Rhodri Davies and John Butcher first worked together in 1997, in Butch Morris' London Skyscraper and Chris Burn's Ensemble. Since then they have met in a wide range of projects, including the group Cortet.
Their first duo concert (which was released on Vortices and Angels) was in 2000, at All Angels church in West London.
2002 saw a tour of the UK, and in 2004 they played 6 concerts in Japan.
Their 2008 recording, Carliol, will soon be released on the Japanese Ftarri label.

Suddenly we're inside a church, hearing Butcher skittering out a difficult thread of fluttering noises so high-pitched that they're almost not there, while out of the other speaker come isolated sounds of springy, loosened-strings from what I thought was Derek Bailey's big acoustic guitar but noooooo! It's the unprecedented improvising harpist Rhodri Davies pulling off strange, isolated notes from his instrument. Sploingg.... buzzzzz.... Butcher then joins him in the lower registers (why, in church, yet!), blowing moody, fluttery figures with an almost granulated rough edge. Freely improvised duo playing rarely gets as tasty as this. Niiiiiice.
Tony Mostrom / Epulse

order CD via Emanem.

Butcher/Davies - live at All Angels, London: 2000
Bailey/Butcher - live at the Vortex, London: 2000

read :: All About Jazz

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