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British jazz saxophonist
John Butcher (1954)
was already in his thirties
when he abandoned Physics to join the ranks of creative musicians inspired by
Evan Parker (as well as by the new realm of electronic music).
After cutting his teeth in
Chris Burn's Jazz Ensemble and Jon Corbett's Freelance, Butcher recorded
duets with Burn on piano (composed by Burn), Fonetiks (december 1984),
and formed a trio with guitarist John Russell and violinist Phil Durrant documented on the eleven short pieces of Conceits (april 1987). The trio expanded to a quintet with the addition of drummer Paul Lovens and trombonist Radu Malfatti, and assumed the name News from the Shed. The ten brief pieces on News from the Shed (february 1989) were studies in contrast, texture and silence. Butcher leaned towards cerebral, not aggressive, improvisation, relying on all sorts of effects at his instrument.
In the meantime, Butcher had also joined
Embers, formed in 1986 by
Australian classically-trained reed player Jim Denley (a member of Burn's ensemble) with Burn himself and cellist Marcio Mattos.
The four lenghty improvisations of their Live (november 1988) also employed a sampler.
Butcher was also active in Georg Graewe's quartet Frisque Concordance (1991),
in John Stevens' Spontaneous Music Ensemble (1993)
and in Barry Guy's London Jazz Composers Orchestra.
His art of methodical and surgical exploration, of painstaking coloring,
of abstract dissonant soundpainting
peaked with his solo-saxophone albums, veritable concertos for
microtones and overtones:
Thirteen Friendly Numbers (december 1991), that first experimented with
multi-tracking (notably in Bells and Clappers, Mackle Music),
the live London & Cologne (august 1998), that finally included longer
pieces such as the nine-minute Some Kind Of Memory and the 13-minute A Thing or Two, besides Shrinkdown for four overdubbed sopranos,
and the live Fixations 14 (collecting pieces from 1997 to september 2000).
These three works marked a progress from a purely scientific approach to a
more emotional stance.
In the meantime, Butcher also engaged in
duets with vocalist Vanessa Mackness on Respiritus (may 1994),
in duets with assorted improvisers
(notably trombonist Jeb Bishop and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm) on
Anomolies in the Customs of the Day (february 1998),
in duets with pianist Georg Graewe on Light's View (november 1998),
and in electroacoustic duets with Phil Durrant (playing only electronics) on Secret Measures (november 1997),
besides
joining the Austrian quartet Polwechsel in 1997 (replacing Malfatti) and
resurrecting his acoustic trio with Durran and Russell for the live juggernauts
of The Scenic Route (may 1998).
Unfortunately, Butcher suddenly became hyper-prolific and the quality of his
recordings decreased accordingly.
Most albums were simply predictable and childish. A few were utterly disposable.
Collaborations included:
Apples of Gomorrah (august 1999), with vocalist Phil Minton,
Requests and Antisongs (february 2000), a second collaboration with Durrant,
Vortices and Angels (may 2000), that assembles duets with either guitarist Derek Bailey or harpist Rhodra Davies,
Shooters and Bowlers (may 2000), a collaboration with drummer Gerry Hemingway,
Intentions (june 2000), with violinist Phil Durrant and cellist Peggy Lee,
Guerrilla Mosaics (june 2000), with koto player and percussionist Gino Robair,
Points, Snags and Windings (july 2000), with percussionist Dylan Van Der Schyff,
The Contest of Pleasures (august 2000), in a trio with French clarinetist Xavier Charles and German trumpeter Axel Doerner, the real highlight of this phase,
Tincture (march 2001), with cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and percussionist Michael Zerang,
Equation (may 2002), with turntablist Mike Hansen and percussionist Tomasz Krakowiak,
etc.
John Butcher's Cavern with Nightlife contains the 19-minute Practical Luxury (november 2002), a duet with Toshimaru Nakamura on "no-input mixing board"
Butcher returned to art (as opposed to routine) with his solo
Invisible Ear (2002), that focused on studio effects.
The Contest of Pleasures, i.e. the trio with French clarinetist Xavier Charles and German trumpeter Axel Doerner, was revived for
Albi Days (april 2005), a rather artificial effort compared with
the spontaneity of their debut.
The Geometry of Sentiment (november 2006) collects solo recordings
from 2004 to 2006.
Vario-44 (november 2006) featured Roger Turner on percussion, John Russell on guitar, Thomas Lehn on analogue synthesizer, Dorothea Schurch on vocals, Guenter Christmann on cello and trombone performing 20 brief vignettes.
The Contest of Pleasures was a trio with clarinetist Xavier Charles and trumpeter Axel Doerner that debuted on Tempestuous (november 2006).
Way out Northwest (june 2007) features a trio with
Torsten Muller on contrabass and Dylan van der Schyff on drums.
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