Martin Archer (born 9 March 1957)^[1] is an English jazz saxophonist and electronic musician.^[2][3][4]

Career

Archer entered the British improvisational jazz scene at age 15. His first working band was Bass Tone Trap, with which he recorded an album in the early 1980s.^[2][3] In 1983 he founded the band Hornweb, which released three albums.^[2] He also released a solo album called Wild Pathway Favourites in 1988 on his own label, Discus.^[2][4]

In 1993, Archer disbanded Hornweb, temporarily gave up the saxophone, and adopted synthesizers and electronic music. His first solo album in this new style was Ghost Lily Cascade in 1996.^[5] His usual recording method is to record jazz musicians as they improvise on acoustic instruments, and then reconstruct the results electronically.^[2][5] He has since released more than 20 solo albums, usually on his Discus label, which sells both his own records and those by other selected artists via mail order.^[2] His 2019 album, Another Fantastic Individual, was recorded entirely solo.^[6]

Collaborations

Archer collaborated with electronic musician Chris Bywater is the duo Transient v Resident, which released albums in 1997 and 2001.^[7] Archer collaborates periodically with bluegrass/jazz guitarist John Jasnoch under the name Ask.^[8] He co-leads the 30-member improvisational singing group Juxtavoices, which has been described as an "antichoir",^[9][10] and periodically performs with the Murmurists.^[11] Archer also collaborated with Julie Tippetts on the albums Ghosts of Gold^[12][13] and Tales of Finin.^[14]

References