John Butcher (musician)

John Butcher (musician)

John Butcher (born 1954 in Brighton, England) is an English tenor and soprano saxophone player who has lived in London since the late 1970s. He began playing at the University of Surrey where he was studying physics. He received his PhD in theoretical physics with his thesis published as "Spin effects in the production and weak decay of heavy Quarks." After that he left academia to focus on music. He began by playing conventional jazz (he has spoken of his initial skepticism concerning free improvisation), but quickly converted to a freer approach. He has taken the concern with the manipulation of multiphonics (split tones and false notes) bequeathed by earlier improvisers such as Evan Parker in new directions: though his earlier albums could be busy at times, he has come increasingly to focus on creating rich, slowly-changing strata of sounds (layers of hums, buzzes and brittle metallic noises). He has also experimented with the use of amplified saxophone and overdubbing (most notably on the solo album "Invisible Ear"). That said, he is also capable of playing quite lyrically: on soprano, especially, he will sometimes leaven a passage of abstraction with bursts of pennywhistle-like melody.

Butcher worked with Elton Dean, Chris Burn, and Jon Corbett at first. Later he formed a trio with guitarist John Russell and violinist Phil Durrant, which recorded three albums and also served as the nucleus of News from the Shed, a shorter-lived quintet with Paul Lovens and Radu Malfatti. Another key relationship has been with singer Phil Minton, which included Butcher's participation in "mouthfull of ecstacy", Minton's setting of texts from James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake". More recently he has become centrally involved in the form of rarefied, minimalist improvisation that has been dubbed "electroacoustic improvisation" or "lowercase", most notably as a member of the pioneering Austrian group Polwechsel. Other playing partners have included John Edwards, Simon Fell, Gino Robair, Georg Gräwe, Gerry Hemingway, and Dylan van der Schyff. A recent, self-released album, "Cavern with Nightlife", included a duet with no-input-mixing-board specialist Toshimaru Nakamura.

External links

* [http://www.johnbutcher.org.uk/Biog.html John Butcher's website]
* [http://www.jazzweekly.com/interviews/JBUTCHER.htm "Jazz Weekly" interview]
* [http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/interviews/butcher.html Interview (03/2001)]
* [http://www.fmp-label.de/freemusicproduction/musiker/butcher.html FMP releases]

Persondata
NAME = Butcher, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = English tenor and soprano saxophone player
DATE OF BIRTH = 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH = Brighton, England
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • John Butcher — may refer to:*John Butcher, 1st Baron Danesfort (1853 1935), British lawyer *John C. Butcher (born 1933), a New Zealand mathematician *John Butcher (British politician) (1946 2006), Conservative MP for Coventry South West 1979 97 *John Butcher… …   Wikipedia

  • John Stevens (drummer) — Infobox musical artist Name = John Stevens Img capt = Img size = 150 Landscape = Background = non vocal instrumentalist Birth name = John William Stevens Alias = Born = 10 June, 1940 Died = 13 September, 1994 Origin = Ealing, West London, England …   Wikipedia

  • John Zandig — Infobox Wrestler name=John Corso names = The ICON John Zandig Zandig Sex Machine height = 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) weight = 256 lb (116 kg) birth date=birth date and age|1971|4|4 birth place = Sewell, New Jersey death date = death place = resides =… …   Wikipedia

  • Matt Butcher — Birth name Matthew John Butcher Born August 5, 1983 (1983 08 05) (age 28) Birmingham, England Genres Folk, Americana, Rock, Co …   Wikipedia

  • Diane Butcher — Diane in 2008 EastEnders character Portrayed by Sophie Lawrence Introduced by Julia Smith (1988) Leonard Lewis (1993, 1994) …   Wikipedia

  • Chi Cheng (musician) — For the Chinese track and field athlete, see Chi Cheng (athlete). Chi Cheng Cheng performing with Deftones at Hultsfred Festival in June 2006. Background information …   Wikipedia

  • The Caretaker (musician) — Infobox musical artist Name = The Caretaker Img capt = Img size = Background = non vocal instrumentalist Birth name = James Kirby Alias = Billy Ray Cyrix, Butcher Claus, Butcher Claws, CV [ev] , Dr. Fred, Edgeley Musher, The, Leon And Hits, MC… …   Wikipedia

  • Chris White (musician) — For other musicians of that name, see Chris White. Chris White Birth name Christopher Taylor White Born 7 March 1943 (1943 03 07) (age 68) Origin Barnet, Hertfordshire, England …   Wikipedia

  • Simon Fell — Simon H. Fell (b. Dewsbury, Yorkshire, 13 January 1959) is a bassist and composer; he is primarily known for his work as a free improviser and the composer of ambitiously complex post serialist works.Fell playing double bass in 1973. From 1978 to …   Wikipedia

  • Gino Robair — is an American composer, improvisor, drummer, and percussionist. In his own work (as a soloist and in improvisation ensembles), he plays prepared/modified percussion, analog synthesizer, ebow and prepared piano, theremin, and bowed objects… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”