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SOLO

the scottish rite temple, washington, usa 2005,


cds
The Geometry of Sentiment :: Horn_Bill :: Cavern with Nightlife :: Invisible Ear :: Fixations (14)
London & Cologne :: 13 Friendly Numbers

download
Huddersfield Prospects

read
Bill Shoemaker's "Solo Flights" (extract) from Jazz Times

listen
Birthday



I think I first played solo - a piece, not a concert - in 1982 at the Workers' Music Association in Notting Hill Gate.
To quote from a 1998 essay the magazine Rubberneck requested:

"After a few concerts I'd learnt a lot about making connections - but had also noticed recognisable pieces beginning to develop. I quite liked this, but worried about what it meant for long-term solo work. For a while, I almost envied composers; able to wrap up a piece, send it out into the world, and move on to the next. But a lot of the pleasure in giving solo concerts is connected to the hope of finding, spontaneously, some music you didn’t really know about beforehand. Playing ‘pieces’ is too close to playing ‘routines’ and a concert is an opportunity for much more. As a live performer, improvising usually just feels better - less acting, less theatre, and more chance for a little magic. By way of a bonus, this means engaging with what Derek Bailey has described as a ‘search for whatever is endlessly variable

However, a considerable attraction of solo playing is that you have full control. You can work with material that may be too inflexible for the push and pull of group improvising; you can plan ahead, you can attempt pieces that have a definite, sustained, flavour - that adhere to some concept.”

Unblown Feedback-Tenor

feedback sax
© osamu enomoto       plan B, tokyo, japan 2004.



Whilst this is still close to my feelings about giving solo concerts - the other side of solo work has been to develop semi-compositional ideas for CD: from the 1992 multitracks on Thirteen Friendly Numbers to the recent microphone-based work on Invisible Ear.
This, in turn, has been re-introduced into concerts in the form of feedback-saxophone and close-miking.

Site-Specific Solos

john butcher stone museum concert photo
Oya Stone Museum, Japan                                                               ©osamu enomoto


In the last few years I have also had the opportunity to create solos specifically for large and unusual or especially characteristic acoustic spaces.
Two concerts/recordings have been made inside the giant Oya Stone Mountain in Utsunomiya, Japan.

Resonant Spaces was a 2006 tour in Scotland and the Orkneys, with sites specially chosen for their extraordinary acoustics.

Later that year I played, for Resonance FM, in Oberhausen's famous 200m gazometer.



The Geometry of Sentiment

john butcher solo cd
order CD from Emanem
Live recordings from Japan (2004) and Europe (2006).

solo saxophone - acoustic and amplified/feedback

Sleeve notes by Stuart Broomer.


Horn_Bill

horn_bill cover
order CD from Matchless.
One track (18:44) on this double CD on Matchless.
Contains of all of the solos played on 9th January 2005 at the 291 Gallery, Hackney.
The all reed concert was organised by ONGAKU:enjoy_sound.

John Butcher
Nathaniel Catchpole
Kai Fagaschinski
Lou Gare
Evan Parker
Seymour Wright


read :: Bagatellen. :: KFJC


Cavern with Nightlife

cavern with nighlife cover
order CD here.

Two concerts, recorded in Japan in 2002. Out on Weight of Wax.
1st half: Solo inside the Oya Stone mountain.
2nd half: Duo with Toshimaru Nakimura (no-input mixing desk).


read WIRE :: Dusted :: One Final Note :: All about Jazz (Italy)


13 Friendly Numbers

13 friendly numbers cover
*13 friendly numbers cover*
order CD here.
Saxophone solos and multitracks.
Recorded 1991 and originally released on ACTA.
2004 reissue on Unsounds.


read :: Sunday Herald :: Paris Transatlantic :: Dusted :: MOJO :: Penguin guide to Jazz

read and listen :: BBC --- listen :: The Brittle Chance


Invisible Ear

invisible ear cover Close-miked and/or amplified-feedback and/or multitracked saxophones.
Recorded at home in London: 2002.
- plus one (multi) track from Münster, Germany: 1999.
Released on Fringes in a numbered limited edition of 600.


read :: Musicworks :: Stylus :: Dusted :: Squid's Ear :: Paris Transatlantic

listen :: Streamers :: Magnetic Bottle


Fixations (14)

fixations cover
order CD from Emanem.
Includes the complete set from Chicago's Empty Bottle festival: 2000.
All live recordings from USA and Europe: 1997-2000.
Released on Emanem.

read :: All Music Guide :: Jazz Times


London & Cologne

london and cologne cover
order CD from Rastascan.
Concert recordings: 1994-1996 - plus one multitracked piece.

full info :: Rastascan

read :: All Music Guide


Huddersfield Prospects

feedback sax
download from 7HINGS.
7HINGS is a web site delivering exclusive recordings by download only. Last year they commisoned a day of concerts at the Huddersfield New Music Festival.

Huddersfield Prospects consists of 4 solo (acoustic and feedback) pieces, plus a multi-track composition - Deposition 1 - created afterwards from the live material.





Feedback Saxophone:  photo © Bryony McIntyre / Arika,

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