Until The Night Melts Away

First performance of this trio, at Café Oto

JOHN BUTCHER: tenor saxophone
SHARON GAL: voice, electronics, bells, objects
DAVID TOOP: lap steel guitar, flutes, bass recorder, African chordophone, objects

The harvest of sounds is in full swing, despite and until the extinction of reasoning in favour of the delirium of the imagination.
ORYNX - Jean-Michel van Schouwburg.

1 Until The Night Melts Away - 35:31

16th April 2019
Café Oto, London
Recorded by Paul Skinner
SHRIKE SRL001

Discernment

At Dominic Lash’s 40th birthday show -  Café Oto, 2020

JOHN BUTCHER: saxophones
JOHN RUSSELL:  guitar
DOMINIC LASH:  double bass
MARK SANDERS:  drums

The harvest of sounds is in full swing, despite and until the extinction of reasoning in favour of the delirium of the imagination.
ORYNX - Jean-Michel van Schouwburg.

1 discerning 1 - 8:29
2 discerning 2 - 7:13
3 discerning 3 - 6:48
4 discerned - 17:13

13th January 2020
Café Oto, London
Recorded by shaune Crook
spoonhunt - SHCD003

Low Yellow

Live in Ljubljana

JOHN BUTCHER:   saxophones
WILBERT de JOODE:  double bass
MARTIN BLUME:  drums & percussion

The unforced improvisations also take on a rootsy Blues feel via de Joode’s scratches that seem to be pulling the finish off the bass strings and equivalent tonal reed vibration from Butcher on the concluding “Acids”.
JAZZWORD - Ken Waxman.

1 Flowers - 14:58
2 Fogs - 5:11
3 Grottoes - 18:17
4 Acids - 7:19

28 October 2016
"Sound Disobedience”, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Recorded by Iztok Klopotec
Jazz Werkstatt 184

Iklectik Live One

Eddie Prévost on drum kit for a classic line-up

JOHN BUTCHER: saxophones
EDDIE PRÉVOST: drums
GUILLAUME VILTARD: double bass

While Prévost and Viltard construct an intense groove, Butcher enters and leaves at will, frequently entering in new voices, different densities and altered approaches, embracing and extending the range of post-Rollins tenor approaches.
POINT OF DEPARTURE - Stuart Broomer

1 Electric - 18:39
2 Light - 22:26
3 On - 18:51
4 Click - 6:38

23 November 2016
Iklectik, London
Recorded by Giovanni La Rovere
Artwork by Myah Chun
MRCD103

Fictional Souvenirs

Intense listening at Iklectik

PAT THOMAS: moog theremini & ipad based electronics
STÅLE LIAVIK SOLBERG: drums and percussion
JOHN BUTCHER: saxophones

Thomas forgoes the piano for electronics to purvey an endless selection of beeps, shimmers and thuds. The vocabulary doesn't really exist to describe the range of sounds he extracts. It's the same with Butcher, who has forged an audacious personal language from the precise control of overtones and multiphonics. At times the saxophonist recalls the late Steve Lacy in the way he constructs his improvisation by reiterating a certain phrase then switching abruptly to a different repeated cell. His shifts often provide the signal for his partners to change tack too. Solberg is especially sensitive in this regard, and his insistent pulses provide a further layer of substructure to the music.
ALL ABOUT JAZZ - John Sharpe

1 Dust - 8:13
2 Heartaches - 7:36
3 The Solution - 10:41
4 Threads  -5:20
5 The Effort and a Smile - 10:52
6 Keys - 6:18

19 July 2017
Iklectik, "Old Paradise Yard", London
Astral Spirits - AS 088

Tangle

Live at Café Oto, London

MATTHEW SHIPP:  piano
JOHN BUTCHER:  saxophones & feedback
THOMAS LEHN:  analogue synthesiser

This is thrilling, peerless stuff, played with vivacity and animation. I was at the concert, and in my diary I jotted down a rare post-gig note that reads simply “!!!! f******k”, but I’d forgotten it was quite this good.
DALSTON SOUND - Time Owen.

