One video (the one that's above) that I've been coming back to on YouTube is a recording of a concert by John Butcher and Mark Sanders playing (in duo) at St Giles in the Fields church, London in 2008.  It's remained a firm favorite of mine to come back and marvel at the constant ingenuity of these two musicians to keep up a constant flow of creativity over such long periods. This record is a document (a small portion I imagine) of pieces played in 2010 and 2011. Ropelight (tk1) is recorded at the Conway Hall, London in 2010, and Flicker (tk2) and Glowstick (tk3) are taken from a concert in Southampton (UK) in 2011. As you'll notice there's only three tracks ...! Good news in fact, you get treated to some nice long improvisations, no editing down, or time constrained recordings - Tk1 30:07, Tk2 5:57 and TK3 18:45. And to my ears it brings out the best in both players, or maybe I should say it  lets you hear the players warts and all (except there aren't any), and probably the closest you'll get to hearing these two giants of the UK improv scene without attending a concert.  

What about the music? Well, what can you say about the playing of John Butcher? If you've never heard it before it's a MUST, if you think you know what a saxophone sounds like then get ready to have your preconceptions re-configured. His growls, multi-phonics, flutter-tonguing, clicks, shrieks and many more sounds permeate the music in not only a musical, but playful way, constantly keeping the listener transfixed. On this record John Butcher successfully incorporates his highly personal sound explorations with a more mainstream melodic approach to great effect, Ropelight being one example. Most of the time Butcher looks around in all corners, seeing what he can pull out of the bag that will not only give the music a new direction, but is also a direct link to what's been played. It is in this complementary role that Mark Sanders wonderfully nuanced playing comes into it's own. 

What can you say about Mark Sanders? One of the top percussionists on the UK improv scene, a creative player that manages to keep abstract improvisations moving forward, giving them a sense of rhythm, a hard thing to do! Yes, between them they manage to make music out of sound exploration, no mean feat! Sanders swirling percussive drums move around the saxophone, a little akin to watching a tai-chi workout, and although never becoming a swinging ensemble there is a sense of rhythm which keeps the music moving forward as needed. I also loved his use of tuned percussion (I'm not sure what they are) to colour the music, giving it an extra dimension (*). Glowstick highlights this, the clangs, bangs, whoops and shrieks at times give you the impression of being in a performance at a Tibetan or Balinese temple. Butcher and Sanders for me excel on this piece finding a way of complementing and inspiring each other to be not only creative, but also coherent.

Certainly the duo of the year ... so far, amazing stuff! 

* = It also made me wonder why more drummers don't use these more often in their sonic explorations.