RED TRIO + JOHN BUTCHER – Empire (LP-2011-NoBusiness Records - NBLP 37)

Label: NoBusiness Records – NBLP 37

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Limited edition of 400 copies

Country: Lithuania / Released: Jul 2011 / LP press in Germany

Style: Free Improvisation, Free Jazz

Recorded April 6, 2010 at Namouche Studio, Lisbon

Recorded By – Joaquim Monte

Mixed by – John Butcher

Mastered by – Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios

Design by – Oskaras Anosovas

Cover printed in Lithuania by UAB“Garsy pasaulis“

Produced by RED trio and John Butcher

Executive production by Danas Mikailionis and Valerij Anosov

A1 - Sustained ................................................................................ 7:00

A2 - Pachyderm ............................................................................ 17:02

B  -  Empire ................................................................................... 23:34

Music By – Rodrigo Pinheiro, Gabriel Ferrandini, Hernani Faustino, John Butcher

RED TRIO:

Rodrigo Pinheiro - piano

Hernani Faustino - double bass

Gabriel Ferrandini - drums and percussion

+

John Butcher - tenor and soprano saxophone

NoBusiness Records NBLP37, 2011 / Limited edition of 400 copies. Sold Out.

http://nobusinessrecords.com/NBLP37.php

Although it may be fanciful to suggest that this is British saxophonist John Butcher’s Hard Rock record, his playing is certainly more voluble, raunchy and strident than on the majority of his recent sessions.

It may be because on this three-track LP the master of cerebral understatement is matched up with a trio of Portuguese Gen Xes who in this context enliven the common piano-bass-drum trio with enough rough and physical textures to frighten fans that prefer impressionistic pastels. That’s rough, but not crude however, for pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro, bassist Hernani Faustino and percussionist Gabriel Ferrandini have demonstrated a sensitive interface on other discs.
Besides touring the Iberian Peninsula with Butcher, the Lisbon-based trio members have a working knowledge of Rock; have played as a group with American avant trumpeter Nate Wooley; and individually worked with other anything-but-shy improvisers such as saxophonist John Zorn (Pinheiro), saxophonist Jon Irabagon, (Faustino) and cornetist Rob Mazurek (Ferrandini).

Whatever it is, as early as the first track, Butcher lots unbrace with some thickly vibrating and splintering altissimo punctuation that`s a lot closer to 1960s Free Jazz expression than what he usually plays. Meanwhile Pinheiro, for one, spurs minimalism, instead studding his solos with swift soundboard echoes, internal string strumming and high-intensity chording. Similarly as the expositions are developed, there are times when slide-whistle-like shrilling is heard. With his saxophone mastery, Butcher could be adding an intense parallel line to his improvisations. Or, on the other hand, the screech could arise from Ferrandini’s percussion mastery, which includes hand-patting drags, rim shots and flams plus measured cymbal claps and stentorian thumps. Nonetheless it’s the pianist who is most percussive in his playing. Frequently tremolo and highly syncopated, his circular keyboard chording sometimes matches the saxophonist’s circular breathing. Other times he’ll focus on repeated, high-pitched key clicking or use pressure to expose the deepest vibrations from his instrument. For his part, Butcher stresses trills that are watery and murmuring at one point, yet ascend to staccato interstellar-space exaggerations at others. In a way odd man out, Faustino keeps time and stays out of the way.

Exposing individual variants of note distension early on, the four-way communication reaches a climax of cumulative tension on the final and title track. With the bassist finally asserting himself with sul ponticello and col leno swipes and the percussionist’s mallet-driven chops providing the backdrop, the more-than-23-minute exposition bounds from Butcher to Pinheiro and back again. The pianist’s chromatic keyboard work takes in tremolo cadences in the instrument’s lowest register until he breaks free for friction-laden episodes of syncopated string strumming. Meantime the saxophonist blasts out juddering multiphonics, slurring, stuttering and splaying broken chords. In short order the nearly three-dimensional polyphony reaches a crescendo of drilling reed bites and nephritic honks matched with keyboard claps, clips and smacks until both are cut off and the narrative is completed by an isolated string pluck from Faustino.

Likely to be a unique entry in both Butcher’s and the Red trio’s discographies, Empire is a wild ride that should be experienced by everyone, music which shatters preconceptions.

—Ken Waxman

Not to be missed if you have a sense of adventure.

