With incredible skill and nuance, using extended and stunning technique, and through intent listening of nearly telepathic communication, the trio of Florian Stoffner on guitar, John Butcher on tenor & soprano saxophones and Chris Corsano on drums & half clarinet, perform seven subtle and detailed improvisations live at Le Singe, in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland in 2022.
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Sample The Album:
Florian Stoffner-guitar
John Butcher-tenor saxophone, soprano saxophones
Chris Corsano-dums, half clarinet
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UPC: 752156104728
Label: ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd
Catalog ID: ezz-thetics 1047
Squidco Product Code: 34025
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: Switzerland
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded live at Le Singe, in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, on May 22th 2022, by Andreas Neresheimer.
"Bishop Desmond Tutu once told a meeting at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg that when a discussion with his father became heated, the old man would raise a hand and say "Don't raise your voice; improve your argument". A lot of music is shouting. It's sometimes a sign of passion and sometimes the result of careful building to a climax. But too often, it's a sign that there is no argument and that volume has replaced substance.
With that thought in mind, turn to "soft geometry", the opening track here. Each of these players is capable of tremendous volume, through amplification, huffing and roaring across the reed, or physically bashing the drum kit. And yet, one doesn't hear that at all. The music proceeds quietly, thoughtfully, and, always a giveaway, you find yourself leaning forward a little, to catch every nuance.
The other result of this measured approach is that instruments become not so much denatured as harder than usual to distinguish. A certain sound might be from the saxophone, or it might be from the end of a stick dragged across the drum skin. Another could be an amplified effect from the guitar, or an overtone left flying around like a newly emergent butterfly from one of the other players.
There was for a time a whole movement in improvised music thirled to low-volume playing: we'd had the New Complexity and the New Tonality; quite logical that we would experiment with the New Quiet. But it turned into the nouvelle cuisine (remember that?) of music. The less there was on your plate, the more you had to pay for it (and the hungrier you were). Just as every nouvelle cuisine "dinner" led you inexorably to the late-night currywurst stand, kebab shop or McDonalds, so a certain strand of New Quiet music was apt to send you home to listen to Albert Ayler at top volume. Quiet was a double-edged sword. If shouting was a sign that you had lost the argument, muttering was equally a sign of unease, as Zachariah Zelilo Tutu might have told his son. If you can't say it out loud, you're maybe wrong.
Much was learned from the New Quiet and much of it was very positive. The music here comes from three men who are quite capable of lifting the roof, should they choose to. But each of them has always had an instinct for delicacy, for the overtone over the moment of attack, and for the spaces between sounds. Corsano's rhythms, even when playing free, are like spider webs on a misty morning. There used to be a British television add, played to pastoral music, which showed just such a web, dewdappled and gleaming in the sun. A pair of pliers suddenly appeared and klik, the web was revealed as fine steel, not gossamer. That's my image of Corsano's playing. Butcher is a master of the subtle overtone, the accidentals (which, of course, he can control precisely) that surround the tones and come back off the walls and the audience. One of his most remarkable projects was a series of solo performances in remote Scottish locations, playing at and with standing stones and later architectures. I visited one of those locations recently and you can still hear him there, in the wind. Stoffner I first heard about ten years ago on an album called ... And Sorry that still seems to me one of the subtlest and most effective solo guitar records of recent times. I was able to talk about it enthusiastically without using either of the words "Bailey" or "Derek". Stoffner has the same precision of touch and sense of absolute detail. The guitar famously was the instrument that allowed untutored use to pick a chord and go twang, but it's also an instrument of extraordinary sophistication, laden with secret sounds: sighing, plinking like a music box, muscling out big chords.
Here, then, are three men who have, if you will, won the argument already. They don't need excess volume or headline soloing to get their message across. Their message is inscribed in an elegant lower-case and rarely used aural fonts. You will find yourself leaning forward because not a note or whisper should be missed ..."-Brian Morton, March 2023
The Squid's Ear!