1-3 Cluster - 37:09
4 Tiefenschärfe - 5:59

19 February 2014
Cafe Oto, London
Engineer: James Dunn.
Liner Notes: Nate Wooley
Photograph: Andy Moor
FATAKA 14

Ftarri Collection 1

Three groups with Toshimaru Nakamura

1 Opera Southern Cross 23:02
2 Butcher / Nakamura / Akiyama 22:27
3 Yoshihide / Nakamura / Hankil 27:43

TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA: no-input mixing board
with
1 TAKU SUGIMOTO: composition, KATSUARKI IIDA: reading, TAKU UNAMI: computer
2 JOHN BUTCHER: saxophones, TETUZI AKIYAMA: guitar
3 OTOMO YOSHIHIDE: turntable, RYU HANKIL: clockworks

19th April, 2008 (1,3)
Super Deluxe, Tokyo
19th September, 2010 (2)
Super Deluxe, Tokyo
meenna-111

Horizontals White

21st Century music from 5 & 6 piece versions of ENSEMBLE

CHRIS BURN'S ENSEMBLE
CHRIS BURN: piano
JOHN BUTCHER: saxophones
RHODRI DAVIES: harp (1/2)
MATT HUTCHINSON: korg ms-20 synth
JOHN RUSSELL: guitar
MARK WASTELL: cello

What's incredible here is the complete disintegration of the sources, as breathing, percussion and plucking become one - a creature suddenly waking up, looking herself in the mirror, her constitution continuously changing
TOUCHING EXTREMES - Massimo Ricci.

1 Horizontals White - 21:43
2 Verticals Blue - 10:19
3 There Were Five In Eight - 9:06
4 Night-Time Nostalgia - 6:12
5 Still Life On May Day - 10:25

21 January 2001 (1/2)
Red Rose Club, London
6 May 2001 (3-5)
Conway Hall, London
EMANEM 4080

Under the Roof

Studio recording from DRS2 in Zurich

CLAUDIA BINDER: piano
JOHN BUTCHER:   saxophones

This is their first duo recording together, but Butcher and pianist Claudia Ulla Binder go back over a quarter of a century. Recorded in August 2008 in Zurich and engineered by Martin Pearson —pianist Keith Jarrett's current engineer—Under the Roof clearly benefits from the duo's time spent together, and the care lavished on faithfully capturing the sounds of the instruments. Everything about the album is beautiful, right down to the minimalist cover art by German artist Michael Eul.
ALL ABOUT JAZZ - John Eyles.

1 Lofty - 3:52
2 Troves - 6:01
3 Umbrella - 1:39
4 Coffer - 2:05
5 Black Martin, Female - 2:44
6 Black Martin, Male - 2:20
7 Truss Joint - 4:44
8 Raincoat - 3:45
9 Cantilever - 6:45
10 Fledgling - 5:32
11 Topee - 1:53
12 Housemice - 1:52
13 Kestrel - 2:18
14 Leak - 2:14
15 Skylight - 5:03

21/22 August 2008
Radio DRS2 Studio, Zürich
Recorded by Martin Pearson
NUSCOPE CD 1023

The White Spot

Studio recording from Seattle

JOHN BUTCHER:  saxophones
TORSTON MULLER:  double bass
DYLAN van der SCHYFF:  drums

Earlianum. With Müller’s accompaniment low-pitched and rhythmic, Butcher’s tenor sax exposition is so well-modulated it could be from Coleman Hawkins, until he opens up the piece with shaking vibrations and quivering multiphonics, which are shadowed by van der Schyfff's clicks and clatters. 
JAZZWORD - Ken Waxman.

1 Graminea 05:06
2 Mespili 03:50
3 Impressum 11:09
4 Hymenae 1 06:00
5 Schoepfiae 05:58
6 Earlianum 08:30
7 Hymenae 2 01:56
8 Mali 07:39
9 Saponariae 07:03

June 2008
Sonarchy Studio, Seattle, WA
Relative Pitch – RPR1006

Way Out Northwest

# 8 in The Factual Opinion's Top Ten Abrasive Albums (2008)

JOHN BUTCHER:  saxophones
TORSTON MULLER:  double bass
DYLAN van der SCHYFF:  drums

The speed, direction and dynamics of the music shift constantly, and the key pleasure to be had in listening to it is in the small details, which drive and inform the music every bit as much as the bolder, louder gestures that often precipitate a major change of direction.
WIRE - Brian Marlay.

