A reissue of the first LP by the exceptionally fine improvising trio of John Russell (guitar), Phil Durrant (violin and trombone) and John Butcher (saxophones). This group came into being in 1984 after Russell and Durrant had spent the previous two years performing in private with another saxophonist. For this debut LP, made in 1987, they performed eleven short pieces. This CD has been expanded by the inclusion of a previously unissued extended concert performance made a few years later. The strong beginnings of one of the best improvising groups of the 1980s and 1990s. Reissue of Acta LP 1 with extra material. 54 minutes.

Excerpts from sleeve notes: Phil Durrant and I originally played in a trio with soprano saxophonist Mark Pickworth at my flat in Finsbury Park. The idea was to play on a regular basis with the same people and to see a ‘group language’ develop. After a couple of years Phil and I wanted the group to play publicly, make recordings and tour but Mark wasn’t so interested as he enjoyed the more informal aspects of our earlier sessions and had other priorities. By 1984 Phil and I had decided to find other musicians who would like to take things further and one of the first we considered was John Butcher who had ‘come on the scene’, or at least to our notice, about a year earlier playing with Chris Burn. Originally we hadn’t intended to replace a saxophone with a saxophone, or even continue as a trio, but after John accepted our invite it became obvious very quickly that we should stick with both John and the trio format. He was already working on combining the timbral and melodic aspects of the saxophone to a high degree and this fitted in so well with what Phil and I were doing. We then continued to play at my flat but also got as much public playing experience as possible.