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Florian Stoffner "Florian 'Flo' Stoffner ( 1975 ) is a Swiss jazz guitarist and composer. Stoffner made his first experiences through performances with Harald Haerter and Erik Truffaz , including at the Lugano Festival. From the beginning of the 21st century he worked with musicians such as Marius Peyer ( Unsung Songs , 2000), Gitta Kahle , Christian Weber , Lionel Friedli , Hans-Peter Pfammatter , Manuel Mengis ( Into the Barn , 2004), Christoph Grab and Hilaria Kramer. , and in the Fat Son, Lauschangriff, Lila and Science Fiction Theater groups. In 2012 he came with a solo album... and Sorry ( Veto Records ). With Paul Lovens and Rudi Mahall he recorded the trio album Mein Freund der Baum ( Wide Ear , 2017). In jazz, he was involved in 15 recording sessions between 1990 and 2011." ^ Hide Bio for Florian Stoffner • Show Bio for John Butcher "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." ^ Hide Bio for John Butcher • Show Bio for Chris Corsano "First spellbound by freely improvised music in the mid-1990s after witnessing performances by TEST, William Parker, Cecil Taylor, and others, Chris Corsano began a long-standing, high-energy partnership with Paul Flaherty in 1998. A move from western Massachusetts to the UK in 2005 led Corsano to develop an expanded solo music of his own, incorporating sax reeds, violin strings and bows, pot lids, and other everyday household items into his drum kit. In February 2006 he released his first solo recording, The Young Cricketer, and toured extensively throughout Europe, USA, and Japan. He spent 2007 and '08 as the drummer on Björk's Volta world tour, all the while weaving in shows and recordings on his days off with the likes of Evan Parker, Virginia Genta, and C. Spencer Yeh. Moving back to the U.S. in 2009, Corsano returned focus to his own projects, most notably a duo with Michael Flower, Rangda (with Sir Richard Bishop and Ben Chasny) and solo work, now revamped to include synthesizers and contact microphones in addition to his drum set and home-made acoustic instruments. In addition to the those mentioned above, he's also worked with, among others: John Edwards (released by: Clean Feed/Dancing Wayang), Jim O'Rourke & Akira Sakata (Drag City/Family Vineyard), Paul Dunmall (ESP-Disk), Nels Cline (Strange Attractors), Jessica Rylan (Load Records), Jandek (Corwood), Sunburned Hand Of Man (Manhand), MV&EE (Eclipse/Time-Lag), Vampire Belt (Open Mouth), Joe McPhee (Roaratorio), and Wally Shoup (Leo/Columbia Japan)." ^ Hide Bio for Chris Corsano
4/24/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
4/24/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
4/24/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Soft Geometry 7:27
2. The Zoo Is Next Door 5:23
3. Little Secrets Taken To Our Graves 6:19
4. Gneis 5:50
5. Charlatans Selling Miracles 8:16
6. Smaller Infinities 11:37
7. Elegant Frost 4:12
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Jazz
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Trio Recordings
John Butcher
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Hat Art
New in Improvised Music
Search for other titles on the label:
ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd.
 | Butcher, John / Thomas Lehn / John Tilbury Lights (Fataka) |
| Recorded for the release concert of their 2013 album Exta, the trio of John Butcher on saxophones, Thomas Lehn on analog synthesizer and John Tilbury on piano captured this extraordinary live concert at Cafe Oto in London, only the second time the group had performed together, recording in two extended sets but segmented into four exceptional and dramatic improvisations. | |
 | Butcher / Prevost High Laver Levitations Vol 1: Unearthed (Matchless) |
| Long-time collaborators and iconoclastic improvisers, drummer Eddie Prévost and saxophonist John Butcher, met at All Hallows Church, in High Laver, Essex in 2023, using the natural ambience of the space to capture these three improvisations, Prévost playing primarily on a drum kit and both in a more jazz-oriented sax and drum duo, extended by both players' exceptional technique. | |
 | Butcher, John The Very Fabric (Ftarri / Hitorri) |
| Impeccably recorded inside the Brønshøj Water Tower, in Copenhagen, Denmark, a highly resonant space built 100 years ago, where UK tenor and soprano saxophonist John Butcher continues his investigations into spaces with natural delay and decay, through 11 improvisations of discriminating pacing as he finds incredible beauty in floating and shifting tones and instrument errata; exquisite. | |
 | Butcher / Charbin / Kanngiesser / Prevost The Art Of Noticing (Matchless) |
| "To celebrate drummer/percussionist Eddie Prévost's 80th birthday, Café Oto hosted four concerts once a week in June, 2022, each a differing configuration from Prévost's history; this 2nd concert brings together Prévost, Marjolaine Charbin (piano), Ute Kanngiesser (cello) and John Butcher (sax), the same group that recorded the contemporary album Sounds of Assembly on the Meena label. | |