I recommend that you buy their recently released a new album:

https://cleanfeed-records.com/product/summer-skyshift/

https://www.discogs.com/RED-Trio-John-Butcher-Summer-Skyshift/release/8507374

If you find it, buy this album!

PAUL DUNMALL with JOHN EDWARDS with JOHN BUTCHER – Hit And Run (2001)

Label: FMP – FMP CD 116
Format: CD, Album Country: Germany - Released: 2001
Style: Free Improvisation, Free Jazz
Recorded during the "Total Music Meeting" on November 5th and 6th, 1999 at the "Podewil" in Berlin
Design, Layout, Photography By – Dagmar Gebers
Liner Notes – Steve Lake
Liner Notes [Translation] – Caroline Lake
Mixed By, Mastered By – Jonas Bergler
Producer – Jost Gebers
Recorded By – Holger Scheuermann, Jonas Bergler

There are two – really three – distinct groups represented here. The first track, taking up more than thirty-five minutes, is an invigorating duo between Paul Dunmall and John Edwards. Evidently, Dunmall was scheduled to perform with bassist Paul Rogers, who was ill at the last moment, and Edwards took his place. The second is a powerful duo between John Butcher and Edwards, lasting just a tad longer, and the final short track features all three musicians. You might consider this is a welcome opportunity to compare Dunmall and Butcher close up, but their styles are so different that that is not really the point at all. All three tracks have their high points, and stand alone as significant pieces of music. It is unclear why the recording is listed under Dunmall ’ s name “ with ” Edwards and Butcher, since Edwards plays his heart out (even if he is a replacement), and is the only player found on all three tracks, and since the two saxophonists would seem to be equal participants. The Dunmall duo is important for his bagpipe work, which if you have never heard it before, is revelatory. It boasts at least as broad a range as the soprano or tenor, and allows the player to perform separate notes simultaneously, giving the impression of a trio or quartet. It has elements of the keyboard, too, in its fingering. Dunmall is the dominant figure on “ Gaulstones ” , in which he performs ecstatically, producing some of the best free bagpipe work on record – a long way from Rufus Harley. Edwards gets plenty of solo space, during and after which Dunmall switches to soprano. There are outstanding interactions, quick changes in tempo and, at least on soprano, some attractively mellifluous sections. “ Rhymes ” , the piece in which Butcher performs with Edwards, is divided into four distinct sections, which add a dash of diversity. The set with Butcher does not break any new ground, but as with so many of his performances, it offers glimpses of new sounds and directions. While Dunmall relies on over-blowing as an important technique on bagpipes, Butcher focuses more on a range of advanced techniques, including split tones, multi-phonics, flutter tonguing, and others to create a palette of sound. You might call Dunmall ’ s approach the macro-sound, as opposed to the micro-sounds of Butcher – but that is probably too great to generalization as each incorporates varied complexities and overlapping strategies. The promising though short closing piece, “ Hit and Run ” , in which Butcher, Edwards, and Dunmall improvise simultaneously, almost lives up to expectations. Its only downside is its short length, and its somewhat abrupt ending, leaving the listener wishing for more, and hoping for a follow-up performance and recording.
Recommended.

_ By STEVEN LOEWY
Cadence Magazine # 6, June, 2002



Links in Comments!

WEIGHTLESS: John BUTCHER / Alberto BRAIDA / John EDWARDS / Fabrizio SPERA – A Brush With Dignity (2009)

Label: Clean Feed – CF154CD
Format: CD, Album; Country: Portugal - Released: 2009
Style: Free Jazz
Recorded live in Germany, 3rd and 5th October 2008 Loft-Köln (1-3) and C.U.B.A.- Münster (4)
Photography By – Alessandro Carpentieri
Design – Travassos
New Design by ART&JAZZ Studio Salvarica, by VITKO
Produced by John Rottlers; Executive-producer – Trem Azul
Edited and Mastered by John Butcher

British artists and intellectuals have an old fascination for the Italian culture, and Italians like the way they, and their history and classical art, are envisioned by English writers, poets, painters and filmmakers. That's, inevitably, the context of this cooperative effort between John Butcher and John Edwards, from one side, and Alberto Braida and Fabrizio Spera, from the other. It demands your full attention, not because it's difficult (it may be, at times, but who wants real good music to be "easy"?), but because it's intense and needs your open ear and time . First of all, the music is totally improvised, even if it seems meticulously composed. No contradiction here: that's what the improvising masters do, and all the four of them are specially gifted in that aspect. Then, you'll notice there's no leader or hierarchical organization, everything happening through a collective flow, and that's why the credits go to a band name, Weightless. No-one even tries to start an ego-trip: this is a society of equals. Finally, you'll find yourself in a state of bliss, because the resulting music couldn't be more surprising. ~ Clean Feed

