The first solo electronics and percussion album by radical and legendary British improvisor Paul Lytton since 1979, recorded in the studio in Germany, and using a wealth of homemade instruments, laptop, percussive devices, objects, and electro-mechanical devices.
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Paul Lytton-percussion, objects
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UPC: 616892293446
Label: Pleasure of the Text Records
Catalog ID: POTR1303
Squidco Product Code: 20776
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded at KHM Studios in Cologne, Germany in 2014 by Gerald Schauder.
"The first solo electronics and percussion by the radical European improvisor in over thirty years, "?""!" is the culmination of decades of research into and experience of new modes of communication.
Lytton, a central figure in the British free improvisation movement of the 1960s and 70s which included Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, and Paul Rutherford, was instrumental in reshaping the way drums and percussion were viewed in free music. He is one of a handful of percussionists from that time whose work allowed the drum kit to become even more free from the timekeeping constraints of jazz up to that point; the instrument becoming less a set of drums and more a series of membranes on which to create an atmosphere.
His earliest experiments in homemade instruments and electronics with Evan Parker have spurred generations on to look outside systems with names such as "jazz" and "improv" and to explore new modes of communication in the moment. ?! marks the first solo recording of Lytton since 1979's The Inclined Stick on PoTorch. The recording, as expected, is more structural or stratified, than linear or narrative. It allows the listener multiple levels and multiple views into the ever- changing language of one of the 21st century's master musicians."-Pleasure of the Text
The Squid's Ear!
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Paul Lytton "Paul Lytton (born 8 March 1947, London) is an English free jazz percussionist. Lytton began on drums at age 16. He played jazz in London in the late 1960s while taking lessons on the tabla from P.R. Desai. In 1969 he began experimenting with free improvisational music, working in a duo with saxophonist Evan Parker. After adding bassist Barry Guy, the ensemble became the Evan Parker Trio. He and Parker continued to work together into the 2000s; more recent releases include trio releases with Marilyn Crispell in 1996 (Natives and Aliens) and 1999 (After Appleby). A founding member of the London Musicians Collective, Lytton worked extensively on the London free improvisation scene in the 1970s, and aided Paul Lovens in the foundation of the Aachen Musicians' Cooperative in 1976. Lytton has toured North America and Japan both solo and with improvisational ensembles. In 1999, he toured with Ken Vandermark and Kent Kessler, and recorded with Vandermark on English Suites. Lytton also collaborated with Jeffrey Morgan (alto & tenor saxophone), with whom he recorded the CD "Terra Incognita" Live in Cologne, Germany. He played also on White Noise's pioneer electronic pop music album An Electric Storm in 1969." ^ Hide Bio for Paul Lytton
7/1/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. "?" 4:50
2. Imaginarium... not much of a narrative 6:32
3. Just because you can doesn't mean that you should (To the spirit of Alan Dawson) 7:09
4. Ars Est Celare Artem! 7:18
5. From comfortable to struggling 8:34
6. Iditarod 7:09
7. "!" 4:59
8. Concatenated without Abruption (for Dr S Johnson) 4:05
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Solo Artist Recordings
Percussion & Drums
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Objects and Home-made Instruments
Search for other titles on the label:
Pleasure of the Text Records.
