Saturday 26 October 2024, 7.30pm
Join us to celebrate the 70th birthday of one of the greats of improvised music - John Butcher - featuring a line-up comprised of collaborators old and new alongside a solo performance. John Butcher is a saxophonist of rare grace and power, who has expanded the vocabulary of the saxophone far beyond the conventions of jazz and other musics, to encompass a staggering range of harmonics, multiphonics, overtones, percussive sounds, and electronic feedback. But his playing is far more than merely an array of special effects: it's characterised by an intensity that propels it into strange new places that are both incredibly beautiful and deeply exhilarating.
"It still feels quite mysterious to me. How strongly individual players bring their own music to real-time, collaborative performance; and then something new gets cooked, often quite beyond the seeming ingredients. It's in this spirit that I've invited these singular musicians, drawn from a web of connections to be stretched and explored anew. We'll have three duos, the “Fictional Souvenirs” trio, and two new quartets. I’ll also play solo, something I lost a taste for during/after the lockdowns but have recently felt ready to revisit.
Over 25 years my duo with constructive and destructive harp pioneer Rhodri Davies has developed through acoustic, electrical, and symbiotic materials. Now, elements from world-wide harp musics have begun to enter. Sophie Agnel has forged a new sonic space by dissolving the barrier between inside and outside piano. Our duo is relatively new and I find this fluidity inspiring to play with.
Sophie will also join a group with two musicians I’ve valued working with on many projects. Angharad Davies, whose violin can release both lines of mercury and knotty interjections, often at the same time, and Mark Sanders, who is remarkable at shaping endlessly malleable energy and colour.
A completely new situation for me will be to play in duo with Isabelle Duthois. Music that relies on the breath has a special quality and I look forward to interacting with her unique voice work and forensic clarinet. “Fictional Souvenirs” is me, Pat Thomas and Ståle Liavik Solberg, meeting for our third concert. Music formed from Pat’s deep knowledge of piano history and future electronics and Ståle’s sense of pitch, space and propulsion. The final set will be the us in quartet for the first time." – John Butcher
Butcher is well known as a saxophonist who attempts to engage with the uniqueness of time and place. His music ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback and unusual acoustics. Since the early 80s he has collaborated with hundreds of artists – including Derek Bailey, Rhodri Davies, Andy Moor, Phil Minton, Christian Marclay, Eddie Prévost, Magda Mayas, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Sophie Agnel, Gino Robair, Mark Sanders, John Tilbury, Okkyung Lee, John Edwards, Chris Corsano, Polwechsel and Steve Beresford.
Alongside long term projects he values occasional encounters; from large groups such as the WDR Sinfonieorchester & Butch Morris’ “London Skyscraper”, to duo concerts with Joe McPhee, Fred Frith, Akio Suzuki, Paal Nilssen-Love, Keiji Haino, David Toop, Angharad Davies, Otomo Yoshihide and Matthew Shipp.
Recent compositions include “Penny Wands” for Futurist Intonarumori, three HCMF commissions for his own groups, “Good Liquor Caused my Heart for to Sing” for the London Sinfonietta and “Tarab Cuts”, a response to recordings of early Arabic classical music which was shortlisted for a British Composer’s Award.
“English saxophonist John Butcher may be among the world’s most influential musicians, operating at the cutting-edge of improvisatory practice since the ‘80s. Whenever an acoustic musician starts to sound like a bank of oscillators, a tropical forest, a brook or an insect factory, Butcher’s influence is likely nearby.” – New York City Jazz Record.
Isabelle Duthoit completed her clarinet studies at the CNSM in Lyon in Jacques Di Donato's class.
She soon turned her attention to contemporary music, working with a number of composers. She then found her preferred medium in free improvisation. She has performed and collaborated with many artists on the international experimental scene, including Dieb13, Angelica Castello, Martin Tetreault, Franz Hautzinger, Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang, Naoto Yamagishi, Phil Minton, Luc Ex , Thomas Lehn, Lê Quan Ninh, Jacques Di Donato, Xavier Charles, Sophie Agnel and EriKm. She is a member of Hiatus, Système Friche, Where is the sun, Uruk and has performed at numerous festivals in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Russia, Europe and Japan.
She has always been interested in the voice, and for nearly 20 years has been developing a unique and personal vocal technique. A language before language. A song rooted as much in the breath as in the cry...
Pat Thomas studied classical piano from aged 8 and started playing Jazz from the age of 16. He has since gone on to develop an utterly unique style - embracing improvisation, jazz and new music. He has played with Derek Bailey in Company Week (1990/91) and in the trio AND (with Noble) – with Tony Oxley’s Quartet and Celebration Orchestra and in Duo with Lol Coxhill.
"Sartorially shabby as Thomas may be, and on first impression even rather stolid, he has a somewhat imperious charisma that’s immediately amplified when he starts to play. Unlike other pianists whose virtuosity seems to be racing ahead of their thought processes Thomas always seems supremely in command of his gift, and his playing, no matter how free and ready to tangle with abstraction, always carries a charge of authoritative exactitude." - The Jazzmann
Ståle Liavik Solberg (drums/percussion) has established a base for himself as a central part of Oslo's thriving improvised music scene. Working with ensembles VCDC, Will it float? (with John Russell, Steve Beresford & John Edwards), Silva-Rasmussen-Solberg trio and in duos with Fred Lonberg-Holm and John Russell his open and attentive drumming has received many positive responses from musicians and audiences in both Europe and the USA. Solberg is also known as one of the driving forces behind the series Blow Out! in Oslo, and he curates the festival with the same name together with fellow drummer / percussionist Paal Nilssen-Love.
