Derek Bailey - improvisation #1 (1/2) (1985/04/22)

[PimZondProject]

What is "conventional"? And when,who,how?

[MickeyMacaroney]

sun ra always had the best response to haters. someone said their 5 yr old daughter could play his music and he just goes 'yes, but could she write it??'

[freejazzandcheese1]

Thanks very much for these uploads. A real treat to watch!

[garygomesg]

Bailey recorded his "Ballads" album when he was suffering from a degenerative nerve disorder (IALS) which eventually killed him. That album not representative of Bailey's skills. There are some sequential licks here that "conventional" guitarist would find challenging. Is Phillip Glass only capable of playing arpeggios because that is what his compositional output consists of? Does it even matter? This is a silly and ultimately futile debate. You either dig the music or you don't.

I love it!

[00bilz]

@garygomesg

I'm just wondering because I've always been a John Zorn fan, where should I start with Bailey's work?

[garygomesg]

@00bilz Lot 74 on Incus records is a great album.

[kingzoot00]

@garygomesg Ballads was released in '02; as far as I'm aware, Bailey wasn't been diagnosed with carpal tunnel until '05/late '04. To my ears, he's on top form in Ballads. It's not quite like his other stuff, and it's certainly not remotely like any conventional jazz, but it's not trying to be either of those things.

I agree that it's not easy to play like Bailey. I assume thse who say it is either haven't tried or just don't have a good ear for Bailey's style.

[concernedanonymous6]

Can I just make a purely logical refutation of allegations of Derek being in some way insincere (playing like this to gain money, fame or the like): free improvisation isn't exactly a goldmine, nor does it get you famous. Derek was a session guitarist in his early career and could have gone on to play in much more lucrative and well known genres, but luckily for us who appreciate his music he became one of the figureheads of free improvisation.

[thecat030]

are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'? are ya drinkin'?

[jmu2k5]

heyyyyyyyy My Name is Derek Bailey toooo and i sing!

[vyper2112]

There are a few moments where parts seem logical, but it's mostly just a hodge podge of harmonics and crude "chords". Clever maybe, genius no.

[Flourigidorfal]

@vyper2112 you clearly have no idea what's going on here. listen harder.

[concernedanonymous6]

I would give a lot to know the workings behind a single one of those chords he plays.

[concernedanonymous6]

That camera shot around 1:10 could have been out of a Samuel Beckett play.

[pfflam]

@concernedanonymous6

Don't say Krapp's Last Tape

That would be too easy

BTW: There is an intense and studied refusal in this sort of music that is too much for some, in a tradition of art that is itself often confrontational - but almost always deliberately swerving from easy consumption

- unfortunately with 'comment' sections you have to read vitriol and reaction, because that sort of refusal is the last thing most consumers of music want to experience.

[buymeamic]

it is amazing how u can make any shit look like a piece of cake by just promoting yourself.

fools.

[edcerc]

the funny thing is that derek is a really a sensitive and melodic player. the only thing i can think of is that many people are not up on john cage or any developments in serious music in the last hundred years.

[Gewerkschaftsmi]

I used to play something like that when I was 6 or 7 to impress my parents.

[victorsuybio]

it feels like Bach and I love Bach!

[booksteve]

i find it very funny that some people want to debate the validity of this music. DB helped create a new style of playing free improvisation. If you don't understand it, you can either listen in or go away. The man was in fact a genius at the guitar.

[InfraSensei]

so good. the fact that music like this inevitably has an innate trollish element makes it even better to me.

[Peppepoppldoppl]

Gasman

[vihtorik]

derek is a troll

[RetinalHaemorrhage]

Amazing.

"lol, I could play this!"

No, you can't. You couldn't play this in a million fucking years.

[tjb2693]

@RetinalHaemorrhage no, most people here could really, if they wanted to. i've heard this guy play more conventional types of music and he's really just a pretty average guitarist and that's being generous

[kingzoot00]

@tjb2693 Where have you heard him play "more conventional types of music"? I don't think I've ever heard an album by him that was aiming to be at all conventional.

[jprente]

Terrible.



[oglioko]

Toneman

[littleflags]

Neither genius nor conman

[Skelidude]

What a conman

[edcerc]

what a genius

[jcb21691]

@edcerc how?