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saxophonist
- Musical Bio
Melvin Butler began playing tenor saxophone at age twelve in his hometown of Kansas City, Kansas. In high school, he excelled academically (graduating magna cum laude) and musically as a member of the award-winning jazz ensemble at Sumner Academy of Arts and Science (1984-1988). Shortly after graduating, he launched his professional music career in Eddie Baker’s New Breed Orchestra, a Basie-style big band in which saxophonist and fellow Kansas City native Bobby Watson was often featured.
While enrolled at Berklee College of Music (1988-1993), he studied saxophone performance and jazz improvisation with Joseph Viola, Andy McGhee, and Bill Pierce. In Boston, he led his own quartet at Wally’s Cafe and also worked with many local artists, including Frank Wilkins, Hot Like Fire, the Boston Jazz Orchestra. In 1993, he caught the attention of jazz vocalist Betty Carter, appearing with her at New York’s Carnegie Hall. He also accepted Carter’s invitation to perform in her inaugural Jazz Ahead showcase at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It was during this time that he first met and performed with drummer and singer-songwriter Brian Blade, with whom he continues to tour and record. In 1994, Melvin moved to New York City, and throughout the 1990s and 2000s, he has worked with Donald Byrd (Black Entertainment Television's Jazz Central), Christian McBride (Park City Jazz Festival), Eric Essix (W.C. Handy Music Festival), Magali Souriau (Birdland, NYC), Gloria Gaynor (Northalsted Market Days, Chicago), and many other artists.
Melvin's musical career has also encompassed numerous recordings and performances throughout the French-, English-, and Creole-speaking parts of Caribbean. His work with celebrated Haitian konpa group Tabou Combo includes multiple performances from Port-au-Prince to Paris, an appearance at Dominica's World Creole Music Festival (1999), and three recordings, Why Not? (1997), 360 Degrees (1997), and Sans Limites (2000).
In the late 1990s, Melvin began establishing musical connections with masters of the Hammond B3 organ, performing in the United States and Japan with Reuben Wilson, Joey DeFrancesco, and Dr. Lonnie Smith. During his final two years in New York City (2003-2004), he worked steadily with legendary organist Jimmy McGriff and his quartet. For the past 15 years, he has toured and recorded with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, with whom he is featured on Brian Blade Fellowship (1998; Blue Note), Perceptual (2000; Blue Note), and Season of Changes (2008; Verve). With the Fellowship Band, Melvin has traveled across the globe to perform in venues throughout the United States, Europe, Mexico, and East Asia. In 2008, he relocated to Chicago, where he continues to exercise his musical gifts while cultivating his academic career as an ethnomusicology professor at the University of Chicago.
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scholar
- Academic Bio
Melvin L. Butler earned his Ph.D. in music from New York University in 2005 and currently teaches at the University of Chicago, where he serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Music and Associated Faculty in the Divinity School. Prior to this appointment, he taught at the University of Virginia (2005-2008). An ethnomusicologist with broad interests in music and religion of the African diaspora, he has conducted extensive field research on popular music making in relation to charismatic Christianity in Haitian and Jamaican communities. In these transnational Caribbean contexts, he interrogates the cultural politics of musical style and religious expression while attending to the role of musical performance in constructing individual and collective identities. Much of his research centers on the phenomenology of Pentecostal musical worship, how the transcendent becomes immanent through musical performance, and the intersections of faith, ritual, gender, and power. These interests fuel his ongoing concern with ethnographic representation and the ways in which scholars negotiate their identities in relation to various fields of supernatural encounter.
Butler is presently at work on two book manuscripts. One of these examines the theological and experiential connections between Jamaican and African American gospel performance. He is currently devoting his energies to a second project that focuses on a continuum of Pentecostal practice in Haiti and the discourses of cultural authenticity and spiritual power that inflect congregational practice. At the heart of his work lies a critical reconsideration of how spiritually charged music making is deeply embedded in processes of boundary crossing, identity formation, and social positioning in post-colonial contexts.
