Vortices and Angels, by John Butcher with Derek Bailey and Rhodri Davies

Vortices and Angels

by John Butcher with Derek Bailey and Rhodri Davies

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1.	John Butcher & Derek Bailey - Low Vortex 27:54	info
2.	John Butcher & Derek Bailey - High Vortex 10:20	info
3.	John Butcher & Rhodri Davies - Rhagymadrodd 10:04	info
4.	John Butcher & Rhodri Davies - Pregeth 11:12	info
5.	John Butcher & Rhodri Davies - Diweddglo 03:55	info
6.	Low Vortex (first part - for streaming) 15:50

about

1 & 2: JOHN BUTCHER saxophones / DEREK BAILEY guitar.
3, 4 & 5: JOHN BUTCHER saxophones / RHODRI DAVIES harp.

"VORTICES AND ANGELS is an absolute standout in Emanem's catalogue. The Butcher-Baileys, recorded live in a small London jazz club (!) have a dry sound quality that fits the breathiness of Butcher's putt-putt duck quacks, quick trills and long drones on the soprano (aah!), cutting at angles through Bailey's choppy scales and chords, flinty amplified harmonics and violent, craggy metallic timbre contrasts. It's all very angular, spiky and at times flat-out noisy (especially good if you hate your neighbours).

When the CD's second part gets under way, it's a whole different thing. Suddenly we're inside a church, hearing Butcher skittering out a difficult thread of fluttering noises so high-pitched that they're almost not there, while out of the other speaker come isolated sounds of springy, loosened-strings from what I thought was Derek Bailey's big acoustic guitar but noooooo! It's the unprecedented improvising harpist Rhodri Davies pulling off strange, isolated notes from his instrument. Sploingg….buzzzzz….Butcher then joins him in the lower registers (why, in church, yet!), blowing moody, fluttery figures with an almost granulated rough edge. Freely improvised duo playing rarely gets as tasty as this. Niiiiiice.

If you haven't yet heard John Butcher, take it from your old pal who generally finds the sax to be a dull, uninteresting instrument: he is one of the few true individual players thereof who are working today, with a tone on both the tenor and soprano that are like no one else's a rare thing at this late date. I think the three pieces by this duo would fascinate just about anyone with well-cultivated ears. Fifty stars."

TONY MOSTROM - EPULSE 2002

credits

released October 5, 2018

CD release on Emanem.
1,2 recorded by Martin Davidson, 23 March 2000.
3,4,5 recorded by Tim Fletcher, 24 May 2000.
Editing, mastering and CD design by Martin Davidson.

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about

John Butcher London, UK

Improviser, Composer, Saxophonist.
Born in Brighton.
Lives in London.

johnbutcher.org.uk

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