☰ MENU

Saxophone sounds

Eleven improvisations for alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, clarinet, snare drum, violin and voice. Released on the Zero Arts label.

Track 1 - For E - tenor saxophone, slowed violin and snare drum.

The ape in the video was the first chimpanzee in space filmed whilst orbiting the earth.

He was known as chimp number 65 but was renamed Ham after he returned to earth alive in 1961.

Track 4 - Slippery - Baritone saxophone and double bass.

Track 5 - For A - Solo alto saxophone.

Track 2 - Nows the time - alto saxophone, voice, slowed violin and snare drum.

(De)composition for saxophone and angle grinder.

Deconstruction of the saxophone.

Reconstruction below.

For 52 saxophones. Overtone interaction. Incorporates the full normal range of the baritone, tenor and alto saxophones. With digitally created loops. The notes are layered systematically - each ascending tone is faded in at five second intervals and then faded out in the same order after a few minutes.

duration 10 minutes.

Nine saxophone improvisations. Released on the Zero Arts label.

Track 7 - Evanisation - Tenor saxophone and slowed violin.

Eight improvisations for tenor, baritone, alto saxophones with violin, snare drum and mobile phone. Released on the Zero Arts label.

Track 6 - Better on the tenor - Tenor saxophone and slowed violin.

Tarantism - poetry, balloons, saxophone, sound sculpture and organ pipes. Released on the Zero Arts label.

Track 3 - Duet - John Grieve baritone saxophone, Martin Hackett synthesiser.

For Baritone Saxophone and Voice.

Twelve consecutive chromatic notes on the tenor saxophone recorded to quarter inch magnetic tape and spliced into loops with adhesive tape in the traditional way. Mixed by Clive Graham. Released on the Paradigm Discs label.

Duration 12 minutes.

5 minute excerpt

Collaboration with French sound artist Christian Renou (aka Brume) released on the Rotorelief label in 2017 available here

Nihil Unbound is one of the most unsettling albums I have. Given that John Grieve’s primary listed instrument is a tenor saxophone, such a statement sounds incredulous. Yet this is menacing. Animal, dark violence soaks this black vinyl. Hold it up to the light, and a glimmer of deep red leaks through.....The sound is a smart intersection of digital, analogue, acoustic and instrument sources. There is bashing about but almost as if happening haphazardly around you. This melds with other, more immediate sounds and provides a truly uninviting structural ambience....Much of what might be mistaken for synthesizer underlayment is, I believe, processed and manipulated low saxophone notes. Noise saturates. Voices growl intermittently. Whatever slight tweak, processing, or recording acumen used turns them truly demonic.

Myrtie Lake - www.special-interests.net

Back to top of page