Fellowships, Awards, and Honors
Fellow, Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University, 2012-2013
Mead Honored Faculty Award, University of Virginia, 2007-2008
Thurgood Marshall Dissertation Fellowship, Dartmouth College. 2004-2005
Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, 1999-2003
Hewitt A. Panteleoni Prize for Best Student Paper, SEM, Mid-Atlantic Chapter, 2000
Henry McCracken Fellowship, Grad. School of Arts & Science, Dept. of Music, NYU, 1997-1999
Research Assistantship, Steinhardt School, Metro Center for Urban Education, NYU, 1996-97
Fieldwork and Research Grants
Summer Research and Writing Grant, University of Virginia, 2007
Dean's Summer Travel Grant [Haiti], College of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia, 2006
Dean’s Dissertation/Research Fellowship, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, NYU, 2003-2004
Fulbright IIE Grant [Jamaica], 2001-2002
Summer Travel Grant [Haiti], Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, New York University, 2000
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discography
Jazz and popular music
Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Landmarks, Forthcoming.
Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band (Universal/Verve), Season of Changes, 2008
Reuben Wilson (Jazzateria), Organ Blues, 2002
Stephane Mercier (Fresh Sound New Talent), Flor de Luna, 2001
Brian Blade Fellowship (Capitol/Blue Note), Perceptual, 2000
Magali Souriau (Koch Jazz), Birdland Sessions, 2000
Eric Essix, (Zebra-WarnerElektraAtlantic), Southbound, 2000
Kevin Aviance (Wave Music), Box of Chocolates, 1999
Eric Essix, (Zebra-WarnerElekraAltantic), Small Talk, 1998
Brian Blade Fellowship (Capitol/Blue Note), Brian Blade Fellowship, 1998
Reuben Wilson, (Cannonball), Down With It, 1998
Reuben Wilson (Jazzateria), Organ Donor, 1997
Caribbean popular music
Tabou Combo (Antilles Mizik), Sans Limites, 2000
Michael Blaise (Hibiscus), L’Aise Comme Blaise, 2000
Beth Sheba (Antilles Mizik), An Chans Ou An Destiné, 1998
Mary Souza (Harmony Records), Manso E Suave, 1998
Tabou Combo (Hibiscus), Why Not?, 1997
Tabou Combo (Hibiscus), 360 Degrees, 1997
Skah Shah (Geronimo), El Cuban’n, 1997
Ralph Conde (Antilles Mizik), Ralph Conde and Friends, 1997
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publications
BOOKS (in progress)
Claiming Haiti: Pentecostalism and the Theopolitics of Musical Performance.
Fly Away Home: Performing Gospel Music and Identity in Jamaica and Its Diaspora.
ARTICLES (in peer-reviewed journals)
"In Zora's Footsteps: Experiencing Music and Pentecostal Ritual in the African Diaspora." Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora. Volume 9:1, 2008, pp. 74-106.
OTHER ARTICLES
CHAPTERS IN BOOKS
“‘Se Pannkotis Nou Ye!’(‘We’re Pentecostal!’): Performing Pentecostal Faith in Haiti” Music in World Christianities, Eds. Suzel Reily and Jonathan Dueck. New York: Oxford University Press, Under Contract.
"Music, Power, and Identity in the African Diaspora," What Should I Read Next? 70 University of Virginia Professors Recommend Readings in History, Politics, Literature, Math, Science, Technology, the Arts, and More. Eds. Jessica R. Feldman and Robert Stilling, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008.
BOOK REVIEWS
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ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES
Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music, ed. William McNeil. New York: Routledge, 2005.
“Globalization of Gospel” [1500 words]
“Gospel Choirs” [1500 words]
“Gospel Quartets” [2000 words]
“Singing in Tongues” [750 words]
African American National Biography, ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
"Andrae Crouch"
"William Herbert Brewster"
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
"Keywords of Music and Motion: Body," Society for Ethnomusicology Roundtable Presentation, Phildadelphia, PA, November 17, 2011.
"Reclaiming Haiti: Pentecostalism and the Theopolitics of Musical Performance.” (invited plenary keynote) Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives, Ripon College Cuddesdon, England, September 1, 2011.
"Pentecostal Worship and the Performance of Transcendence in Haiti and the United States." Society for Ethnomusicology, Middletown, CT. Wesleyan University, October 28, 2008.
"Contested Boundaries: Negotiating Music, Ritual, and Identity in Haiti and Jamaica" Zora Neale Hurston Conference of the Arts and Humanities. Eatonville, FL. February 1, 2008
"Contested Boundaries: Negotiating Music, Ritual, and Identity in the Haitian Transnation" Haitian Studies Association 19th Annual Meeting, Boca Raton, FL. October 6, 2007, Lynn University.
"'I Will Sing like David Sang': Negotiating Gender, Faith, and Performance in African-American Pentecostal Churches" Society for Ethnomusicology, Honolulu, HI, November 16, 2006.
