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John Butcher, Thomas Lehn, Matthew Shipp: Tangle
by John Eyles
Recorded at Café Oto in February 2014, on the first night of pianist Matthew Shipp's three-day residency at the venue, Tangle is the first recording of the trio of saxophonist John Butcher and synthesiser player Thomas Lehn with Shipp. (The YouTube clip, below, was filmed on the night in question.) Typically, there were previous links between the three, with evidence being available on past Fataka releases; Butcher and Lehn had first collaborated as far back as 1996 and, in June ...
read moreSebastian Lexer + Steve Noble: Muddy Ditch
by John Eyles
In a similar manner to the simultaneous Fataka release by Evan Parker and Seymour Wright, Muddy Ditch successfully pairs a long-established member of the London improv scene with a player who emerged from Eddie Prevost's weekly workshop --drummer Steve Noble and pianist Sebastian Lexer, respectively. But in Noble and Lexer's cases, the descriptions “drummer" and “pianist" are barely adequate, only scratching the surface of what each of them does. While Noble's awesome power always ensures he is a ...
read moreEvan Parker / Seymour Wright: Tie the Stone to the Wheel
by John Eyles
The five tracks on Tie the Stone to the Wheel were recorded at two duo gigs which saxophonists Evan Parker and Seymour Wright played in London and Derby, on consecutive Sundays in October 2014, at the Kernel Brewery and the Derby Theatre Studio. Remarkably, at the Derby gig, it was revealed that when Parker had played a previous gig at the venue, several decades before, Wright had been in the audience--as a six-month-old baby! While it is never ...
read moreRoger Turner & Otomo Yoshihide: The Last Train
by John Eyles
Recorded at Tokyo's Hara Museum in February 2013, this duo brings together London's Roger Turner on percussion with Japan's own Otomo Yoshihide on guitar and amplifier, an improv meeting of two masters with very different but equally impressive histories. Across four tracks ranging in length from four to sixteen-and-a-half minutes--forty minutes altogether--they give an object lesson in the art of duo improvisation, a format in which both players are constantly exposed with no easy place to hide, although that clearly ...
read moreNate Wooley, Seymour Wright: About Trumpet and Saxophone
by John Eyles
About Trumpet and Saxophone has an intriguing image across the back and front of its double fold-out sleeve. Painted by Geoff Wright in 1968 and entitled Svetlana, it consists of eight images of a woman which, read from left to right, show her dressing from compete nakedness through the donning of items of underwear to full evening dress including long black gloves. It is intriguing not for reasons of sexual politics but because it is so wildly incompatible with the ...
read moreJohn Butcher, Thomas Lehn, John Tilbury: Exta
by John Eyles
The trio of saxophonist John Butcher, synthesiser player Thomas Lehn and pianist John Tilbury had a certain inevitability about it. Although they had not recorded together prior to this album, each of the three possible pairs had done so--Lehn and Tilbury when the Englishman recorded the extraordinary The Hands of Caravaggio (Erstwhile, 2002) with MIMEO of which Lehn was a member, Butcher and Tilbury when the saxophonist joined AMM to record Trinity (Matchless, 2008), and Butcher and Lehn when the ...
read morePat Thomas: Al-Khwarizmi Variations
by John Eyles
Al-Khwarizmi Variations is the most recent addition to a select group of albums--the solo recordings of pianist Pat Thomas. It is Thomas's fourth solo outing in twenty years, and follows Nur (Emanem, 2001) and Plays the Music of Derek Bailey & Thelonious Monk (FMR, 2008). Both of those are hard to follow, but Al-Khwarizmi Variations is a worthy successor to them.Thomas is known to be an adherent of Islam, which may be why the album title name-checks Al-Khwarizmi, ...
read moreJohn Edwards / Okkyung Lee: White Cable, Black Wires
by John Eyles
After its impressive debut, it is gratifying to report that the Fataka label seems set to continue in similar vein. Recorded by Sebastian Lexer in May 2011, White Cable, Black Wires follows the pattern of the first two Fataka releases, featuring a small, intimate setting involving a key London improviser-- this time, bassist John Edwards paired with Korean-born cellist Okkyung Lee. Across five pieces ranging in length from just under six to just over eleven minutes, the pair thrives in ...
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