Phil Minton

Infobox Musical artist

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Img_size = 150 | |
Img_capt = Phil Minton (far left) with Vladimir Estragon in 1985
Name = Phil Minton
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name =
Born = birth date and age|1940|11|2
flagicon|England Torquay, England
Instrument = Vocals, Trumpet
Genre = Free improvisation,
Avant-garde jazz
Occupation = Musician
Years_active = 1969 – present
Label = Emanem, FMP
Associated_acts = Mike Westbrook, Phil Minton Quartet, Veryan Weston, Roger Turner
URL = [http://www.philminton.co.uk/ www.philminton.co.uk]

Phil Minton (b. 2 November 1940, Torquay, United Kingdom) is a jazz/free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter.

Minton is a highly dramatic baritone who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake with Mike Westbrook's group, Daniil Kharms and Joseph Brodsky with Simon Nabatov, and extracts from James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" with his own ensemble. He even once participated in a Jimi Hendrix tribute project, belting out the lyrics in particular over-the-top fashion.

He is perhaps best known, however, for his completely free-form work, which involves "extended techniques" that are extremely unsettling. His vocals often include the sounds of retching, burping, screaming, and gasping, as well as childlike muttering, whining, crying and humming; he also has an ability to distort his vocal cords to produce two notes at once. As the DJ/poet Kenneth Goldsmith has described it: [ cite web |url=http://www.wfmu.org/~kennyg/popular.html |title=Phil Minton: "A Doughnut in One Hand" |work=A Popular Guide to Unpopular Music |last=Goldsmith |first=Kenneth |accessdate=2007-09-11 ]

Minton's most frequent improvising companions are the pianist Veryan Weston and the drummer Roger Turner, but over the years he has worked with most of the improvising musicians in the European scene. Unlike some first-generation free improvisers, he has also become a frequent participant in the so-called EAI (electroacoustic improvisation) scene.

Selected discography

;Phil Minton solo
*"Doughnut in Both Hands", Emanem Records, 1982
*"A Doughnut in One Hand", FMP, 1998;Phil Minton and Roger Turner
*"Drainage", Emanem Records, 1993
*"Dada Da", Leo Records, 1993
*"Ammo", Leo Records, 1998;Phil Minton and Veryan Weston
*"Songs From a Prison Diary", Leo Records, 1993
*"Ways Out East - Ways Out West", Intakt Records, 2005;Phil Minton Quartet
*"Mouthful of Ectasy", Victo Records, 1998
*"Slur", Emanem Records, 2006

References

External links

* [http://www.philminton.co.uk/ Phil Minton homepage]
*amg | id = 11:f9fpxql5ldje | label = Phil Minton
* [http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mminton.html Phil Minton page on EFI]
* [http://www.philmintonsferalchoir.com Phil Minton's Ferel Choir]
* [http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid1=125&csid2=847&fid1=33154 Phil Minton at exclaim]
*fr [http://www.oc-tv.net/duo-phil-minton,daunik-lazro.htm Duo Phil Minton, Daunik Lazro video on OC-TV.net]