The Squid's Ear Magazine


Russell, John / Phil Durrant / John Butcher: Conceits (1987/1992) (Emanem)

In 1987 the trio of John Butcher on tenor & soprano sax, Phil Durrant on violin & trombone, and John Russel on acoustic plectrum guitar, released this LP of free improvisations using superb forward-thinking dialog, remarkable 3 decades after its release!
 

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product information:

Personnel:



John Butcher-tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone

Phil Durrant-acoustic violin, trombone

John Russell-acoutsic plectrum guitar


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UPC: 5030243503629

Label: Emanem
Catalog ID: 5036
Squidco Product Code: 20514

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: Great Britain
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Originally issused in 1987 on the UK Acta label as catalog code Acta 1.

1-11: recorded at Bracknell (South Hill Park Studio) on April 29th, 1987.

12: recorded live in Stockholm, Sweden (Antikvariat Bla Tornet) on July 3rd, 1992. Originally issused on the UK Acta label as catalog code Acta 1.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"A reissue of the first LP by the exceptionally fine improvising trio of John Russell (guitar), Phil Durrant (violin and trombone) and John Butcher (saxophones). This group came into being in 1984 after Russell and Durrant had spent the previous two years performing in private with another saxophonist. For this debut LP, made in 1987, they performed eleven short pieces. This CD has been expanded by the inclusion of a previously unissued extended concert performance made a few years later. The strong beginnings of one of the best improvising groups of the 1980s and 1990s."-Emanem



"At least the LMC has organised what it calls a Christmas Club concert for this Tuesday at London's AIR Gallery. It might, improbably enough, he among the year's most interesting events: a trio performance by guitarist John Russell, saxophonist John Butcher and violinist Phil Durrant.

It's important because their trio album, Conceits (ACTA 1, £6.25), released some months ago, puts to flight almost every other record of improvised music of recent times. The intensity of the playing is taken to extraordinary lengths. As sparse as it is, the music is sometimes astonishingly dark and violent. The discipline of the group never falters: if one of them has nothing to say, he says nothing. Every fragment of music becomes significant.

Most of the pieces are two to four minutes long, each closing down on the first ending that comes up. That alone makes it a rare effort. Butcher and Durrant are both young veterans of this scene, the former a player who breaks open the extremes of free saxophone in order to find a more considered tongue, while the violinist travels restlessly between complete abstraction and a cracked romantic strain. Russell scratches a hobbledehoy line somewhere between them, tying the pieces together. It's a demanding language, but a sharp antidote to the boundless festivity which even jazz feels beholden to at this time of year."-Richard Cook, Sunday Times



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"John Butcher's work ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback and extreme acoustics.Originally a physicist, he left academia in '82, and has since collaborated with hundreds of musicians - Derek Bailey, John Tilbury, John Stevens, The EX, Akio Suzuki, Gerry Hemingway, Polwechsel, Gino Robair, Rhodri Davies, Okkyung Lee, John Edwards, Toshi Nakamura, Paul Lovens, Eddie Prevost, Mark Sanders, Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Phil Minton, and Andy Moor - to name a few.

He is well known as a solo performer who attempts to engage with the uniqueness of place. Resonant Spaces is a collection of site-specific performances collected during a tour of unusual locations in Scotland and the Orkney Islands.His first solo album, Thirteen Friendly Numbers, includes compositions for multitracked saxophones, whilst later solo CDs focus on live performance, composition, amplification and saxophone-controlled feedback.

HCMF has twice commissioned him to compose for his own large ensembles. Other commissions include for Elision (Australia), the Rova (USA) & Quasar (Canada) Saxophone Quartets, reconstructed Futurist Intonarumori (USA), "Tarab Cuts" (based on pre-WWII Arabic recordings, and shortlisted for the 2014 British Composer's Award) and "Good Liquor .." for the London Sinfonietta. In 2011 he received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists.

