John Butcher (musician)
John Butcher (born 1954 in Brighton ) is a British jazz and improvisational musicians ( tenor, soprano and baritone saxophone).
Life and work
Butcher studied physics at the University of Surrey and obtained the degree of Ph.D. in 1982 with the work of spin effects in the production and weak decay of heavy quarks. After starting out as a rock musician, he joined a jazz saxophonist during his studies, among others with the jazz ensemble of pianist Chris Burn, which won the 1980 BBC Big Band Award, and with his brother Phil Butcher, a double bassist, on. He also toured with music and dance projects such as the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, New Arts Consort and extemporary Dance.
After studying Butcher gave up his scientific career and devoted himself entirely to music. In 1984, he took on as a duo with Burn the LP Phonetics. At the same time, he formed a trio with guitarist John Russell and violinist Phil Durrant, with whom he 1987 LP Conceits grossed. Enhanced with the drummer Paul the trombonist Radu Malfatti Lovens and the group stepped further on under the name of News from the Shed.
With the saxophonist Evan Parker, Trevor Watts and Lol Coxhill Butcher occurred in Rome, with trombonist Alan Tomlinson and drummer Willi Kellers he undertook a tour of the GDR. He worked in duo formations with Phil Minton, Will Evans and Claudia Ulla Binder and with Derek Bailey, with whom he 2000 Album Vortices and Angels recorded.
He also worked with the singers Phil Minton and Vanesse Mackness. In the early 1990s he came into Europe with the quartet Frisque Concordance ( with Georg Gräwe and Martin Blume ), while he in London as a member of John Stevens ' Spontaneous Music Ensemble worked ( with guitarist Roger Smith).
Initial experience in the field of electronic music gained Butcher from 1997 in a duo of Phil Durrant. In the same year he became a member of the Austrian group Polwechsel, with whom he recorded five albums. Early 2000s he worked on electro-acoustic experiments with the Californian scientist William Tsun - Yuk Hsu and with Newton Armstrong, of Princeton University. More electroacoustic works were created with the Japanese Toshimaru Nakamura and the Austrian Christof short man.
With Axel Dörner and Xavier Charles, he founded the trio The Contest of Pleasures, whose music has been described as " electronic music on acoustic instruments ." Since 2006 he has been working with the Australian ensemble Elision. His discography now includes about forty albums and additionally there is a larger number of recordings as a sideman.
2008 founded the John Butcher John Butcher Group with Chris Burn, Thomas Lehn, Clare Cooper, Gino Robair, dieb13, Adam Linson and John Edwards.