Phil Minton
Encyclopedia
Phil Minton is a jazz
/free-improvising
vocalist and trumpet
er.
Minton is a highly dramatic baritone
who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake
with Mike Westbrook
's group, Daniil Kharms
and Joseph Brodsky
with Simon Nabatov
, and extracts from James Joyce
's Finnegans Wake
with his own ensemble. He even once participated in a Jimi Hendrix
tribute project, belting out the lyrics in particular over-the-top fashion.
He is perhaps best known, however, for his completely free-form work, which involves "extended techniques" that are extremely unsettling. His vocals often include the sounds of retching, burping, screaming, and gasping, as well as childlike muttering, whining, crying and humming; he also has an ability to distort his vocal cords to produce two notes at once. As the DJ/poet Kenneth Goldsmith
has described it:
Minton's most frequent improvising companions are the pianist Veryan Weston and the drummer Roger Turner
, but over the years he has worked with most of the improvising musicians in the European scene. Unlike some first-generation free improvisers, he has also become a frequent participant in the so-called electroacoustic improvisation
(EAI) scene.
Phil Minton as part of the Mike Westbrook Band
Phil Minton as part of Sold Gold Cadillac
Phil Minton solo
Phil Minton and Roger Turner
Phil Minton and Veryan Weston
Phil Minton Quartet
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
/free-improvising
Free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....
vocalist and trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
er.
Minton is a highly dramatic baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
with Mike Westbrook
Mike Westbrook
Michael John David 'Mike' Westbrook is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces.-Early work:Mike Westbrook grew up in Torquay...
's group, Daniil Kharms
Daniil Kharms
Daniil Kharms was an early Soviet-era surrealist and absurdist poet, writer and dramatist. One of his pseudonyms, which was signed in Latin alphabet, was Daniel Charms.- Life :...
and Joseph Brodsky
Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky , was a Russian poet and essayist.In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism" He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters...
with Simon Nabatov
Simon Nabatov
Simon Nabatov is a jazz pianist.He began playing at three and his first composition was at six. He began his professional career in Rome in 1979 and later attended the Juilliard School. In 1984 Keyboard Magazine named him Best Pianist. In 1989 he left New York City, where he had settled, for Cologne...
, and extracts from James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's Finnegans Wake
Finnegans Wake
Finnegans Wake is a novel by Irish author James Joyce, significant for its experimental style and resulting reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the English language. Written in Paris over a period of seventeen years, and published in 1939, two years before the author's...
with his own ensemble. He even once participated in a Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
tribute project, belting out the lyrics in particular over-the-top fashion.
He is perhaps best known, however, for his completely free-form work, which involves "extended techniques" that are extremely unsettling. His vocals often include the sounds of retching, burping, screaming, and gasping, as well as childlike muttering, whining, crying and humming; he also has an ability to distort his vocal cords to produce two notes at once. As the DJ/poet Kenneth Goldsmith
Kenneth Goldsmith
Kenneth Goldsmith is an American poet. He is the founding editor of UbuWeb, teaches Poetics and Poetic Practice at the University of Pennsylvania and is Senior Editor of PennSound. He hosted a weekly radio show at WFMU from 1995 until June 2010...
has described it:
Minton's most frequent improvising companions are the pianist Veryan Weston and the drummer Roger Turner
Roger Turner (musician)
Roger Turner is an English jazz percussionist. He plays the drumset, drums, and various percussion, and was brought up into the jazz and visual art cultures inhabited by his older brothers, playing drums from childhood in informal jazz contexts.- Career :Turner studied English literature and...
, but over the years he has worked with most of the improvising musicians in the European scene. Unlike some first-generation free improvisers, he has also become a frequent participant in the so-called electroacoustic improvisation
Electroacoustic improvisation
Electroacoustic improvisation is a style of music that incorporates aspects of both electroacoustic music and free improvisation.-Origins:Live electronics has been part of the sound art world since the 1930s with the early works of John Cage...
(EAI) scene.
Selected discography
Since 1965 Minton has performed on over a hundred different vinyl record and CD releases.Phil Minton as part of the Mike Westbrook Band
- Mama Chicago, RCARCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
, 1979 - Bright as Fire, Original Records, 1980
- The Paris Album, Polydor, 1981
- The Cortege, Original Records, 1982
- On Duke's Birthday, Hat Art, 1984
- Off Abbey Road, Tip Toe, 1989
Phil Minton as part of Sold Gold Cadillac
- Sold Gold Cadillac, BGO Records, 1971
- Brain Damage, BGO Records, 1973
Phil Minton solo
- Doughnut in Both Hands, Emanem RecordsEmanem RecordsEmanem Records is an independent record label based in London specialising in free improvised music. The label was founded in 1974 by Martin Davidson assisted by Madelaine Davidson. The main purpose of the label was to document the London free improvisation scene...
, 1982 - Songs From A Prison Diary, Leo RecordsLeo RecordsLeo Records is an English jazz record label, which releases Russian jazz in addition to material from American and British musicians.Leo Records was founded in 1979 by Leo Feigin , a Russian immigrant to Britain...
, 1993 - A Doughnut in One Hand, FMPFMP (Free Music Production)Free Music Production is a German record label founded by Jost Gebers, Peter Brötzmann, Peter Kowald, and Alexander von Schlippenbach in 1969, specializing in free improvisation and free jazz, usually by European, often German musicians....
, 1998
Phil Minton and Roger Turner
- Drainage, Emanem RecordsEmanem RecordsEmanem Records is an independent record label based in London specialising in free improvised music. The label was founded in 1974 by Martin Davidson assisted by Madelaine Davidson. The main purpose of the label was to document the London free improvisation scene...
, 1993 - Dada Da, Leo RecordsLeo RecordsLeo Records is an English jazz record label, which releases Russian jazz in addition to material from American and British musicians.Leo Records was founded in 1979 by Leo Feigin , a Russian immigrant to Britain...
, 1993 - Ammo, Leo RecordsLeo RecordsLeo Records is an English jazz record label, which releases Russian jazz in addition to material from American and British musicians.Leo Records was founded in 1979 by Leo Feigin , a Russian immigrant to Britain...
, 1998
Phil Minton and Veryan Weston
- Songs From a Prison Diary, Leo RecordsLeo RecordsLeo Records is an English jazz record label, which releases Russian jazz in addition to material from American and British musicians.Leo Records was founded in 1979 by Leo Feigin , a Russian immigrant to Britain...
, 1993 - Ways Out East - Ways Out West, Intakt Records, 2005
Phil Minton Quartet
- Mouthful of Ecstasy, Victo Records, 1998
- Slur, Emanem RecordsEmanem RecordsEmanem Records is an independent record label based in London specialising in free improvised music. The label was founded in 1974 by Martin Davidson assisted by Madelaine Davidson. The main purpose of the label was to document the London free improvisation scene...
, 2006