The Music Gallery presents

Not The Music feat. John Butcher + Mercury Duo

“Unlike an older generation that came to improvisation via free jazz, Butcher cut any vestigial ties with the vocabulary of jazz saxophone; this is improvised saxophone, not jazz.” – BBC

With their gentle noise and fractured linearity, Not The Music, Rimouski improviser Éric Normand and Montreal counterpart Philippe Lauzier create a sound environment that is contemplative yet rough in texture. During spring 2018, they have invited saxophonist extraordinaire John Butcher to take part in a Québec-Ontario tour.

Butcher remains a leading figure of the British free improv and new music scene, specialist of extended techniques and microtonality, he has worked with a wide spectrum of improvisers, from jazz pianists Matthew Shipp to Japanese noise artist Toshimaru Nakamura.

The Mercury Duo sees two Montreal improvisers return to the Music Gallery – Lori Freedman, clarinet, and Nicolas Caloia, double bass. The duo has been performing and recording since 2002. Following a shift from a completely free direction, their most recent initiative is to build a body of works from which various programmes of written and improvised music.

Their first outing down this path will be a selection of pieces including their own improvisations and compositions plus new commissioned scores by Pierre-Yves Martel, Rainer Weins and Martin Arnold. The duo also takes on works for bass and clarinet by Pascal Dusapin, Joëlle Léandre and Ab Baars.