Phil Minton and John Butcher first improvised together in 1984 - as part of a sound-poetry/music series in the upstairs room of the Roebuck, a pub on the Tottenham Court Road. In 2002 they released the duo CD Apples of Gomorrah, and continue to perform occasionally in duo.

In the intervening years they've played together in a wide range of projects. In particular - a trio (active since 1991) with German guitarist Erhard Hirt and the "Phil Minton Quartet" (with Veryan Weston and Roger Turner).
This quartet continues to develop "mouthful of ecstasy" - a work based around texts from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. It was premiered in Bratislava (1994), and last performed in London in 2012.
This quartet has also released slur, a CD of free improvisations.

What Jonny Cash was to Folsom prison, these guys are to Bedlam. Art Lange / Pulse

Apples of Gomorrah

Studio recordings from 1999, released on Grob

Phil Minton - voice
John Butcher - saxophones


allmusic

Slur

order CD from Emanem

Phil Minton - voice
John Butcher - saxophones
Veryan Weston - piano
Roger Turner - drums and percussion

this jamboree of like-minded bastard virtuosos.
Massimo Ricci - Touching Extremes

all about jazz | Bagatellen

Mouthfull of Ecstasy

Studio recording from 1996
A composition/improvisation around text from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake

Phil Minton - voice
John Butcher - saxophones
Veryan Weston - piano
Roger Turner - drums and percussion


allmusic | CODA

Two Concerts

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Concert recordings from 1995
Musique Action, Vandoeuvrve, France and Free Music Festival, Antwerp, Belgium

Phil Minton - voice
John Butcher - saxophones
Erhard Hirt - guitar

Markus Müller's liner notes

Jazz Times

This music is mythic - like an urban Utopia. Jazziz

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