Alberto Braida /  John Edwards

Fabrizio Spera / John Butcher

Atonal, audacious and admirable, Weightless is an irregularly constituted quartet made up of four top-flight improvisers: two from England and two from Italy. Recorded during two German gigs, the polyphonic expression is the result of the almost familial musical relations between bassist John Edwards and saxophonist John Butcher on one side and pianist Alberto Braida and drummer Fabrizio Spera on the other.

Over the past few decades Butcher has sonically matched wits with everyone from British guitarist Derek Bailey to French clarinetist Xavier Charles. Edwards, one of London improv’s go-to bassists, has played with personalities as different as British saxophonist Evan Parker and American drummer Sunny Murray, while Lodi-based Braida and Spera have separately or individual linked up with stylists such as Canadian bassist Lisle Ellis and German synth master Thomas Lehn.

Although there are intimations of electricity here, no instrument is plugged into a socket. Instead the pulsating wave forms come from Braida’s internal piano string- exciting, Butcher’s multiphonics and overblowing plus the panoply of tones and textures the other two extract from their instruments. Furthermore, while perfectly balanced throughout, this group interaction doesn’t mean that any of the players sacrifice their individuality.

Case in point: “ Termo ” . Inaugurated full force with sul tasto bass string bowing, snapping and rebounding drum pressure, reversible cascading piano chords and the saxophone emitting fierce bird-like cawing, antithetical roles evolve by the mid-section. While Butcher’s frenetic wide vibrato, spetrofluctuation and flutter tonguing work into an interlude of circular breathing that is both harsh and airy, Braida’s confined comping and near-meditative chording suggest unruffled continuity. Meanwhile Spera’s cymbal resonation and Edwards’ powerful thumps are tonal enough to keep the time measured. Nonetheless, tonality is also in the ear of the listener. Throughout, it’s not that others don't accelerate to tension-laden, stop-time interpolations, or that the saxophonist limits his solos to smeared chirps, growls and tongue stops or echoes partial tone extensions.

“ Centri ” for instance, which unrolls for more than 29½ minutes, demonstrates all sorts of improvisational strategies. The exposition works its way from bass string pings and drumstick squeaks on cymbal tops to a chromatic narrative that mixes aviary pitch variations from the reedist, snare ruffs, near legato bass string bowing and a dramatic two-handed, piano key- pumping that is as much prepared as poramento. Diffuse, wide-bore reed patterns exhibited with the caution tourists use to cross Italian streets, precede an extended pause where Jekyll- and-Hyde-like Butcher appears to split into two saxophonists: one playing straight-ahead and the other sounding buzzing split tones.

As the two sides of his reed personality meld, the tune almost become a rondo, with Braida producing dynamic harmonies, Spera press rolls and pops, and Edwards picking and slapping his strings. By the time the saxophonist has progressed to guttural intensity and overblowing, the pianist’s staccato chording sounds as if he’s playing a pressurized version of “ Chop Sticks ” . A sudden cymbal smack unites this melody to the invention’s final section following a further protracted pause. As the saxophonist rolls unexpected phrases in his mouth as if savoring a sweet treat, the pianist strums and counters with dynamic note clusters. Hesitant nerve beats and ruffs from Spera underline Butcher’s irregular flattement and vibrated ghost notes as the others’ contribution to the final variant, collapses the theme into an overriding segmented buzz.

Inventive and perfectly balanced whether legato or staccato, with solo tones or with layered timbres, the communication among the four isn’t weightless, but weighty is a good sense. Hopefully an encore CD is in the offing.

_ By KEN WAXMAN, August 22, 2010



Links in Comments!

AMM – Sounding Music (2010)

Label: Matchless Recordings – MRCD77
Format: CD, Album; Country: UK - Released: 2010
Style: Abstract, Free Improvisation
Recorded at the 'Freedom of the City' festival, Conway Hall, London on Sunday 3rd May 2009.
Artwork [Calligraphy] – Qu Lei Lei
Design – Myah Chun; Liner Notes – Harry Gilonis

The album cover:
鳴 : Ming (Korean : Myung ) means sound – the cry of a bird, or human singing. A starting- point, then, for words and music both, the fact of sound and its sounding.

