88 Butterfly is veteran pianist/composer Peter Madsen's 12th release as a leader on the Playscape Recordings label and his second Playscape release with his CIA Trio, one of 12 ensembles born from Madsen's Austria-based Collective of Improvising Artists (CIA), an organization he founded in 2007.

Writes Madsen in his liner notes, "I have an amazing memory from when I was a young boy. I was outside playing in the front yard of my family home in Racine, Wisconsin, when all of a sudden the sky filled with the fluttering of thousands of orange and black migrating Monarch butterflies. I jumped and screamed with delight! The incredible joy and fascination of that exciting moment is still with me today and was the inspiration for the music on this recording.

"Since ancient times the butterfly has been a symbol of change, hope, endurance, rebirth and life for people all around the world. For many cultures, the butterfly represents the human soul and its spiritual journey. Some cultures see them as messengers from God or angels. The Chinese see butterflies as a symbol for long life, and in Japan they symbolize the soul of Japan. Native American cultures like the Blackfeet believe they are carriers of dreams and the Navajo recognize them as the symbol of joy and resurgence. For the Romans, butterflies represented marriage and for the Christians they were an emblem of resurrection. The Greeks thought the butterfly represented the soul or mind or psyche. For the ancient Egyptians, butterflies would await the soul in the afterlife. All this and more from a creature who survives in this beautiful form for only a few weeks or months at most.

"In this crazy and dark time of the pandemic, I needed to focus on something positive and joyful, yet powerful and deep. Remembering my early childhood experience guided me to use the COVID-19 lockdown period to compose the pieces on this new CIA Trio recording called 88 Butterfly."