1 Häufig Eine Hydraulische Metaphertendenz - 10:53
2 magiC CloCK maCHine - 8:29
3 Sibila e Succhia - 11:02
4 Sharpening the Windings Until They Roll Up, Roll Up, Roll Up and Snag on the Point of the Tear - 8:37
5 Taktgebertendenz - 7:21
6 Gone, Goner - 2:05

June 2007
Vancouver Jazz Festival, Western Front, Vancouver
Drip Audio – DA00272

RAW

Live at “Offene Ohren”, Münich

HARALD KIMMIG:  violin
DANIEL STUDER:  double bass
ALFRED ZIMMERLIN:  violincello
JOHN BUTCHER:  tenor and soprano saxophones

1 A Short Night With A Light Beam Of The Moon 17:19
2 Cloudless Sky And The Sun 6:22
3 Morning Star Shining On Hydrangea 15:13
4 Croaks Of Frogs At Midnight Under The Milky Way 6:50

25 January 2015
Einstein, "Offene Ohren", Munich
Leo 766

Light Never Bright Enough

LP & CD recorded live at Café Oto

KEIJI HAINO: Vocal, Guitars, etc
JOHN BUTCHER: Saxophones and Feedback

There’s barely a single moment where these very extreme explorations, these wild clashes of sound, don’t succeed in causing alchemical sparks to fly from the furnace.
SOUND PROJECTOR - Ed Pinsent.

I - 6:30 *
II -  6:49 *
III - 17:43
IV -  6:18 *
V - 16:56
(* on CD only)

9 July 2016
Café Oto, London
Recorded by  Luca Consonni. 
ROKU 018CD

A Geography for Plays

Studio session at RAK

JOHN BUTCHER: saxophones and feedback
dieb13: turntables, computer
GINO ROBAIR: energized surfaces, prepared piano, Blippoo Box

“Olecasandrum” sounds like radio signals in fluid, at times with hints of language just beyond comprehension, gradually moving through other zones, including a soprano saxophone that achieves the dense chirping of a flock of birds.
FREE JAZZ BLOG - Stuart Broomer

1 The Lobbard Change Hisstops - 5:24
2 Dart On Discourse - 6:16
3 Olecassandrum - 12:00
4 Tinflappant- 9:53
5 Spoon Wink - 5:25
6 Last Morning of the Dream - 4:03
7 Giant Skull Gasp - 8:22
8 Pearlagraph, The Pearlagraph - 8:36

29 November 2014
RAK Studios, London, UK
Recording Engineer: Wes Maebe
Cover photo: "Daughter of the Circus" by Michael Garlington
Design: Tania Kac/Designarchy
Rastascan BRD 

Bell Trove Spools

Recorded in New York and Texas

JOHN BUTCHER:   saxophones

It’s really astonishing music, somehow managing to offer emotional resonance and aesthetic satisfaction, and never feeling like a dry exercise in technique for technique’s sake.
BURNING AMBULANCE - Philip Freeman.

The brazenly untreated melodic contours his fingers find in Third Dart are oddly reminiscent of Elizabethan melancholia, or viol consort music.
WIRE - Philip Clark.

1 a place to start - 6:31
2 padded shadows - 2:57
3 willow shiver - 2:59
4 perfume screech - 11:13
5 unspeakable damage - 2:01
6 first dart - 3:42
7 second dart - 3:55
8 third dart - 3:20
9 fourth dart-  5:36
10 egg - 3:25

14 April 2010 (1-5)
Richmond Hall, Houston, TX
Recorded by Ryan Edwards
7 November 2011 (6-10)
Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, NY
Recorded by Philip White
NORTHERN SPY 032

Tempestuous

Live in St. Paul’s, HCMF

The Contest of Pleasures
JOHN BUTCHER: saxophones
XAVIER CHARLES: clarinet
AXEL DÖRNER: trumpet

There’s something marvelous about a performance by this group. Each musician has an achieved purity of sound (suggesting the bel canto of a sine tone), so that he might stand as a model of what soprano, trumpet or clarinet should sound like. Each musician has also explored the sonic potential of his instrument to the point where there are moments that might be attributable to any one of them.
POINT OF DEPARTURE - Stuart Broomer

1 - 10:32
2 - 4:21
3 - 7:53
4 - 5:46
5 - 5:59
6 - 8:00
7 - 8:32

20 November 2006
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
Another Timbre at01