Pianist Will Butterworth can regularly be caught tinkling his way through the jazz repertoire at the Dysart Arms, but his return to the venue this weekend may confound the expectations of those who have been to one of his previous concerts, writes Will Gore.

Over the past 12 months, Butterworth has been developing the Stravinsky Project, with drummer Dylan Howe, and the duo will be performing their jazzy take on the music of the master composer in Petersham on Sunday evening.

Butterworth says Stravinsky was, “way ahead of his time”, making his music ripe for re-interpretation by jazz artists.

“By going through all of the scores, you discover how much has been stolen by other composers and how his music is so relevant to jazz history,” he adds.

“The harmony and rhythm was so advanced – the rhythms are the kind that young jazz musicians are using today and the harmonies are so discordant, atonal and beautiful that they have found their way into jazz playing naturally.”

The duo have recorded an album, entitled The Rite of Spring, Part One, as The Stravinsky Project and, according to Butterworth, fans of both jazz and classical have reacted positively to their take on the composer.

“We explore the music through improvisation but we are really in the language of Stravinsky,” he says.

“There is not a note we play either rhythmically or melodically that isn’t related to the original music.

“The tunes are insp- ired by simple, Russian folk songs, and that is an easy way in for people, but we can then take them further and make them darker. “There is something very natural about doing this with Stravinsky and we have had amazing responses from audiences, but I wouldn’t want to do it with Beethoven.”

The show runs in two 55-minute sections, inspired by Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Firebird Suite respectively, and Butterworth says the concert should we be well suited to the intimate surroundings of the Dysart.

“It will be really interesting,” he says.

“The Dysart is such a great venue and they are doing some really interesting things down there.

“With the way they set the room up, I think the Stravinsky Project will work really well – it is going to be intense.”

The Stravinsky Project, The Dysart Arms, 135 Petersham Road, February 21, £8, 7.30pm, 020 8940 8005, thedysartarms.co.uk