"African Cross-Currents in the Atlantic: Race, Ethnicity & Transnational Identity ─ A Roundtable Discussion." Panelist, Haitian Studies Association 18th Annual Meeting, Charlottesville, VA. October 5-7, 2006, University of Virginia.
"Music and Pentecostalism in the Haitian Context: The Nexus of Faith and National Identity," Conference, Duke University, Cultural Anthropology and Latin American Studies. Departments, Feb. 24, 2006.
"Appropriating Gospel: Jamaican Identity, Style, and the Transnationalization of African American Gospel Music," International Association for the Study of Popular Music-US, Murfreesboro, TN. Feb. 18, 2006
"Heavenly Armies: Music, Opposition, and Spiritual Warfare in Haiti," United States Department of State, Conference on the Caribbean, Washington, DC, Oct. 6, 2005
“‘I Love the Old Time Way’: Religious Identity, Pentecostal Tradition, and the Role of African American Gospel Music in Jamaica” Society for Ethnomusicology, Tuscon, Arizona, Nov. 4, 2004.
“Fighting Fire with Fire: Pentecostal Transcendence, Musico-Spiritual Warfare, and Transnationalism in Haitian ‘Heavenly Army’ Churches.” Society for Ethnomusicology, Miami, Florida. October 2, 2003
“Music, Identity and Pentecostal Worship in Haiti” Inter-American Conference on Black Music Research, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. May 2001.
“Negotiating African-American and West Indian Styles of Musical Worship in a Brooklyn Pentecostal Church” Society for Ethnomusicology, Toronto. November 4, 2000
INVITED TALKS
“Music, Identity, and Spirit Work in Haiti, Jamaica, and their Diasporas,” Ethnomusicology and Global Culture, National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, Middletown, CT. Wesleyan University. June 23, 2011.
“Transcending Performance/Performing Transcendence: Faith and Fact in Caribbeanist Ethnomusicology” Panel on Black Music and Spirituality, Center for Black Music Research, Chicago, IL. April 13, 2010.
“On Haitian Pentecostals and Popular Music” The Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago. November 4, 2009.
“Sanctifying the Haitian Soul: Thoughts on Faith, Cultural Nationalism, and Popular Music” Ethnoise! Symposium, Dept. of Music, University of Chicago. October 2, 2009.
“Music and Pentecostalism in Haiti.” University of Chicago Divinity School. Wednesday Lunch Series. May 13, 2009.
"Ethnomusicology's Contribution to African and African Diasporic Studies" The Carter G. Woodson Institute’s 25th Anniversary Symposium, “Celebrating the Legacy, Scholarship and Future of the Woodson Institute,” University of Virginia. April 21, 2007.
"'I Will Sing like David Sang': Negotiating Gender, Faith, and Performance in African-American Pentecostal Churches" University of California at Berkeley, February 2, 2007.
"Improvising in the Field: Metanarratives of Performance and Identity in the African Diaspora," Music in Performance Symposium, University of Virginia, Dec. 1, 2006.
"Seeking the Haitian Soul: Intersections of Music, Identity, and Pentecostal Practice in Haiti," Department of History, James Madison University, March 30, 2006.
"African Diasporic Music and Religion," Arts and Cultures of the Slave South, University of Virginia, Oct. 26, 2005.
"Religion and Identity in the African Diaspora," Roundtable presentation, Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, Nov. 28, 2005
“The Role of Musical Practice in African American Pentecostal Church Services.” School of Sacred Music, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, NY. April 22, 2004.
SESSION CHAIR OR DISCUSSANT
Chair and Discussant, "Music/Race/Empire" The Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago, April 21, 2010.
Chair, “Revivals, Translations, and Authenticities” IASPM-US, New Orleans, LA, April 9, 2010
Chair, “Rituals of Mourning” IASPM-US, New Orleans, LA, April 10, 2010
Chair, "Religion and American Music" IASPM-US, Iowa City, IA, April 26, 2008
Chair, "The Politics of Being and Belonging—Beyond Ethnicity and Race in the Americas: A Conference on Identity in Brazil, the Caribbean, and Africa," Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies, Corcoran Department of History, Department of Latin American Studies, UVA, Feb. 28-March 1, 2006.
Discussant, Film screening of Amandlaa!Office of African American Affairs, UVA. Feb. 7, 2006
Chair, "Contemporary Gospel," IASPM-US, Charlottesville, VA, October 15, 2004
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talks
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
"Keywords of Music and Motion: Body," Society for Ethnomusicology Roundtable Presentation, Phildadelphia, PA, November 17, 2011.
