[Rutherford was one of the co-founders of legendary improvising ensemble Iskra 1903, named of course after Lenin's famous newspaper - AN]
Obituary
Paul Rutherford
Richard Williams Friday August 10, 2007 The Guardian
It would not be entirely fanciful to trace the beginnings of European free improvising to the first meeting of the trombonist Paul Rutherford, who has died aged 67, with the drummer John Stevens and the saxophonist Trevor Watts in 1958. All three had spotted the opportunity of a paid first-class musical education offered by the air force's band college at Uxbridge, west London, and the daily routine turned out to be surprisingly helpful to their true ambitions. After an hour's formal practice in the morning, for the rest of the day they had the freedom of the band room to pursue a joint interest in the forms of American jazz with which, a decade later, they would engineer a decisive rupture.
Rutherford, in particular, became a prominent member of the small coterie of European free improvisers whose work significantly expanded the vocabulary of instrumental music. In his case the language of the trombone was broadened to include a seemingly infinite variety of unlikely sounds. It was his inherent musicality, along with a relish for surprise and a seldom disguised sense of humour, that allowed him to gather and arrange the new materials into something both highly personal and, to listeners of a sympathetic temperament, enormously satisfying.
Born in Greenwich and brought up in Blackheath Village, he inherited his leftwing beliefs and a teasing wit from his father, a former soldier who worked at the Woolwich Arsenal. Influenced by an older brother's enthusiasm for Charlie Parker, he tried the saxophone before settling on the trombone and enlisting in the air force to further his musical education."
Full: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2145685,00.html>
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