© phillip edwards
Some (past) Collaborations
John Butcher
Vanessa Mackness ::
Peter Nykyruj ::
Embers :: Frisque Concordance
Vanessa Mackness
Singer Vanessa Mackness was initially a painter; a graduate of the Camberwell School of Art. She threw herself into vocal work after meeting Phil Minton and Maggie Nicols.
Derek Bailey's 1990 London Company Week was the first occasion for Butcher and Mackness to improvise together. Many duo concerts followed (as well as some with Bailey), and they released
Respiritus on
Incus.
visit :: Vanessa Mackness
Mackness rarely performs now, and has returned to painting.
Respiritus
Recorded in London in 1994.Peter Nykyruj
I was very sad to learn of the death of the Australian drummer Peter Nykyruj in 2004.
We played in various groups in the late 70s, including Chris Burn's
Jazz Ensemble
and the quartet in this photo.
During his stay in London Peter worked closely with Mike Osborne and Harry Miller - recording Marcel´s Muse (just re-issued on Ogun) in 1977.
John Butcher - tenor
Peter Coker - guitar
Peter Nykyruj - drums
Phil Butcher - bass
Chat's Palace, London 1979.
(My brother, Phil, moved away from jazz in the early 80s.
He went on to play with Iggy Pop, the Tiger Lillies and the Gang of Four - and to model for Yohji Yamamoto.
His own playing career was ended by a brain aneurism in 1998.)
Mike Osborne Quartet
The photo is from a mid '70s London gig, by Patsy Bennett:
Jeff Green, Dave Green (I think), Peter Nykyruj and Mike Osborne.
Mike Osborne died in 2007, and there is a fine obituary by Richard Williams in the Guardian.
Embers
Marcio Mattos - celloEmbers Live
A cassette only release on Acta.Frisque Concordance
Georg Gräwe - piano
The quartet worked from the first concert in Nickelsdorf in 1991 until 1996. They released Spellings as the first issue of the Random Acoustics label.
Butcher also joined the last version of Georg Gräwe's large Grubenklang Orch.
Spellings
A live recording of the group's 2nd concert - in Bochum, Germany in 1994.