Recent groupings include The Apophonics with Robair and Edwards, Anemone with Peter Evans, Plume with Tony Buck & Magda Mayas and a trio with Okkyung Lee & Mark Sanders.Butcher values playing in occasional encounters - ranging from large groups such as Butch Morris' London Skyscraper and the EX Orkestra, to duo concerts with David Toop, Kevin Drumm, Claudia Binder, Paal Nilssen-Love, Thomas Lehn, Fred Frith, Keiji Haino, Ute Kangeisser, Matthew Shipp and Yuji Takahashi."

-John Butcher Website (http://www.johnbutcher.org.uk/Biog.html)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Phil Durrant. Born 1957; software synth/sampler, live electronics and acoustic violin.

Phil Durrant studied classical violin and piano at the London College Of Music. Since 1977 he has been a freelance musician, improviser and composer. He has performed at festivals all over Europe, U.S.A and Canada and has had his music broadcast on radio and television in many countries.

Current electronic projects include Ticklish, Secret Measures (with John Butcher), Lunge (with Gail Brand, Pat Thomas and Mark Sanders) and the international electronic orchestra, Mimeo. He also plays violin in Assumed Possibilities (with Chris Burn, Rhodri Davies and Mark Wastell), "Beinhaltung", a trio with Radu Malfatti and Thomas Lehn another trio with Berlin musicians, Burkhard Beins and Ignaz Schick, and the string quartet Quatuor Accorde, with Tony Wren, Charlotte Hug and Mark Wastell. Durrant has also played in the very influential trio with John Butcher and John Russell, as well as the Chris Burn Ensemble.

During his career he has played with many creative and important musicians, including: Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Grooverider, Shut up and Dance, John Zorn, Phil Minton, and Tom Cora. He has also been awarded various Arts Council grants to research and develop his use of electronics. Two current duo projects - at early 2001 - were: Durrant, violin and software synth/sampler with Wade Matthews, bass clarinet, alto flute; and Durrant software synth/sampler with Mark Sanders drums and sequenced samples.

Phil Durrant has also been collaborating and composing music for a wide variety of choreographers. These include PLastic chill, In the face of a stranger and Deja deux with Maxine Doyle; Salome, Concrete and On stage with Susanne Thomas; Partial site, near view and Delay for five with Gill Clarke; Future perfekt with Ana Sanchez-Colberg; and Borderlander and Home zone with Sophia Lycouris. Salome, Concrete and Partial site, near view were site-specific and involved speaker systems in a number of different rooms. He recently wrote the music for a new play by Nick Sutton called Home movies."

-European Free Improv (EFI) (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mdurrant.html)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"John Russell got his first guitar in 1965 while living in Kent and began to play in and around London from 1971 onwards. An early involvement with the emerging free improvisation scene (from 1972) followed, seeing him play in such places as The Little Theatre Club, Ronnie Scott's, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Musicians' Co-Op and the London Musicians' Collective. From 1974 his work extended into teaching, broadcasts (radio and television) and touring in the United Kingdom and, ever extensively, in other countries around the world . He has played with many of the world's leading improvisers and his work can be heard on over 50 CDs and albums. In 1981, he founded QUAQUA, a large bank of improvisers put together in different combinations for specific projects and, in 1991, he started MOPOMOSO which has become the UK's longest running concert series featuring mainly improvised music."

-John Russell Website (http://www.john-russell.co.uk/biography/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. How It Was 2:26

2. F.T.T. 2:34

3. The Skelloch 1:56

4. No Parallax 2:10

5. Rough 3:15

6. Liberal Dose (Audi Alteram Partem) 6:13

7. Fine Sharp And Leighton Buzzard 3:21

8. Pen Or Pencil 2:43

9. Interstices 3:17

10. Tumble 4:10

11. From The Eggs To The Apples 5:56

12. Soft Hours And Soligities 15:49

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
John Butcher
Trio Recordings
EMANEM & psi
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Emanem.


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