"Reclaiming Haiti: Pentecostalism and the Theopolitics of Musical Performance.” (invited plenary keynote) Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives, Ripon College Cuddesdon, England, September 1, 2011.
"Pentecostal Worship and the Performance of Transcendence in Haiti and the United States." Society for Ethnomusicology, Middletown, CT. Wesleyan University, October 28, 2008.
"Contested Boundaries: Negotiating Music, Ritual, and Identity in Haiti and Jamaica" Zora Neale Hurston Conference of the Arts and Humanities. Eatonville, FL. February 1, 2008
"Contested Boundaries: Negotiating Music, Ritual, and Identity in the Haitian Transnation" Haitian Studies Association 19th Annual Meeting, Boca Raton, FL. October 6, 2007, Lynn University.
"'I Will Sing like David Sang': Negotiating Gender, Faith, and Performance in African-American Pentecostal Churches" Society for Ethnomusicology, Honolulu, HI, November 16, 2006.
"African Cross-Currents in the Atlantic: Race, Ethnicity & Transnational Identity ─ A Roundtable Discussion." Panelist, Haitian Studies Association 18th Annual Meeting, Charlottesville, VA. October 5-7, 2006, University of Virginia.
"Music and Pentecostalism in the Haitian Context: The Nexus of Faith and National Identity," Conference, Duke University, Cultural Anthropology and Latin American Studies. Departments, Feb. 24, 2006.
"Appropriating Gospel: Jamaican Identity, Style, and the Transnationalization of African American Gospel Music," International Association for the Study of Popular Music-US, Murfreesboro, TN. Feb. 18, 2006
"Heavenly Armies: Music, Opposition, and Spiritual Warfare in Haiti," United States Department of State, Conference on the Caribbean, Washington, DC, Oct. 6, 2005
“‘I Love the Old Time Way’: Religious Identity, Pentecostal Tradition, and the Role of African American Gospel Music in Jamaica” Society for Ethnomusicology, Tuscon, Arizona, Nov. 4, 2004.
“Fighting Fire with Fire: Pentecostal Transcendence, Musico-Spiritual Warfare, and Transnationalism in Haitian ‘Heavenly Army’ Churches.” Society for Ethnomusicology, Miami, Florida. October 2, 2003
“Music, Identity and Pentecostal Worship in Haiti” Inter-American Conference on Black Music Research, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. May 2001.
“Negotiating African-American and West Indian Styles of Musical Worship in a Brooklyn Pentecostal Church” Society for Ethnomusicology, Toronto. November 4, 2000
INVITED TALKS
“Music, Identity, and Spirit Work in Haiti, Jamaica, and their Diasporas,” Ethnomusicology and Global Culture, National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, Middletown, CT. Wesleyan University. June 23, 2011.
“Transcending Performance/Performing Transcendence: Faith and Fact in Caribbeanist Ethnomusicology” Panel on Black Music and Spirituality, Center for Black Music Research, Chicago, IL. April 13, 2010.
“On Haitian Pentecostals and Popular Music” The Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago. November 4, 2009.
“Sanctifying the Haitian Soul: Thoughts on Faith, Cultural Nationalism, and Popular Music” Ethnoise! Symposium, Dept. of Music, University of Chicago. October 2, 2009.
“Music and Pentecostalism in Haiti.” University of Chicago Divinity School. Wednesday Lunch Series. May 13, 2009.
"Ethnomusicology's Contribution to African and African Diasporic Studies" The Carter G. Woodson Institute’s 25th Anniversary Symposium, “Celebrating the Legacy, Scholarship and Future of the Woodson Institute,” University of Virginia. April 21, 2007.
"'I Will Sing like David Sang': Negotiating Gender, Faith, and Performance in African-American Pentecostal Churches" University of California at Berkeley, February 2, 2007.
"Improvising in the Field: Metanarratives of Performance and Identity in the African Diaspora," Music in Performance Symposium, University of Virginia, Dec. 1, 2006.
"Seeking the Haitian Soul: Intersections of Music, Identity, and Pentecostal Practice in Haiti," Department of History, James Madison University, March 30, 2006.
"African Diasporic Music and Religion," Arts and Cultures of the Slave South, University of Virginia, Oct. 26, 2005.
"Religion and Identity in the African Diaspora," Roundtable presentation, Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, Nov. 28, 2005
“The Role of Musical Practice in African American Pentecostal Church Services.” School of Sacred Music, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, NY. April 22, 2004.
