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The John Butcher Vinyl Series
John Butcher
saxophoneb.1954
As a result he occupies a unique position in the reed pantheon. An improviser who emerged on the London scene in the early 1970s, he has since amassed a substantive body of work with an ever widening roster of partners, which has included American luminaries such as
Matthew Shipp
pianob.1960
Nate Wooley
trumpetb.1974
Joe McPhee
woodwindsb.1939
While the one off meeting persists as a constant fixture in improvised music, many argue that it's the longer established outlets which allow the alchemy and inspiration to crystallize. As if accepting the truth of this proposition, this five-LP collection issued on the Ni Vu Ni Connu imprint celebrates Butcher in conjunction with several of his most potent collaborators. Four of the sets were recorded at the Berlin performance space Ausland over two nights in 2019, while the fifth is drawn from two sessions elsewhere that same year. Each comes with sleeve notes by Stuart Broomer, photographs by Cristina Marx and design by Yaqin Si.
In the liners, Butcher explains that he was interested in the potential distinctiveness of each set, but without making major aesthetic leaps. Nonetheless each album does present slightly different facets of his artistry, while remaining unmistakably Butcher. Each album is available separately either as a limited edition LP or as a download, but given the consistent high quality, it's likely that the whole series will prove essential for his many followers.
John Butcher
saxophoneb.1954
Sophie Agnel
drumsLa Pierre Tachée
Ni Vu Ni Connu
2022
On La Pierre Tachée, the only duo in the collection, Butcher reunites with French pianist
Sophie Agnel
drums
Magda Mayas
pianob.1979
She and Butcher enjoy a special connection, manifest in both synchronicities such as Butcher's stutter in reaction to Agnel's hammered keys or stark juxtapositions like the sound of a swirling saxophone vortex pitched against abrasive scrapes on metal. Moods come and go, variously mysterious, meditative, anxious and intense, but always seemingly governed by a mutually agreed but unpredictable logic. Perhaps the pared back cast promotes the more direct interaction and permits greater focus on areas of common ground and intent without the derailments or digressions an additional voices might encourage.
Like the best of these discs, the interchange implies a real-time appreciation of shape and form. That's most obvious on "Sillonner," where reminiscent of the ABA model, the initial sparse soundscape of solitary soprano peeps and isolated keystrokes, both modified and not, reprises at the close, bookending a crescendo of hyperspeed churring saxophone and thickly coagulating piano lines. Across four cuts their pairings encompass both directly responsive gestures, like Butcher's staccato plosive cough rejoinders to Agnel's barely audible taps on "Shrieks In Cups Of Gold," as well as resolutely oppositional textures as when he soars in a circular breathed thermal in answer to the pianist's harsh scuffs across the strings. Theirs is a perfectly poised communion.
John Butcher
saxophoneb.1954
Gino Robair
percussionThomas Lehn
synthesizerShaped And Chased
Ni Vu Ni Connu
2022
Quicksilver change characterizes the reunion of Butcher with some of his most longstanding partners American percussionist
Gino Robair
percussionThomas Lehn
synthesizerContrasts abound as a consequence, whether between sequences of sharper accents and sustained drones, explosive skronk and subdued eerie passages or pointillist landscapes and madcap momentum. As with all these sets, the musical journey assumes far greater significance than the destination. And it's quite a ride. Robair is one of the most untypical of percussionists, with a love of resonance and unlikely means to draw long tones from his drum heads and cymbals, while Lehn, so often the wild card in other settings but here among peers, uses his analog synthesizer to both blend, thrillingly diverge or pursue other paths completely. Evidence of the fine degree of control at his fingertips comes during "Swough," when he instantaneously matches the pitch of Butcher's saxophone in a lovely almost-but-not-quite convergence.
Among the highlights are the saxophone/drum duet, which erupts from an oblique colloquy of rattles, mutters and clanks at the center of "Halouen." It wouldn't be too out of place in a free jazz blow, although the subsequent thickening of the grain by Lehn's unruly circuitry might raise an eyebrow. All three stop abruptly in full spate, as if a faucet has been shut off, graphic confirmation of the turn on a dime nature of the interplay.
John Butcher
saxophoneb.1954
Ignaz Schick
turntableb.1972
Liz Allbee
trumpetLamenti Dall'Infinito
Ni Vu Ni Connu
2022
On Lamenti Dall'Infinito Butcher immerses himself in a group ethos which privileges pure sound and rarefied atmospherics. Such is the saxophonist's propensity for emulating electronic outputs that he often merges fairly homogenously with the turntables and electronics of
Ignaz Schick
turntableb.1972
Making a virtue of discretion, everyone holds back in a web of taut complicity. Expat American trumpeter
Liz Allbee
trumpet
Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto1920 - 1955
Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet1917 - 1993
It's not until towards the end of the final "Molecular Memories" that Butcher steps into the spotlight, in a stirring display of non-stop spiraling soprano which both underlines his virtuosity and supplies an exclamation point to the extended discourse.
