Born in Brighton and living in London, John Butcher is a saxophonist whose work ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback, unusual acoustics and non-concert locations. He is well known as a solo performer who attempts to engage with a sense of place. Resonant Spaces, for example, is a collection of performances recorded during a tour of unusual locations in Scotland and the Orkney Islands.

Butcher originally studied Physics, but after publishing a PH.D (1982) in quantum chromodynamics, Butcher left academia and took off with music. He has since collaborated with hundreds of artists, some for many decades. To name a few: Derek Bailey, Akio Suzuki, John Stevens’ Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Sophie Agnel, Rhodri Davies, Matthew Shipp,  Gerry Hemingway, Chris Burn, Polwechsel, Magda Mayas, Gino Robair, Thermal (Andy Moor & Thomas Lehn), Christian Marclay, Eddie Prévost, Okkyung Lee, John Russell,  and Phil Minton.

Butcher values both permanent groups and occasional encounters and operates within a network of artists also interested in the dynamics of spontaneity and shared history.
This work ranges through:
duo settings, with, for instance, Rhodri Davies, David Toop, Okkyung Lee, Sophie Agnel, Matthew Shipp, Keiji Heino, Fred Frith, Angharad Davies, Eli Keszler, Otomo Yoshihide and John Tilbury;
trios The Contest of Pleasures (with Axel Dörner & Xavier Charles), Chris Corsano & Florian Stoffner, Vellum (with Tony Buck and Magda Mayas), Last Dream of the Morning (with John Edwards & Mark Sanders) and Fictional Souvenirs (with Ståle Liavik Solberg & Pat Thomas).
multimedia projects with Christian Marclay and Lina Lapelyte;
large groups and many one-offs, from soloist with the WDR Sinfonieorchester (in Christopher Fox’s Topophony) to creating a site-specific performance in the Texas dessert with Joe McPhee.

Compositions include:
3 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) commissions for his own ensembles: somethingtobesaid (2008), Isola (2012), Fluid Fixations (2021)
Saxophone quartets: The Knot Garden (2009) - ROVA, Balance (2012) - Quasar
Penny Wands and Native String (2009) for Futurist Intonaroumori
Tarab Cuts (2014) - devised from early Arabic classical and Sufi music recordings, Good liquor caused my heart for to sing (2015) - London Sinfonietta.

Butcher has received the Paul Hamlyn Foundation award for Composers (2011)

Workshops/lectures/master-classes on improvisation and the saxophone include:
Royal Academy of Music, Vancouver Creative Music Institute, Barcelona Conservatory, Newfoundland Sound Symposium, Middlesex University, Princeton University, Montreal University, Goldsmiths College, Dartington College, "Time of Music" Viitasaari, Stanford University, Queen’s University Belfast, Musik Akademie Basel, The Guildhall School of Music.