MUSIC AND MORE - Tim Niland

At The Hill Of James Magee

The story of the enigmatic artist James Magee and his eponymous hill is a fascinating one, and it is easy to understand how it would draw musical iconoclasts like multi-reed instrumentalists Joe McPhee and John Butcher to make the trek to record there. Their performance out in the open at the monument, using two microphones and battery powered equipment at times sounds like well done field recordings, but in truth it is two master improvisers taking inspiration from another artist to create a wonderfully spontaneous work of art.

"Sometimes Yes, Sometimes No" is a sprawling nearly twenty one minute lead-off track, featuring long abstract tones of saxophones in space, evoking the enormous landscape they are playing in, by separating themselves and playing in two separate buildings simultaneously. Each saxophone is represented in a separate channel and we hear the musicians walk about the monument improvising, with the assembled audience between the buildings, quite an audacious experiment in sound and recording different for the live audience and record listener.
The next four tracks are alternating solo statements from the musicians and the finale is a duet.
Solo perhaps alto saxophone "Mine Shaft" has slow and mostly high pitched playing that is very spare and patient and thoughtfully played. It is presented to the listener as a narrative, a thematic offering with a melodic center that is accessible and absorbing. "Paradise Overcast" uses pops against the reed echoing through the microphone and creating a very interesting sound, one that is percussive, followed by long raw sounds which move in an all together different direction. Short, but exciting "A Forty Foot Square Room" uses a rising and falling scouring and exciting solo that moves in and out, forward and back, creating a sense of continuous motion and doppler like effect. "Torcello" sounds like tenor saxophone with brief honks juxtaposed against fast filigrees of saxophone improvisation. Sandpapery toned sounding real like life and the sum of a life's worth of knowledge with the use of space and patience creating long tones of circular breathing spiraling out as relativistic jets of pure sound.
The two regroup for the final duet "St. Ida's Breath (Less Her Neck and Teeth)" using fluttering sounds and quiet percussive pops, questioning tones and delicate stray squawks. They eventually raise their voices into song, breathing deeply together in a parallel formation that leads to a much deserved round of applause from the audience.

DOWNBEAT - Dustin Krcatovich

At The Hill Of James Magee

Given the respective reputations of saxophonists Joe McPhee and John Butcher in the field of outer limits sound exploration, it’s fitting that At The Hill Of James Magee, a 2010 recording just now seeing release, finds the duo collaborating—for the first time—not just on the edges of sound, but near the edge of civilization. The titular structure, consisting of four buildings connected by a series of paths, where this album was recorded is a quasi-fortress in West Texas’ Chihuahuan Desert.
That both players are aggressive in exploring the unique acoustic opportunities should almost go without saying. The opener, “Sometimes Yes, Sometimes No,” uses space most explicitly, with each saxophonist traversing the monument’s long walkways and the recorded stereo spectrum, crossing each other’s path and ending opposite where they started.

The alternating solo tracks that follow aren’t as explicit in this regard, but still impacted by space. Unconventional locales are Butcher’s bread and butter, and he bounces percussive blurts and hard-angled tenor trills against The Hill’s natural slapback. McPhee’s alto is a more tender thing, even at its most oblique. But he’s no slouch when it comes to letting his tone dance off Magee’s iron doors and shale rock. The album ends with a shorter duet, “St. Ida’s Breath (Less Her Neck And Teeth),” a tune as pensive as it abstract, the desert wind serving as a tentative collaborator.
Dedicated fans of either player won’t be too surprised by what they do together here. Nor will they be disappointed. Like any great improvisers, McPhee and Butcher are as much masters of deep listening as they are of extended techniques, and here, they bring all those skills to bear.

FREE JAZZ BLOG - Eyal Hareuveni

At The Hill Of James Magee

The first ever meeting of master sax players - American Joe McPhee and British John Butcher happened in April 17, 2010 in the middle of nowhere. McPhee and butcher played at The Hill, located 70 miles east of El Paso, Texas, deep in the the Chihuahuan desert, where enigmatic artist James Magee - a painter, sculptor, poet, film and video maker, has been building, over the last three decades, four identical buildings connected by causeways, crafted of irregularly-cut shale rock, spreading over 2,000 acres of desert land. Magee's work on The Hill is supposed to conclude around 2030. Only a handful of people have visited The Hill and photographing it is strictly forbidden.

McPhee and Butcher played at The Hill on a dry and windy afternoon, before about 70 people who did the tasking pilgrimage to the unique site. Their set transforms the intensity of The Hill into a profound, ceremonial-spiritual experience. Any performance in this forces the musicians to play, actually collaborate, with the voices of the desolated landscape, the architecture and rare acoustics of The Hill, as well as in relation to its emotional weight and the unfathomable dedication of Magee to this place.

The set began with the 20-minutes “Sometimes Yes, Sometimes”. McPhee plays the alto sax inside the North building and Butcher plays the tenor sax inside the South Building, each of these buildings is five meter high and full of sculptors and installations by Magee. The whole set was captured by two microphones, located outside the buildings and recording into battery-powered equipment, as The Hill is far from the local electric grid. At one point, McPhee and Butcher exit the buildings, continue playing as they walk to the opposite structure, passing each other at the center of the cruciform walkway. McPhee and Butcher alternated solo on the next shorter, five pieces, played on the walkway, elevated three meters above the ground.

McPhee and Butcher opt for a reserved and sparse tone, as The Hill natural reverberations proved to be a powerful, open-air echo chamber to reckon with. Often both sound reverential and contemplative, stressing brief silences, but on few occasions they burst with emotional, fiery cries. Both McPhee and Butcher responded subtly to each solo pieces but avoided explicit comments. Their short solo pieces emphasized McPhee’s hypnotic, emotional urgency and Butcher’s innovative. percussion ideas. They conclude this magnificent set with the serene and playful duet, “St. Ida's Breath (Less Her Neck And Teeth)”.

TINY MIX TAPES - Mike Reid

At The Hill Of James Magee

What’s better than two avant-garde musicians of superlative accomplishment choosing to collaborate for a brand new album? Try inserting a mysterious venue into the mix. And I’m not (despite what you might think) talking about the secret mascot sex dungeon that exists several stories below the castle in Disney’s Magic Kingdom. That dark and suspiciously slippery location gives new meaning to the phrase “happiest place on Earth” — while The Hill of James Magee exudes both mystery and spirituality. A structure/art installation 70 miles east of El Paso, TX. The Hill consists of four shale buildings connected by causeways; and technically it’s still under construction, even though Magee has hosted visitors and art events for years now. Literally, photos are prohibited, there is no electricity, and people can only arrive via shuttle.

McPhee and Butcher naturally had their respective alto sax and tenor sax in tow when they recently visited The Hill to perform, and their new album At The Hill Of James Magee is as much a trademark exploration of acoustic space as it is a showcase of their improvisational talents. The first track comes from battery recordings as the two players exit and enter separate buildings. Tracks 2 through 6 are a mix of solos and duets, while the audience members were seated on the ground below the walkway, and microphones were placed outside of the buildings.