 | Amba, Zoh / Chris Corsano / Bill Orcutt The Flower School [VINYL] (Palilalia) |
| The day after their duo tour of the West Coast and a final fiery concert in San Francisco, tenor saxophonist Zoh Amba and drummer Chris Corsano joined guitarist Bill Orcutt in the studio to record this album, the two facets of Orcutt & Corsano's long-standing work together and the newer Amba/Corsano collaboration setting up this tightly linked set of collective improvisations. | |
 | Corsano, Chris / Bill Orcutt Play at Duke [VINYL] (Palilalia) |
| Performing together for more than a decade at the time of this recording at the 2022 Three Lobed Records 21St Anniversary Festival at Duke University in Durham, NC, the duo of guitarist Bill Orcutt and drummer/percussionist Chris Corsano burn through three distinct improvisations that pack in a wealth of ideas, styles and moods in a tight and cathartic set. | |
 | Swell, Steve / Joe Mcphee / Chris Corsano Sometimes The Air Is (Mahakala Music) |
| A masterful album of collective free improvisation captured in Brooklyn's Park West Studios by Jim Clouse, of the trio of tenor saxophonist Joe McPhee, trombonist Steve Swell and drummer Chris Corsano, ten conversations of diverse approach, from reflectively abstract to uncompromisingly assertive discourse that is ultimately fueled by a joyful camaraderie. | |
 | Butcher, John / Pat Thomas / Dominic Lash / Steve Noble Fathom [COLORED VINYL] (577 Records) |
| The debut for UK saxophonist John Butcher on 577 Records is this exemplary 2021 live recording at Cafe OTO in London by the quartet of Butcher on tenor and soprano saxophones, Pat Thomas on piano, Dominic Lash on double bass and Steve Noble on drums, four of the UK's leading free improvisers demonstrating their prodigious abilities in concentrated conversation. | |
 | Butcher, John / Pat Thomas / Dominic Lash / Steve Noble Fathom (577 Records) |
| The debut for UK saxophonist John Butcher on 577 Records is this exemplary 2021 live recording at Cafe OTO in London by the quartet of Butcher on tenor and soprano saxophones, Pat Thomas on piano, Dominic Lash on double bass and Steve Noble on drums, four of the UK's leading free improvisers demonstrating their prodigious abilities in concentrated conversation. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri / Nikos Velitotis Hotel Art Head [BOOK] (gwasg amgen) |
| A curious book of images from artists including Rhodri Davies, John Butcher, Angharad Davies, Richard Dawson, &c. photographed in a location familiar to a touring musician--a budget hotel room--pictured laying on the bed with each artist's head covered by that room's hotel wall painting, from typically insipid to perplexingly unexpected. | |
 | Gut, Gudrun / Nathan Wooley / Chris Corsano The Painter [VINYL] (JUBG) |
| The soundtrack to the German film The Painter by director Oliver Hirschbiegel in collaboration with Oliver Hirschbiegel, the first side a diverse set of compositions from electronic musician Gudrun Gut, a one-time member of Einstürzende Neubauten; the second side a set of assertive acoustic improvisations from trumpeter Nate Wooley, alone or in duo with drummer Chris Corsano. | |
 | Butcher, John / Magda Mayas / Tony Buck Glints [VINYL] (NI-VU-NI-CONNU) |
| The 5th of NI-VU-NI-CONNU's 5-LP John Butcher series and part of a 2 night residency at ausland in Berlin coinciding with his 65th birthday, tenor & soprano saxophonist John Butcher is joined by the long-running duo Spill of pianist Magda Mayas and drummer Tony Buck (The Necks) for two extended works of evolving, absorbing introspection and eruption. | |
 | Allbee, Liz / John Butcher / Ignaz Schick / Marta Zapparoli Lamenti Dall'infinito [VINYL] (NI-VU-NI-CONNU) |
| The 4th of NI-VU-NI-CONNU's 5-LP John Butcher series and part of a 2 night residency at ausland in Berlin coinciding with his 65th birthday, tenor & soprano saxophonist John Butcher is joined in a quartet by electroacoustic improvisers, trumpeter Liz Allbee, Ignaz Shick on turntables, sampler & electronics and Marta Zapparoli on tapes, reel-to-reel tape machines and antennas. | |
 | Agnel, Sophie / John Butcher La Pierre Tachee [VINYL] (NI-VU-NI-CONNU) |
| The 2nd of NI-VU-NI-CONNU's 5-LP John Butcher series, the duo of pianist Sophie Agnel and soprano & tenor saxophonist John Butcher is informed by previous collaborations as a duo and in a trio with cellist Márkos Albert, here in a superb 2019 concert of balanced tension and intense interaction captured at Ausland in Berlin, a meeting of two perfectly matched improvisers. | |
 | Amado, Rodrigo / This Is Our Language Quartet Let The Free Be Men [VINYL] (Trost Records) |
| Referencing Ornette Coleman in the group name, Portuguese tenor saxophonist engages three US free jazz players--legendary saxophonist and pocket trumpeter Joe McPhee, double bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Chris Corsano--for this 2017 concert at Jazzhouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, capturing four exemplary, at times explosive, and always tightly interactive collective improvisations. | |