SESSION CHAIR OR DISCUSSANT
Chair and Discussant, "Music/Race/Empire" The Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago, April 21, 2010.
Chair, “Revivals, Translations, and Authenticities” IASPM-US, New Orleans, LA, April 9, 2010
Chair, “Rituals of Mourning” IASPM-US, New Orleans, LA, April 10, 2010
Chair, "Religion and American Music" IASPM-US, Iowa City, IA, April 26, 2008
Chair, "The Politics of Being and Belonging—Beyond Ethnicity and Race in the Americas: A Conference on Identity in Brazil, the Caribbean, and Africa," Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies, Corcoran Department of History, Department of Latin American Studies, UVA, Feb. 28-March 1, 2006.
Discussant, Film screening of Amandlaa!Office of African American Affairs, UVA. Feb. 7, 2006
Chair, "Contemporary Gospel," IASPM-US, Charlottesville, VA, October 15, 2004
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schedule
September 30-October 1, 2012 - Lawrence University, Appleton, WI. Haiti Symposium: Presentation and Concert
September 29, 2012 - Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Chicago, IL, with the Melvin Butler Quartet
July 31-Aug. 5, 2012 - Village Vanguard, New York, NY with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
July 28, 2012 - Castellmare Di Stabia Quisanna Jazz Events, Campania, Italy with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
July 26, 2012 - Atina Jazz Festival, Atina, Italy with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
July 23-24, 2012 - Ronnie Scott's, London, England with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
July 21, 2012 - Saint Emilion Jazz Festival, Saint Emilion, France with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
July 20, 2012 - Macon Festival de Jazz, Macon, France with Brian Blade and the Fellowship
July 19, 2012 - Junas Festival de Jazz Junas, France with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
July 12-13, 2012 - American Jazz Festiv'Halles, Sunset/Sunside Jazz Club, Paris, France with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
July 8, 2012 - Valby Summer Jazz, Betty Nansen Teatret, Frederiksberg, Denmark with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
July 6, 2012 - North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
June 22, 2012 - Ottawa International Jazz Festival with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
June 8, 2012 - Lunario del Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
May 21-23, 2012 - Blue Note Tokyo, Japan with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
May 19, 2012 - Seoul Jazz Festival with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
April 20-22, 2012 - Symposium, Black Women and Pentecostalism in Diaspora, Bowdoin College (Maine)
April 17, 2012 - Performance with Matt Ulery's band, Loom at Studio 914 (914 North California Ave., Chicago, IL 60622)
April 1, 2012 - Melvin Butler Quartet (with Dana Hall, Justin Dillard, and Jake Vinsel) at Room 43 in Chicago, 7:30-11:30.
March 29, 2012 - Savannah Music Festival with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band
January 31, 2012 - Lecture at Duke Divinity School
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Tweets
- My 3-month-old son loves this: http://t.co/uPUD0tlOVb
- RT @gregspero: Good God. I don't care what religion you practice; they all say not to kill any other human being. We need to get this strai…
- Joni: A Portrait in Song – A Birthday Happening Live at Massey Hall http://t.co/d3Vm9goVXa via @sharethis
- Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band bring a new beat by WBEZ's Morning Shift via #soundcloud https://t.co/aitkKHy58n
- RT @VictorWooten: The Flecktones reunite as audience members at the Brian Blade concert. http://t.co/g4fw4AsX5R
- RT @reallycassandra: So excited to host this group on Sunday. Brian Blade and The Fellowship Band will be playing Jackson on their... ht ...
- Meet Desiline Victor, the 102-year-old voter attending the SOTU http://t.co/J0M2OHrK via @politicsnation
- New Orleans' Loyola Jazz Festival to Welcome Percussionist Brian Blade, 3/8-9 - BWWMusicWorld http://t.co/3YEugUjd
- Beating Out Paths Unknown – Master Drummer Brian Blade Muses About Fellowship http://t.co/qNmYX83M
- “@EddieButler: It's 2013. Why do we still not have teleportation or flying cars? I'm so disappointed.”
- RT @loriannbutler: Faith HAS to happen! Bishop's words echoed those of my dad-the late Bishop Roberts. In 2013 it WILL happen! Our baby' ...
- RT @tombrokaw: It is not enough to talk about access to guns. We also have to address a popular culture that treats graphic violence as ...
- “@LarrySabato: All of us who teach mourn the senseless loss of life in a place designed for enlightenment.”
- The talented Jill Seifers singing "Four": http://t.co/Jlgpj7lZ
