Rhodri Davies and John Butcher first worked together in Butch Morris' London Skyscraper and Chris Burn's Ensemble, in 1997. Since then they have met in a wide range of projects, including the newly formed Cortet.
Their first duo concert (released on Vortices and Angels) was in 2000, at All Angels church in West London.
2002 saw tours of the UK and the USA, and in 2004 they played 6 concerts in Japan.

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 from 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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