13 Friendly Numbers

First solo album, from 1991. For single and multi-tracked saxophones. First released as a CD on Acta (original cover shown) - then reissued on Unsounds with a new cover.. MOJO. "This is an essential document for anyone passionate about, or even mildly interested in, improvised music. Indeed, it's fair to say this set cut a new expressionist template for the saxophone. The sounds on the first track alone range from slab-like, low-voltage hums to clouds of didgeridoo huffing to the sounds of an old-skool mainframe breaking down". " PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ. "A British improviser whose playing is highly accomplished and strikingly individual, Butcher's recital is unlike any other solo-saxophone record. Nine of the 13 tracks are real-time solos, while the other four create some unprecedented sounds and textures through overdubbing: 'Bells And Clappers', for instance, piles up four tenors into a brittle choir of humming overtones that has a chilling, sheet-metal sound, while the amplification introduced into the very brief 'Mackle Music' is peculiarly disturbing. On the more conventional solo tracks, Butcher's mastery of the instrument creates a vocabulary which can accommodate pieces as disparate as 'Notelet', which is like a single flow of melody, and the explorations of single aspects of performing technique, as on 'Humours And Vapours' and 'Buccinator's Outing'. Assisted by a very clear and suitably neutral recording, this is a masterful record which should be investigated by anyone interested in free playing."