 | Williams, Mars Presents An Ayler Xmas Vol. 4: Chicago vs. NYC [VINYL] (Astral Spirits / Soul What Records) |
| This year's An Ayler Xmas, the 4th in the series from saxophonist Mars Williams, expands to a double CD with recordings from two bands: Josh Berman, Jim Baker, Kent Kessler, Brian Sandstrom & Steve Hunt (Chicago); and Steve Swell, Hilliard Greene, Chris Corsano, Nels Cline & Fred Lonberg-Holm (NYC); in incredible free jazz mashups and bash-ups of Holiday favorites. | |
 | Wooley, Nate Seven Storey Mountain VI (Pyroclastic Records) |
| Composer & trumpeter Nate Wooley presents the 6th composition of his SSM series exploring music's ability to bring catharsis and ecstatic release to the performers and listeners, in a large ensemble of 11 musicians and voice, in a stunningly sophisticated large work of modern orchestration through acoustic and electronic/amplified instruments; a masterwork. | |
 | Butcher, John / Thomas Lehn / Matthew Shipp The Clawed Stone (RogueArt) |
| Matthew Shipp (piano), John Butcher (saxophones) and Thomas Lehn (electronics) in a studio album recorded in France in 2017, a uniquely voiced collective trio of transformative improvisation, Lehn's additions and modifications blending perfectly with Shipp's solid foundations and Butcher's advanced technical expression, for an engrossing and expressive set of recordings. | |
 | Icepick (Nate Wooley / Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten / Chris Corsano) Hellraiser [VINYL] (Astral Spirits) |
| The 3rd album from the improvising trio of Nate Wooley on trumpet, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass, and Chris Corsano on drums, is a live recording at the 2018 Experimental Sound Studio's Option Series, a smoldering session of collective improvisation that builds tension through impressive rhythmic texture and releases it in cathartic and passionate passages. | |
 | GGRIL [feat John Butcher / Isaiah Ceccarelli / Xavier Charles] Facon [2 CDs] (Circum-Disc) |
| The Quebec ensemble GGRIL of eclectic instrumentation, acoustic and electronic, with an open-minded approach to developing large-scale works bringing together approaches to improvisation and contemporary composition, here presenting three works from residencies with John Butcher, Isaiah Ceccarelli and Xavier Charles recorded from 2016 through 2018. | |
 | Abdelnour, Christine / Chris Corsano Quand Fond La Neige, OU Va Le Blanc ? (Relative Pitch) |
| Through extended approaches to their instruments, Lebanese saxophonist Christine Abdelnour and NY drummer and slide clarinetist Chris Corsano create anomalous and unorthodox sound environments, Abdelnour making acoustics sound electronic through growls, smears and odd harmonics, while Corsano abuses an impressive palette of sound from every inch of his drums. | |
 | Baczkowski / Lopez / Corsano Old Smoke (Relative Pitch) |
| This smoking album of free jazz leads the New York trio of Steve Baczkowski on saxophone, Brandon Lopez on bass, and Chris Corsano on drums to fiery playing as they burn up the stage at Hallwall, in Buffalo, New York in 2018, over seven concise collective conversations expressing both passion, restraint, and profoundly masterful skill. | |
 | Butcher, John / Philippe Lauzier / Eric Normand How Does This Happen? (Ambiances Magnetiques) |
| The Montreal free improvising, experimenting duo "Not The Music" of bassist Eric Norman & bass clarinetist Philippe Lauzier invited UK saxophonist John Butcher for concerts in Ottawa and Montreal, recording the two impressive 5-part series heard on this album--"en consequence" (consequently) and "par irruption" (by bursting), of masterful and profoundly pensive prowess. | |
 | Common Objects (Davies / Butcher / Davies / Lapelyte / Patterson / Thomas) Skullmarks (Meenna) |
| Distributing the group--John Butcher, Angharad Davies, Lina Lapelyte, Lee Patterson, Pat Thomas, and Rhodri Davies--inside the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, Butcher chose 4 shamanic objects from the museum's ethnographic collection, evoking water, air, earth, spirit, ritual and utility, used as a score orchestrating varying combinations of players; intense and profound improvisation. | |
 | Suzuki, Akio / John Butcher Immediate Landscapes (Ftarri) |
| At the same event in Scotland that John Butcher recorded his excellent "Resonant Spaces" album, he also joined forces with sound artist Akio Suzuki on a variety of objects and sound devices to record the first 5 tracks of this unusual album of very free improv, the last track by the duo recording at the 2015 Ftarri Festival at SuperDeluxe in Tokyo. | |
 | Butcher, John / John Edwards / Mark Sanders Last Dream Of The Morning (Relative Pitch) |
| A studio album between three UK master improvisers -- John Butcher on sax, John Edwards on double bass, and Mark Sanders on drums -- the trio pushing the envelope in technique and dialog in nearly telepathic playing that transports the listener into their environment, as the music builds and releases in effortless ways that are stunning and exulant; highly recommended. | |
