Butcher’s Brew, Music Spoken Here, The Marr’s Bar, Worcester, 25/07/2024.

Ray Butcher – trumpet, flugelhorn, Sam Rogers – tenor sax, Tim Amann – keyboard, Mike Green – double bass, Miles Levin – drums

The final event of Music Spoken Here’s current series featured a quintet of Midlands based musicians led by trumpeter and composer Ray Butcher.

The group members are all stalwarts of the jazz scene in Birmingham and the wider West Midlands and I had seen all of the individual musicians at one time or another, but never in this specific line up.

I had feared that an element of ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ might come into play and that this gig would be poorly attended, especially with the summer holidays coming up. As it was I needn’t have worried, these local heroes attracted a large and very supportive crowd and MSH promoter Dave Fuller announced himself delighted with the turnout.

Hampshire born Butcher began learning the cornet at the age of eight, inspired by his older brother, who was a bandsman with the Royal Marines. The young Butcher played in brass bands and later studied classical trumpet at Peter Symonds College in Winchester.

Also an accomplished pianist Butcher played piano on the ‘cocktail circuit’ in London during his student days at Kingston University, one particularly notable engagement being at Stringfellows’ night club.

Still determined to play jazz trumpet he was briefly a member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO), which was then under the leadership of Bill Ashton. He subsequently worked in cruise ship function bands before securing a regular job as the lead trumpeter with King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys, this post facilitating his move to Birmingham.

Although Butcher left King Pleasure after a year he remained in the Midlands and proceeded to establish himself on the local jazz scene. I first saw him play at some point in late 1990s / early 2000s when he visited the tiny Blue Note venue in my home town of Leominster. Sadly now defunct The Blue Note regularly featured leading musicians from the Birmingham jazz scene of the time, among them trumpeters Butcher and Bryan Corbett and saxophonists Andy Hamilton, Luke Shingler,  Andy Gale and Papa Saxa (from hit-makers The Beat). Others to appear there included pianist Levi French,  vocalists Roy Forbes and Esther Miller and bassists Tom Hill and Ben Hazelton.

I also recall seeing Butcher perform as a member of pianist and composer Tim Amann’s xTtet group at the 2011 Lichfield Real Ale Jazz & Blues Festival. This was a band that also included saxophonist Sam Rogers and both Butcher and Rogers appear on the xTet’s 2011 album release “Still Waters”. The album line up also included bassist Adam Gilchrist, drummer Carl Hemmingsley and percussionist Pete Hammond, plus vocalist and flautist Sheila MacRory, who helped to bring a folk / Celtic dimension to the music.

I have to admit to being somewhat fooled by the ‘Butcher’s Brew’ band name. Having previously witnessed Butcher’s playing in a more straight-ahead jazz context (even allowing for the Celtic influences in Amann’s xTet) I was expecting tonight’s band to represent his ‘electric’ side and to be inspired by the seminal Miles Davis recording “Bitch’s Brew”. Instead the quintet previously known more prosaically as the Ray Butcher Band delivered a set of largely acoustic, relatively straight-ahead jazz, and the evening was none the worse for that. I guess Butcher’s Brew is just a more arresting band name, especially for the MSH audience, although drummer Mark Fletcher might claim that he got in there first with his long running ensemble Fletch’s Brew.

Tonight’s performance featured two hugely enjoyable sets comprised of a mix of original compositions from both Butcher and Amann, plus a well chosen selection of outside material from composers such as Sonny Rollins, Roy Hargrove, and Duke Ellington.

Levin’s drums introduced the Butcher original “Afro-Latin”, a lively tune whose working title represented an accurate depiction of the music itself. Following a joint theme statement from the twin horn front line we were treated to a typically fluent trumpet solo from the leader followed by a characteristically hard hitting tenor solo from Rogers. Following his previous visits with ReedBass Rogers has become something of a Marr’s Bar favourite and the slogan on his T shirt “Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy” was a fair summation of his approach to sax soloing. Amann followed at the keyboard, a Roland RD-300 SX on an acoustic piano setting, his more thoughtful approach an effective contrast to the buccaneering style of Rogers. The horns then returned to restate the theme. Overall an impressive start.

Amann is also a composer, and a prolific one at that. His composition “On The Way Back” had featured at that 2011 Lichfield set and was written when the members of the xTet were returning to the UK following a performance at the St. Petersburg Jazz Festival in Russia. This was a less frenetic, more episodic composition, introduced by a short, scene setting passage of unaccompanied piano. This was a piece that saw Butcher switching to flugel as he and Rogers again combined on a unison theme statement, before diverging to dovetail with another and to deliver fluent individual solos. Once more the horn solos were followed by a piano excursion from Amann, with Butcher and Rogers eventually returning to restate the ‘head’.

The first outside item was a version of Sonny Rollins’ jazz calypso “St. Thomas”, specifically chosen for this summer evening gig. With Levin establishing a rolling groove this much played and much loved tune served as a vehicle with which to feature every member of the band, with Butcher leading off the solos on trumpet, followed by Rogers on tenor, Amann on piano, Green on bass, and finally Levin at the drums. Even after all this the band teased the audience with a series of tantalising false endings. This familiar standard with its subtle variations on Rollins’ theme and its high quality individual features was rapturously received by the Marr’s Bar crowd.

