JOHN BUTCHER — John Butcher and Andy Moor: Experiments with a Leaf (review)

JOHN BUTCHER — John Butcher and Andy Moor: Experiments with a Leaf album cover Live album · 2015 · Avant-Garde Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
snobb
English saxophonist John Butcher and Scottish guitarist Andy Moor(better known as Dutch avant-rock band The Ex member) play live in Bern Cathedral, the building of excellent acoustics. Albums title "Experiments With A Leaf" is misleading - there is nothing about leaves or any other nature's ambient sounds on their music.

Five fully improvised pieces contains strong duets between distorted and sometimes scratchy guitar's sound and variable sax free improvisations - from circular breathing to whistles,grunts and some melodic wrecks.

Expected of being extremely chaotic (which it generally is)this music surprises listener with it's own internal beauty. Moor works hard on his guitar producing all gamma of what could be identified as birds sounds imitations,Butcher sax is tuneful and soulful in chaotic micro mosaic of random sounds. Together with Cathedral reverberation all these researches on sound textures over structure or tune sounds quite sympathetic, at least far not harsh or destructive.

There are few pure free jazz episodes with sax soloing against scratchy guitars acrobatics(as on "Joy Is The Headlight")and some extended loose playing with sounds, but since all concert recording lasts less than half an hour,it doesn't become boring even at the end.
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