Biography
A lasting figure on the British free improvisation scene, guitarist John Russell was, like his compatriot Roger Smith, the quiet type. Since the mid-'70s, he was constantly active in and around London, and also behind the scenes as a teacher and concert organizer. But his signature style was heard in Chris Burn's Ensemble, in the John Butcher-Phil Durrant-John Russell trio, and in duos with Roger Turner and Stefan Keune. His musical activities were better documented from the mid-'90s onward.

Russell (born on December 19, 1954) got his first guitar at age 11. In 1971, he was already performing in London and a year later had hooked up with the free music scene revolving around Derek Bailey's label Incus. At his first concerts, he played an electric guitar, but in the mid-'70s he traded his instrument for a 1936 Zenith acoustic guitar. An instrument that pre-dates amplification, it possesses a very large resonance chamber that gives it a much louder sound; it was well suited to play in a 1930s dance band when you needed to be heard over the brass section. The change to a very physical instrument, one that vibrated in the musician's hands, prompted Russell into new directions as he developed a playing style that, while borrowing from Derek Bailey, still revealed a distinct personality: abstract, unpredictable, and challenging.

Russell's first recordings dated from 1975 (with the quartet Teatime). His first long-term group was a trio with violinist Phil Durrant and saxophonist Mark Pickworth that started in 1979. The group rehearsed every week and performed regularly. By 1984, Pickworth was replaced by John Butcher, then a mostly unknown player. This trio went on to record three albums and remains Russell's best-known group. He was also involved with outfits like News from the Shed and Radu Malfatti's Ohrkiste, both of which also included Butcher.

In 1987, the guitarist helped Butcher start the Acta label (for the release of their LP Conceits). A year later, he co-founded the MOPOMOSO concert series with pianist Chris Burn, which became an important part of the London free improv scene. The '90s saw him recording and touring Europe (and occasionally North America) with Burn's Ensemble, his duo with drummer Roger Turner (they released two CDs for Emanem), another with saxophonist Stefan Keune, and with the quartet London Air Lift (with Evan Parker, John Edwards, and Mark Sanders). Russell continued to perform and record well into the 2010s, he died on January 18, 2021 while being treated for cancer; he was 66 years old. ~ François Couture, Rovi




 
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