John Butcher

[mjazzg]

3 minutes ago, Д.Д. said:

You guys like this stuff?! I was there at the concerts, and I thought it was all mediocre (by Butcher standards, that is), particularly the larger grouping with Liz Allbee. The only thing I liked was one short solo tenor piece that was a part of the duo with Agnel on the first day. I was quite bummed out because I traveled to Berlin specifically for these concerts.       

I'll let you know once they've arrived. 

[clifford_thornton]

I haven't heard the Ni Vi Nu Connu LPs yet but will give them a listen. 

Saw Butcher a bunch in the early 00s -- first in Chicago with Fred Lonberg-Holm and Glenn Kotche (didn't like Glenn's improvising at all [I dislike Wilco immensely] but Butcher was excellent) and subsequently in Texas solo, duo with Thomas Lehn, and in groups with the Austin New Music Co-op. All of the Texas shows were stupendous. It's been a while but I hope to have an opportunity to see him again.

I have a smattering of his CDs and those in which he deals most closely with resonance and acoustics have impressed me the most, but he's such an incredibly deep listener and gutsy player that even the "standard" recordings of post-SME interaction or the saxophone-drum duos with Prévost, Nilssen-Love, et al. are quite remarkable. The trio with Lehn and Shipp (and the duos w/ both) are really something else too, though of course I've recently been going back to them with a very close ear.

[colinmce]

I gave a cursory listen to this upcoming release today and will revisit it:

https://now-ezz-thetics.bandcamp.com/album/braids?label=2106108397

@clifford_thornton I will run through the newish RogueArt with Shipp & Butcher again soon. I loved the Fataka release when it came out but this didn’t do a ton for me during the few spins I gave it. Maybe just wasn’t in the right headspace at the time.