After tearing it up with St. Thomas the band adopted a cooler approach on Butcher’s original “Sea Space”, which saw the composer moving back to flugelhorn. This also saw Amann adopting an electric piano, or ‘Rhodes’, sound at the keyboard. Following the now customary unison theme statement from the horns we enjoyed solos from Butcher on flugel, Rogers on tenor and Amann on electric piano.

Butcher names Louis Armstrong and Wynton Marsalis as primary influences but another of his trumpet heroes is the late Roy Hargrove (1969 – 2018), whose composition “Strasbourg St. Denis” brought an element of funk to the proceedings. Introduced by Green at the bass and with Amann continuing to deploy an electric piano sound this was the most contemporary sounding piece thus far. Trumpet and tenor combined to establish the ‘hook’ before Rogers embarked on a raunchy r’n’b style tenor solo, followed by the ebullient Butcher on trumpet. Amann maintained the electric piano sound for his solo, prior to a series of horn exchanges centred around the returning melodic ‘hook’.

Following this high energy performance I thought that the band might take a break, but instead Butcher chose to cool things down before the interval by announcing Amann’s composition “Solstice”. This represented a typically thoughtful piece of writing from the keyboard player, who returned to an acoustic piano sound as he provided an unaccompanied introduction. Butcher moved to flugel as he stated the theme with Rogers, underpinned by Levin’s mallet rumbles. Subsequent solos came from Rogers on tenor, Butcher on flugel and Amann at the piano, followed by a closing theme statement from the horns.

This excellent first set was well received by the audience and the second half was to be even better as the quintet really warmed to their task.

Things kicked off in energetic fashion with the title track from Butcher’s 2019 album “Lion’s Den”, a piece described by its composer as “funky and Latin-esque”. It was the kind of blistering hard bop that might have come from a classic Blue Note recording and featured fluent, but powerful solos from the composer on trumpet and Rogers on tenor, these two followed by Levin at the drums. The audience loved it as the second set got off to a blistering start.

Sourced from the same recording the Butcher composed balled “After Midnight” represented a total contrast. With Rogers vacating the stage this was a quartet performance, introduced by Amann at the piano and featuring a beautiful solo from Butcher on Harmon muted trumpet, a superb distillation of Miles Davis’ sound on “Kind of Blue”. Amann continued the lyrical mood at the piano and praise is also due for the sympathetic rhythmic support provided by Green and Levin, the first adding a melodic bass solo and the latter sensitively deploying brushes throughout. If anything this delightful performance was even more popular with the audience than the fiery opener.

Rogers returned for “Brother Sam”, a Butcher original named both for the saxophonist and for the tune’s samba rhythm. This was a breezy number that saw Butcher moving between trumpet and flugel, stating the theme on trumpet but later switching to flugel for his first solo. Elsewhere we heard some lively trumpet / tenor interplay plus solos from Rogers on tenor and Amann at the piano, these followed by a dazzling solo drum feature from the consistently impressive Levin. Butcher then returned for a second bite of the cherry with a blazing trumpet solo that delivered some stunning high register playing.

The first non-original in the second set was a gospel flavoured arrangement of Bill Lee’s “Mo’ Better Blues” from the soundtrack of Spike Lee’s film of the same name and originally played by saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Ushered in by Amann at the piano this piece also featured what was arguably his best solo of the night. Elsewhere we heard strong individual statements from Butcher on trumpet and Rogers on tenor, these two also combining powerfully on the main theme.

The ever adaptable Juan Tizol / Duke Ellington composition “Caravan” followed, again introduced by Amann at the piano and with Butcher and Amann combining to state the familiar theme. Rogers took the first solo, followed by Butcher on trumpet, using his free hand to mute the sound and give his playing a distinctive vocalised quality. Amann followed at the piano, and then Green on double bass with a virtuoso solo, his astonishing dexterity earning the admiration of audience and fellow musicians alike.

The inevitable encore was the up-tempo Butcher original “Carnaby Boutique”, a jazzy pastiche of 1960s TV show and cop movie themes that featured ebullient solos from Butcher on trumpet, Rogers on tenor, and finally Levin at the drums. It marked the end of an excellent evening of music making that was warmly received by the Worcester crowd.

And make no mistake it was the enthusiastic reaction of the audience that helped to turn this performance into an EVENT and which in turn helped to inspire such brilliant performances from the musicians. All of the instrumentalists played well and it was good to hear so much original material, albeit written very much in the jazz tradition. If one were being overly-critical one could cite that pretty much every tune tonight was played in a predictable head-solos-head format but the quality of the playing allied to the energy and enthusiasm of the audience lifted tonight’s performance above the routine and helped to make it truly memorable. I’m sure that everybody – band, audience and promoter Dave Fuller went home happy – and if I had to single out a highlight it would probably be the beautiful performance of the ballad “After Midnight”.

My thanks to Ray Butcher and Mike Green for speaking with me after the show and to all the musicians for a top quality group performance. Thanks to to the audience for really getting behind the band – we need more of this kind of enthusiastic support at MSH events.

The Music Spoken Here series now takes a short break in August before returning in September. Please check out http://www.musicspokenhere.club for details of future events.