Review:

So to Sounding Music then, the new album by AMM. The release contains the recording of the quintet performance from last year ’ s Freedom of the City Festival that I wrote about here. The AMM group on that occasion was made up of regular members Eddie Prévost and John Tilbury alongside recent frequent collaborator John Butcher, the American composer and previous occasional AMM collaborator Christian Wolff plus the young London based cellist Ute Kanngiesser, a regular at Prévost ’ s weekly improvisation workshops and here the first woman to appear on an AMM record. I have listened to this CD almost constantly since I received it on Monday, perhaps I have listened to it through some fifteen times already. Going back over the post I wrote following the concert in question I have picked out a few of the thoughts I had at the time. I mentioned in the comments after the post that the music did not feel ground-breaking, but it did feel like AMM Music, perhaps more so than on any of the other occasions I had seen the group since the departure of Keith Rowe. I also mentioned that while he fitted well into the group, Christian Wolff seemed to play the disruptive role in the set, taking things out of what might be perceived as “ safe ” AMM territory more often than not.

Listening back to the recording now, I have mixed feelings about these thoughts now. Certainly in places this sounds like AMM through and through. When Prévost and Tilbury are working together it really cannot be anything else. I find myself hearing the connections between these two musicians through everything else, no matter what other sounds are there to be heard. There are the little climaxes, the slow arcs towards the small explosions of expression, the way Prévost uses his bowed sounds as the scaffold for the others to climb up and over, the sprinkling of Tilbury ’ s piano sounds throughout in just the places Tilbury leaves them, the connections between these two sets of sounds leaves the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. They did eighteen years ago when I first hear them live, they still do now. Then though, there are the elements in this recording that stand out as something new, sounds that do not seem to belong traditionally in AMM, and yes most of them here do come from Wolff, the little burst of pocket harmonica, the tapping of stones together that ends the performance, the single plucked guitar note that ends a section of the music twenty minutes in, but they don ’ t sound so intrusive here, just little elements that catch your ear as unusual. Kanngiesser also stands out now and again as something new, the moment two thirds of the way through when after a mini climax the sounds drop away to find her bowing a series of slow notes in a fluid, almost tuneful manner really catches the ear. So what we have is AMM as we know them, augmented by some new elements. John Butcher by the way, plays wonderfully, and sounds completely at home in the group, none of his contributions sound out of place at all.

No matter how familiar the end results here might end up being, the one thing that has occurred to me over the past few days listening to this music is the amount of risks that were taken in its creation. Risk-taking has always been a part of the AMM philosophy, and the danger involved with potential failure has always been something encouraged rather than shied away from. For this recording, there is the obvious risk taken through the assemblage of a quintet playing percussion, piano. sax. cello and a table top electric guitar. The history the group has with that arrangement of instrumentation left a great weight of expectation hanging over the performance. Then there was the inclusion of Kanngiesser, her gender of course not a risk at all, but her relative inexperience compared to the weight of musical history on stage around her could perhaps been seen as a risk, certainly it is unusual for someone so young and without many years of playing experience to join the group. Then there was the uncertainty concerning the health of John Tilbury, who had been at a hospital that very day and was recovering from a stroke. He played with just one hand on the day. Despite all of these things, some unavoidable, some deliberately created by Prévost and Tilbury the music contained on this album is wonderful. It captures AMM, where AMM are right now, or where they were on the 4th May 2009.

It shows a spirit of invention, a challenge to the musicians involved as new musical relationships needed to be forged, and also a sense of playfully creative mischief in the return to the quintet format. The group has always changed, always evolved, often sounded different, but the underlying ethics, the way the music is approached, considered and subsequently played is as strong here as ever. There is no resting on laurels. The group didn ’ t have to be expanded for this performance but it was. If Trinity was the album that really convinced me that the group was as vital a force as it ever had been, then Sounding Music is the album that shows that the music can still be stretched and expanded outwards into new areas successfully. So not groundbreaking in any wider sense, then that has never really been a goal of AMM, but considered as new ground broken for a group with a forty-five year long history then most certainly. Wonderful people, wonderful music, thoroughly inspirational.

_ Richard Pinnell, The Watchful Ear 15th April 2010



Links in Comments!