''Ophiuchus Butterfly'' is an album by jazz guitarist

Liberty Ellman Liberty Ellman (born July 17, 1971) is a jazz guitarist born in London and raised in the United States, beginning in New York City. In the early 1980s, Ellman's family moved to California. Before leaving New York, he attended City and Country Sch ...

, which was recorded in 2005 and released on

Pi Recordings Pi Recordings is a jazz record label founded by Seth Rosner in 2001. He was soon joined as partner by Yulun Wang. Pi specializes in avant-garde jazz. Its first two albums were by Henry Threadgill. Pi's roster includes Amir ElSaffar, Anthony Braxt ...

. He leads a sextet with Steve Lehman on alto sax,

Mark Shim Mark Shim (born November 21, 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a jazz tenor saxophonist. History Shim's family moved from Kingston to Canada when he was eight years old, and then settled in Richmond, Virginia five years later. He started on sax ...

on tenor sax, Jose Davila on tuba, Stephan Crump on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums.''Ophiuchus Butterfly''
on Pi Recordings

Reception

In his review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Scott Yanow states "This music will take a bit of patience but it is worth the time for Ellman's music is quite original and subtle." The

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

review by Mark F. Turner notes "The creative and exhilarating ''Ophiuchus Butterfly'' finds Ellman digging deeper into eccentric and progressive territories with a sextet of like-minded artists with distinct voices."Turner, Mark F
''Ophiuchus Butterfly'' review
at

In a review for ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'', Will Layman says "Ophiuchus Butterfly is reserved in its solo statements, but exuberant in its rhythms and construction."Layman, Will
''Ophiuchus Butterfly'' review
at ''

'' The ''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growth ...

'' review by Aaron Steinberg states "Ellman still likes his funk and bop, but he’s now thinking in bigger structures, more complicated voicings and in textures."Steinberg, Aaro
''Ophiuchus Butterfly'' review
at ''

Track listing

All Compositions by Liberty Ellman # "Ophiuchus Butterfly" – 6:33 # "Aestivation" – 6:56 # "Snow Lips" – 4:09 # "You Have Ears" – 6:35 # "The Naturalists" – 1:51 # "Pretty Words, Like Blades" – 4:34 # "Tarmacadam" – 7:08 # "Looking Up" – 7:58 # "Chromos" – 8:48 # "Borealis" – 3:05

Personnel

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, sampler * Steve Lehman –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

* Jose Davila –

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

* Stephan Crump –

acoustic bass The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar a ...

* Gerald Cleaver –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

References

{{Authority control 2006 albums Liberty Ellman albums Pi Recordings albums