Matt Butler is the conductor and focal point of an ever-rotating series of musicians that creates the Everyone Orchestra. The band itself is an improvised jam band created specifically for each show, with different combinations of musicians playing every performance.
“[The band] has been in existence since New Year’s Eve 2001, and it has definitely evolved over time,” Butler says. “It has always been my baby, but I started conducting in 2005.”
Before Everyone Orchestra, Butler was originally a percussionist in the ’90s for the band Jambay. He says when he first started conducting he had trouble letting go of the drums. However, Butler says, he realized the importance of being the person to take responsibility for holding and maintaining the creative space.
“The intent in my creation was to bring people together from different bands that don’t necessarily get a chance to play together on a normal basis — to do something that they haven’t done before,” he says. “And to have a creative container to have people cycle through.”
His role of conductor is the fundamental difference in what makes Everyone Orchestra unique and is crucial to the concept.
“There are super jams all over the place, but really composing through conducted improv was really the thing that was really juicing me and really getting me excited,” Butler says. “I really kind of embraced that as my new instrument.”
Butler goes beyond conducting all-star jam sessions — he also coordinates audience involvement, often with the aid of a small white board, which whips up the energy of the audience to match what is happening on stage. Butler writes simple cues — often just one word — which convey a message of participation. The audience is part of the “everyone” in Everyone Orchestra and can expect to sing and be part of the ensemble.
“Once you realize everything is being created in the moment, I think that is when people get really excited and start to catch the nuances of what is happening and there is a real magic about it,” Butler says.
The Everyone Orchestra experience is unique for more than the fans — the artists involved are exploring a whole new space where creation comes from being in the moment. Artists from different genres and generations all create together with Everyone Orchestra.
“It really is organic,” Butler says. “I have always embraced a level of chaos, even in building the lineups. I’ve always kind of reveled in having a couple new people or a couple instruments that break the norm of what the genre might be perceived as.
“I think if you bring some unfamiliar instrumentations or personalities into the mix it creates a heightened inquisitive nature,” he says. “The curiosity is peeked in a way that I think is very healthy.”
Butler describes Everyone Orchestra as a musical sandbox for musicians to bring their toys and see what they can make while they play.
“They have a way of creating things that they won’t create if I tell them what to do all the time,” he says. “It’s a real balance between letting the music evolve and then stepping up and doing what the conductor can do to make it special and unique and then throwing it back to people”
The plan for an Everyone Orchestra show is like Butler’s white boards: blank. Everyone is suspended in the present moment waiting for the sound that will launch an evening.
“The only preconception that I am putting into it, and what I am asking of the players, is to be spontaneous, be ready to follow, be ready to lead and just be aware. Have huge ears and let’s go,” he says. “I don’t set out with any more intent than that.”
