcher long ago tossed out 90% of his instrument's conventional vocabulary and created a highly individual dialect from the sounds that were left. He's so developed his mastery of multiphonics that he can shift between grainy gargles and pure sculpted tones, and back again, within a single phrase. He's also an impressive manipulator of acoustic effects: the last time I saw him, he set up a pattern of overones whose dizzying psychoacoustic effects were in the same league as the electronic music of Marianne Amacher, Alvin Lucier and Ryoji
Ikeda."
SIGNAL TO NOISE (USA)