John Butcher
saxophoneb.1954
Magda Mayas
pianob.1979
Tony Buck
percussionGlints
Ni Vu Ni Connu
2022
The trio of Butcher, German pianist
Magda Mayas
pianob.1979
Tony Buck
percussionThey always seem to know where they are going, and there are just enough fleeting correlations, echoes and replicated figures to hint at structure, without tipping into predictability. One section on Side A gives a flavor, as a percussive dialogue between Mayas and Buck reorientates with Butcher's arrival, his throaty chuckle briefly acknowledged with a drum roll from Buck, before the saxophonist replies to Mayas' sticky glissandos with a series of scalar phrases of his own.
And then the caravan moves on as it does throughout this enthralling trip. Even the pauses which periodically arise seem like they demarcate separate movements within the single 44-minute piece. While the discernment of form in such off the wall events lies possibly in the ear of the behearer, it's a feeling which returns on each subsequent spin, suggesting at least some underlying objective basis.
John Butcher
saxophoneb.1954
Burkhard Beins
percussionWerner Dafeldecker
bass, acousticInduction
Ni Vu Ni Connu
2022
Butcher introduces a newer unit on Induction, comprising German percussionist
Burkhard Beins
percussionWerner Dafeldecker
bass, acoustic
Mark Sanders
drumsb.1960
John Edwards
bass, acousticBeins exhibits similar levels of discipline and precision to Butcher, and most importantly invention as well. Although Dafeldecker extracts a litany of unconventional sonorities from his bass, he also often fixes on reiterated patterns which anchor the improvisations and provide just a whiff of a framework. At one stage in "Circulation," Butcher almost synchronizes his squawks with the bass, but stays just enough out of kilter to foster a delicious tension. That is followed by further passages where the ghost of the patterns can be sensed even though they no longer retain the same configuration. It's moments like these that elevate this set above the run of the mill improv outing. The piece finishes by confounding expectations, as one final silence begets an ominous mechanical lurching, against which Butcher's whirling soprano takes flight, distantly recalling a klezmer refrain, before Beins' tolls and chimes usher in the conclusion. Outstanding.
Among other notable sorties, the series of drifting climaxes in "Connection" is interrupted by an electrifying banshee wail from Butcher, which subsides as suddenly as it materialized, while the saxophonist conjures pops and sine waves which suggest electronics during the creaks and knocks of "Conversion." Although determinedly unflashy, this is nonetheless engrossing edge-of-seat stuff.
Tracks and Personnel
La Pierre TachéeTracks: Chemin Creux; Double Cure; Shrieks In Cups Of Gold; Sillonner.
Personnel: Sophie Agnel: piano; John Butcher: soprano, tenor saxophones.
Shaped And Chased
Tracks: Dorrying; Tempren; Halouen; Swough.
Personnel: John Butcher: soprano, tenor saxophones; Thomas Lehn: analogue EMS Synthi AKS; Gino Robair: percussion, Bliopoo Box, objets trouvés.
Lamenti Dall'Infinito
Tracks: Sea Of Distortions; Dialogues In A Shell; Molecular Memories.
Personnel: Liz Allbee: trumpet; John Butcher: soprano, tenor saxophones; Ignaz Schick: turntables, sampler, electronics; Marta Zapparoli: tapes, reel-to-reel tape, antenna.
Glints
Tracks: Glints A; Glints B.
Personnel: Magda Mayas: piano; John Butcher: soprano, tenor saxophones; Tony Buck: drums.
Induction
Tracks: Circulation; Connection; Conversion; Confluence.
Personnel: Burkhard Beins: percussion; John Butcher: soprano, tenor saxophones; Werner Dafeldecker: double bass.
Tags
Multiple Reviews
John Butcher
John Sharpe
Matthew Shipp
nate wooley
Joe McPhee
Sophie Agnel
Ni Vu Ni Connu
Maya Magdas
Gino Robair
Thomas Lehn
Ignaz Schick
Maria Zapparoli
Liz Allbee
Charlie Parker
Dizzy Gillespie
Magda Mayas
Tony Buck
Burkhard Beins
Werner Dafeldecker
Polwechsel
Mark Sanders
John Edwards
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