 | Lytton, Paul / Erhard Hirt Borne on a Whim: Duets, 1981 (Corbett vs. Dempsey) |
| The first release from Corbett vs. Dempsey drawing on the Paul Lytton Archives, this recording of electronic & acoustic improvisation from UK percussionist Paul Lytton and German guitarist Erhard Hirt was recorded in Belgium in 1981 for the German Po Torch label, founded in 1976 by Paul Lovens & Paul Lytton to release forward-looking forms of free improvisation. | |
 | Sjostrom, Harri / Erhard Hirt / Philipp Wachsman / Paul Lytton Especially For You (Bead) |
| A concert recording on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Einstein Kultur in Munich from the quartet of Erhard Hirt on guitar & computer and Paul Lytton on drums, percussion & objects (half of the Quartet XPACT) plus Harri Sjostrom on soprano & sopranino saxophones and Philipp Wachsmann on violin & electronics, presenting a remarkable set of collective ea-improvisations. | |
 | Guy, Barry and Friends Krakow 2018 [5 CD BOX SET] (Not Two) |
| Two days of concerts in 2018 at Alchemia Club, in Krakow, Poland and a recording at Radio Krakow the next day from English composer, band leader and a bass player Barry Guy, in varying configurations at Alchemia of duos & trios with some of Europe & The UK's leading improvisers, culminating in an 11-piece ensemble at Radio Krakow performing the large work "For To End Yet Again". | |
 | Keune, Stefan / Paul Lytton / Hans Schneider / Erhard Hirt XPACT II (FMR) |
| The XPACT quarter of late saxophonist Wolfgang Fuchs, percussionist/electronics artist Paul Lytton, bassist Hans Schneider and electric guitarist Erhard Hirt came together in the mid-80s from members of M.A.I. Orchestra and Übü Örchestrü, disbanding after 4 years and now reunited 34 years later as a quartet with Stefan Keuene replacing Fuchs, releasing this album of masterful free improv. | |
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| Evan Parker's Electroacoustic Ensemble, merging reeds, strings and percussion with live signal processing to create something indescribably transformative is further amplified with the addition of free improvising vocalist and Tuvan throat singer Sainkho Namtchylak, adding an unearthly layer of interaction and transmogrification to this incredible 1996 FIMAV performance. | |
 | Lytton, Paul / Nate Wooley Known / Unknown (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!)) |
| Recalling their brokenresearch LP from 2007, trumpeter Nate Wooley and drummer/percussionist Paul Lytton focus on unusual techniques and approaches to their instruments, using amplifiers and electronics to investigate new frontiers in interactive improvisation, each creating inexplicably interesting, masterfully interwoven sonic material. | |
 | Parker, Evan / Barry Guy / Paul Lytton Concert In Vilnius (NoBusiness) |
| Three British free jazz giants, having worked in a number of configurations and as a trio over many decades, are caught live in the Russian Drama Theater during the 2017 Vilnius Jazz Festival--Evan Parker on soprano & tenor saxophones, Barry Guy on bass, and Paul Lytton on drums, for four improvisations of nuance and surprise, incredible mastery, and profound conversation. | |
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| Superb improvisation from three masters - Evan Parker on sax, Barry Guy on bass and Paul Lytton on drums - performing at the Maya Recordings Festival, September 23 - 25, 2011 at Theater am Gleis, Winterthur, Switzerland. | |
 | Parker, Evan Trio & Peter Brotzmann Trio The Bishop's Move (Les Disques Victo) |
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| A much-needed reissue of saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer/percussionist Paul Lytton's first duo album, recorded in London at the loft of The Standard Essenco in 1972 and originally released on the Incus label, the duo approaching their instruments in fantastic and unusual ways in a dialog far ahead of its time, augmented with recordings and eccentric assemblages. | |
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 | Trumpets and Drums (Wooley / Evans / Black / Lytton) Live in Ljubljana (Clean Feed) |
| Two drummers - Jim Black & Paul Lytton - and two trumpeters - Nate Wooley & Peter Evans - came together at the 53rd Ljubljana Jazz Festival to record these extended improvisations, demonstrating the phenomenal skill and compatibility of these outstanding players. | |
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| Superb improvisation from three masters - Evan Parker on sax, Barry Guy on bass and Paul Lytton on drums - performing at the Maya Recordings Festival, September 23 - 25, 2011 at Theater am Gleis, Winterthur, Switzerland. | |
 | Lytton / Wooley + Ikue Mori and Ken Vandermark The Nows [2 CDs] (Clean Feed) |
| Nate Wooley and Paul Lytton continue their collaborations, extending their new duo recordings with live tracks from The Stone in NYC with Ikue Mori, and at Chicago's Hideout with Ken Vandermark. | |
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| Paul Dunmall (bagpipes, sax) and Stevie Wishart (hurdy-gurdy) play as a duo to start this Brussels concert, followed by a flustering duo with Dunmall on sax and Paul Lytton on percussion, and ending with a group performance by the unlikely trio. | |
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