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

April 22, 1985
The Arts Theatre - Incus Festival
London, England

Category:

Music

Tags:

• derek
• bailey
• company
• improvisation
• avant-garde
• free
• jazz
• incus
• globe
• unity
• orchestra
• spontaneous
• music
• ensemble
• live
• coops2009
• icandrei

[RetinalHaemorrhage]

Amazing.

"lol, I could play this!"

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

[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.

[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??'

[garygomesg]

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

[freejazzandcheese1]

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

[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.

[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.

[00bilz]

@garygomesg

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

[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!

[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

[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.