O.K. He does vocals in a 9-piece acid jazz band. He plays bass in a rock band. He does the DJ thing from time to time. On Friday, June 6, for the first time in years, catch a very rare concert of Ben Butter performing a full set of his own, solo, hip-hop material to *music*.
Ben Butter is a lyricist/emcee and poet who has improvised live with Donald Byrd, opened for Nikki Giovanni, facilitated community murals, recorded with Galapagos4, competed in National Poetry Slams, won rap battles (before abandoning battling altogether), been solicited to freestyle on stage and radio, freestyled with most of Chicago's greatest lyricists, and performed at bars, clubs, churches, universities, schools, libraries, theaters, bookstores, concert venues, cafés, community centers, auditoriums, on radio, on television, and on stages all across the midwest. His current focus is to make and use music to enjoy/celebrate life.
Ben Butter is also currently vocalist in 9-piece band Vertikal , which plays a blend of hip-hop, nu-soul, and jazz (with splashes of house, reggae, and rock). Vertikal has played venues all across Chicago and--after being together less than a year--won 2nd place in the U.S. Finals of the 2007 Emergenza International Music Festival, held at the Metro in Chicago. Butter can be found performing with a loop pedal and a bass guitar, keyboard, tambourine, or whatever makes noise as a not-too-serious, one-man band called Hashbrown. (Video below.) Butter also plays bass guitar in 4-piece, indie rock band from Chicago, The Elements of Style . (Also visit The Elements of Style's MySpace page .)
He is a semi-retired DJ. Starting in 1992, he spun spin extra-funky House and dance music... jazz, rare groove, and downtempo... or a kitchen sink blend of hip-hop, '60s and '70s r&b/funk, gospel, disco, rock, '80s, modern soul, ska, jazz, salsa, bossa nova, breakbeat, trip-hop, even jungle, in the same set...or doing scratching/turntablism. These days you'll probably only catch him once in a while.
He is a terrible bass guitarist who has played everything from soul/R&B to ska to post-punk. (He's never taken lessons and seldom practices.) As well as a graphic artist/graffiti artist/muralist. Sadly, though, in the last 2 years the only painting Butter has done (aside from facilitating a huge youth community mural and teaching painting workshops) has been urgent last-minute requests for signs.
Complete bio will be up soon.
After years of appearing on countless other underground hip-hop releases, he is currently writing songs for his first, full-length, solo, hip-hop release...as well as writing and recording with several projects, including the 9-piece, hip-hop/acid jazz band named Vertikal...and a blues/hip-hop collaboration with Chicago musicians Russ Green, Avery R. Young, and Sense.
Footage of Ben Butter with his band Vertikal slowing it down with "Let It Go" at The Note (Chicago):
Ben Butter, sharing "Home Street Home" (off Chicago emcee Sense's upcoming solo debut album, but performed here with music by Blockhead) live at Lane Tech High School in Chicago, April 2007:
A video clip of Hashbrown(the non-rapping, one-man-band side project of Butter, who doesn't take himself seriously) performing a cover of "Again" by Faith Evans/Mellowdrone:
Notes on the mp3s:
While Ben Butter finishes studio recordings, here is some live footage to take up space:
"24" is a live performance at an open mic in Chicago. Lyrics written as a personal freewrite during an uneventful work day...and this footage showcases the 2nd time the piece had been performed. The sound quality of this live recording is poor. The music used is a track entitled "Love Tomorrow" by a truly exceptional Chicago-land producer named Maker , off his most recent album Shooting The Breeze.
"Easy" was recorded at a house party in fall 2001. This assembly of musicians had never played together. Both the musicians and folks in audience think it flowed surprisingly well. Features Butter on bass/groove with Tyler Beach (lead guitar), Peter Fugiel (rhythm guitar), and Mason (drums).
Support Butter--because he is a high school teacher. And he has influence over the minds of the future doctors and plumbers and garbagemen and firemen and lawyers and policemen, etc. And you want them on your side, right?