Jazz Articles about John Butcher

About John Butcher

Album Review

Agustí Fernández: Aesthetic of Prisms

Read "Aesthetic of Prisms" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
June 23, 2025

Cofanetto di ben sette CD, edito per celebrare i settant'anni del pianista catalano, Aestethic of Prisms permette di ascoltare Agustí Fernández all'opera in numerose situazioni e con compagni diversi, sebbene sempre rigorosamente alle prese con l'improvvisazione libera e non idiomatica, di cui è uno dei grandi interpreti contemporanei. Apre la raccolta Blue Rose, un duo tra il pianista e lo straordinario contrabbassista Barry Guy, suo abituale partner (figura infatti in altri due CD del cofanetto), registrato in studio ...

Album Review

John Butcher / Florian Stoffner / Chris Corsano: The Glass Changes Shape

Read "The Glass Changes Shape" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
March 17, 2025

British saxophonist John Butcher cultivates a network of like-minded collaborators around the world, with whom he seeks to connect on an occasional to regular basis. Although only formed in May 2022, the trio with American drummer Chris Corsano and Swiss guitarist Florian Stoffner must be among the most potent combinations. Affirmation comes from the nine tracks included on The Glass Changes Shape that were culled from a live performance at Loft in Cologne in September 2023. Each man ...

In Pictures

John Butcher 70th Birthday Residency at Cafe OTO

by John Sharpe
November 5, 2024

Groundbreaking saxophonist John Butcher is a frequent visitor to north London's Cafe OTO, so it is fitting that the venue provided the setting for a celebration of his milestone birthday. For the occasion he handpicked selection of his most potent collaborators to join him over the three nights in various small group formations. Butcher has developed a unique style that melds a staggeringly detailed command of multiphonics, timbre and overblowing with an overarching sense of musicality. But even ...

Album Review

John Butcher / Eddie Prevost: Higher Lever Levitations Vol 1 Unearthed

Read "Higher Lever Levitations Vol 1 Unearthed" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
July 26, 2024

Enduring connections. UK free music veterans, drummer Eddie Prėvost and saxophonist John Butcher first shared a stage in 1990, as part of guitarist Derek Bailey's famed Company weeks, but they still find plenty of worthwhile things to say to each other on Unearthed. Their encounters have been many over the intervening years, including several previous duo efforts. However, what lends this occasion its distinctive flavor is Prėvost 's decision to bring along a full kit rather than the pared-down elements ...

Album Review

John Butcher, Thomas Lehn, John Tilbury: Lights

by John Eyles
June 10, 2024

Lights was recorded live at Cafe Oto, London, on May 26th 2016. It features the trio of John Butcher on saxophones, German-born Thomas Lehn on analogue synthesizer and John Tilbury on piano. If the line-up looks familiar, that may be because the same trio had recorded a studio album Exta at City University Music Studio in June 2012, the album also being released on Fataka. In addition, in February 2016, a trio of Butcher, Lehn and pianist Matthew Shipp recorded ...

Album Review

John Butcher / Pat Thomas / Dominic Lash / Steve Noble: Fathom

by John Sharpe
April 18, 2024

Finely judged sounds studded in space. Bursts of incipient rhythm. Wafts of fire music energy. Those are just some of the fruitful products of the British foursome of saxophonist John Butcher, pianist Pat Thomas, bassist Dominic Lash and drummer Steve Noble. A spider's web of alliances connects them, notably tangled given their time on the promiscuous UK free scene, so it is all the more surprising that Fathom documents their first meeting as a group, in north London's Cafe Oto ...

Album Review

Florian Stoffner, John Butcher, Chris Corsano: Braids

Read "Braids" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
March 29, 2024

Una free impro abbastanza classica (tutto può diventare un classico, anche l'irriverenza), piuttosto ben calibrata e mai sopra le righe, è quanto ci giunge da questi cinquanta minuti scarsi di musica certamente non accomodante (ma del resto, come si sarà capito, nemmeno mai urtante), incisi nel maggio 2022 in quel di Bienna, città svizzera sul lago omonimo, fra Berna e Basilea. Ne sono artefici tre musicisti piuttosto rodati in materia, in special modo il sassofonista inglese John Butcher, che viaggia ...