Why not start the first summer month with a contemporary jazz concert? Norwegian bassist Michael Francis Duch and saxophonist John Butcher play at Cafe OTO in London on 8 June.

 

The duo Duch/Butcher is a fairly new collaboration. However, their work has already resulted in the album Fjordgata, which was released earlier this spring. The concert at Cafe OTO is the duo’s first concert in the UK.

“I first heard John Butcher in 2001 playing duos with Rhodri Davies and Derek Bailey on the album Vortices and Angels. I was completely mesmerized, particularly by the two tracks in the end with John and Rhodri playing together. Vortices and Angels is still among my favourite albums. AMM with John Butcher, being another one,” Duch says about their collaboration.

In the video below you can watch the duo perform together at Jazzfest in Trondheim last year. “Needless to say, playing with John at Trøndelag Senter for Samtidskunst (Trøndelag Centre for Contemporary Art) in my hometown Trondheim was a special occasion for me. This is a recording from that concert and apart from omitting some noises in the beginning, it is unedited,” Duch explains about the video.

In addition to working as a musician, Duch is employed as an Associate Professor in music at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has been involved in more than 50 recordings, including two solo albums. Besides the duo with Butcher, Duch also plays in a trio with Rhodri Davies and John Tilbury, in the rock band Dog & Sky, in LEMUR and various other constellations.

The concert at Cafe OTO is part of two festival nights celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Confront Recordings.

Top photo: Thor Egil Leirtrø.