According to the "Butterfly Effect", tiny disturbances at one point on the earth’s surface, even the flapping of a butterfly's wings, can trigger huge changes in distant places. For saxophonist/ flautist/ clarinetist Magnus Lindgren and pianist John Beasley, the point of departure here is the smallest possible format for musical interaction, the duo. And it is a starting-point with enchanting consequences.
Eleven original compositions – plus an arrangement of the Beatles classic "Come Together" – create musical worlds in microcosm for Lindgren and Beasley to explore together. Lindgren and Beasley’s lively musical minds and vast combined experience are well-known: both musicians are respected and admired worldwide as important, sought-after arrangers in jazz and popular music. Their first album together, "Bird Lives" was garlanded with three GRAMMY nominations and one win. Here, they have accelerated their art, creating what might be called arrangements in real-time.
As with "Bird Lives", the appeal of "Butterfly Effect" lies in the fact that the two protagonists have such different musical backgrounds. Magnus Lindgren is from Sweden, and draws from a deep well of European classical music, but also the freedom of jazz and the emotionality of soul and pop. John Beasley is American, and combines a powerful imagination which shines through in his own recordings influenced by his experience of working with Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Steely Dan, Dianne Reeves, his film and TV soundtracks, together with an imposing catalogue of arrangements and compositions for big band.
"Butterfly Effect" gathers these influences together to create a particularly fine distillate, and one which reveals a completely different side of Lindgren and Beasley from their work with large orchestras and big bands. What this recording delivers in abundance – and what the listener will also inevitably experience as each of these performances takes wing – is the spontaneity and alchemy of their interaction.
