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Phil Minton

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Occupation(s)
  
Musician

Name
  
Phil Minton

Website
  
www.philminton.co.uk


Years active
  
1969–present

Instruments
  
Vocals, trumpet

Role
  
Vocalist

Phil Minton httpsnaccnacaeventimagess3amazonawscom2872

Born
  
November 2, 1940 (age 83) Torquay, England (
1940-11-02
)

Genres
  
Free improvisation, Avant-garde jazz

Albums
  
Voice of America, Midhopestones, Apples of Gomorrah

Record labels
  
Emanem Records, FMP/Free Music Production

Associated acts
  
Mike Westbrook, Veryan Weston, Roger Turner

Similar People
  
John Butcher, Lol Coxhill, Rhodri Davies, Fred Frith, David Moss

Phil Minton & John Russell Duo 18-05-14


Phil Minton (b. 2 November 1940, Torquay, United Kingdom) is a jazz/free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter.

Contents

Phil Minton frontphotojpg

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. Between 1987 and 1993 Minton toured Europe, North America and Russia with Lindsay Cooper's Oh Moscow ensemble.

Phil Minton FilePhil Minton in concert with Speakeasyjpg Wikimedia

He is perhaps best known, however, for his completely free-form work, which involves "extended techniques" that can be as unsettling as they can be mesmerising. 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:

Phil Minton John Butcher amp Phil Minton

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 FileSpeakeasy 04JPG Wikimedia Commons

The feral voice phil minton s feral choir in cologne


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
  • For the Record, Transatlantic Records, 1975
  • Mama Chicago, RCA, 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 Solid Gold Cadillac
  • Solid Gold Cadillac, BGO Records, 1971
  • Brain Damage, BGO Records, 1973
  • Phil Minton solo
  • A Doughnut in Both Hands, Emanem Records, 1982
  • Songs From A Prison Diary, Leo Records, 1993
  • A Doughnut in One Hand, FMP, 1998
  • Phil Minton and Roger Turner
  • Drainage, Emanem Records, 1993
  • Dada Da, Leo Records, 1993
  • Ammo, Leo Records, 1998
  • Phil Minton and Veryan Weston
  • Songs From a Prison Diary, Leo Records, 1993
  • Ways Out East - Ways Out West, Intakt Records, 2005
  • Phil Minton Quartet
  • Mouthful of Ecstasy, Victo Records, 1998
  • Slur, Emanem Records, 2006
  • References

    Phil Minton Wikipedia