Derek Bailey
Encyclopedia
Derek Bailey was an English avant-garde
guitar
ist and leading figure in the free improvisation
movement.
, England. A third generation musician, he began playing the guitar at the age of ten, going on to study with John Duarte
among others. As an adult he found work as a guitarist and session musician
in clubs, radio, dance hall bands, and so on, playing with many performers including Gracie Fields
, Bob Monkhouse
and Kathy Kirby
, and on television programs such as Opportunity Knocks. Bailey was also part of a Sheffield
based trio founded in 1963 with Tony Oxley
and Gavin Bryars
called 'Joseph Holbrooke
' (named after the composer
, whose work they never actually played). Although originally performing relatively 'conventional' jazz
this group became increasingly free in direction.
Bailey moved to London
in 1966, frequenting the Little Theatre Club run by drummer
John Stevens
. Here he met many other like-minded musicians, such as saxophonist Evan Parker
, trumpet
player Kenny Wheeler
and double bass
player Dave Holland
. These players often collaborated under the umbrella name of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble
, recording the seminal album Karyobin for Island Records
in 1968. In this year Bailey also formed the Music Improvisation Company with Parker, percussionist Jamie Muir
and Hugh Davies
on homemade electronics, a project that continued until 1971. He was also a member of the Jazz Composers Orchestra and Iskra 1903, a trio with double bass player Barry Guy
and trombone
player Paul Rutherford
that was named after a newspaper published by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin
.
In 1970, Bailey founded the record label Incus with Tony Oxley, Evan Parker and Michael Walters. It proved influential as the first musician-owned independent label in the UK. Oxley and Walters left early on; Parker and Bailey continued as co-directors until the mid-1980s, when friction between the men led to Parker's departure. Bailey continued the label with his partner Karen Brookman until his death in 2005.
Along with a number of other musicians, Bailey was a co-founder of Musics
magazine in 1975. This was described as "an impromental experivisation arts magazine" and circulated through a network of like-minded record shops, arguably becoming one of the most significant jazz publications of the second half of the 1970s, and instrumental in the foundation of the London Musicians Collective
.
1976 saw Bailey form Company
, an ever changing collection of like-minded improvisors, which at various times has included Anthony Braxton
, Tristan Honsinger
, Misha Mengelberg
, Lol Coxhill
, Fred Frith
, Steve Beresford
, Steve Lacy
, Johnny Dyani
, Leo Smith
, Han Bennink
, Eugene Chadbourne
, Henry Kaiser
, John Zorn
, Buckethead
and many others. Company Week, an annual week long free improvisational festival organised by Bailey, ran until 1994.
In 1980, he wrote the book Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice. This was adapted by UK's Channel 4
into a four part TV series in the early nineties, edited and narrated by Bailey.
Bailey died in London on Christmas Day, 2005. He had been suffering from motor neurone disease
.
For listeners unfamiliar with experimental music
, Bailey's distinctive style can be challenging. Its most noticeable feature is what appears to be its extreme discontinuity, often from note to note: there may be enormous intervals
between consecutive notes, and rather than aspiring to the consistency of timbre
typical of most guitar-playing, Bailey interrupts it as much as possible: four consecutive notes, for instance, may be played on an open string, a fretted string, via harmonics
, and using a nonstandard technique such as scraping the string with the pick or plucking below the bridge. Many of the key features of his music—radical discontinuity, the self-contained brevity of each gesture, an attraction to wide intervals—owe much to Bailey's early fascination with Anton Webern
, an influence most audible on Bailey's earliest available recordings, Pieces for Guitar (1966–67, issued on Tzadik
).
Playing both acoustic and electric guitars (although more usually the former), Bailey was able to extend the possibilities of the instrument in radical ways, obtaining a far wider array of sounds than are usually heard. He explored the full vocabulary of the instrument, producing timbres and tones ranging from the most delicate tinklings to fierce noise attacks. (The sounds he produced have been compared to those made by John Cage
's prepared piano
.) Typically, he played a conventional instrument, in standard tuning
, but his use of amplification was often crucial. In the 1970s, for instance, his standard set-up involved two independently controlled amplifiers to give a stereo
effect onstage, and he often would use the swell pedal to counteract the "normal" attack and decay of notes. He also made highly original use of feedback
, a technique demonstrated on the album String Theory (Paratactile, 2000).
Although Bailey occasionally made use of prepared guitar
in the 1970s (e.g., putting paper clips on the strings, wrapping his instruments in chains, adding further strings to the guitar, etc.), often for Dada
ist/theatrical effect, by the end of this decade he had, in his own words, 'dumped' such methods. Bailey argued that his approach to music making was actually far more orthodox than performers such as Keith Rowe
of the improvising collective AMM
, who treats the guitar purely as a 'sound source' rather than as a musical instrument. Instead, Bailey preferred to "look for whatever 'effects' I might need through technique.".
Eschewing labels such as "jazz
" (even "free jazz
"), Bailey described his music as 'non-idiomatic', a label which has been much debated. In the second edition of his book, Improvisation..., Bailey indicated that he felt that free improvisation was no longer 'non-idiomatic' in his sense of the word, as it had become a recognizable genre and musical style itself. Bailey frequently sought performance contexts that would provide new stimulations and challenge that would prove musically "interesting", as he often put it. This led to work with collaborators from highly diverse fields: players as diverse as Pat Metheny
, John Zorn
, Lee Konitz
, David Sylvian
, Cyro Baptista
, Cecil Taylor
, Keiji Haino
, tap dancer Will Gaines, Drum 'n' Bass DJ Ninj, Susie Ibarra
, Thurston Moore
of Sonic Youth
and the Japanese noise rock
group Ruins. In fact, despite often performing and recording in a solo context, he was far more interested in the dynamics and challenges of working with other musicians, especially those who did not necessarily share his own approach. As he put it in a March 2002 article of Jazziz:
Bailey was also known for his dry sense of humour. In 1977, Musics magazine sent the question'"What happens to time-awareness during improvisation?" to about thirty musicians associated with the free improvisation scene. The answers received varied from lengthy and highly theoretical essays to more direct comments. Typically pithy was Bailey's reply; "The ticks turn into tocks and the tocks turn into ticks."
Mirakle, a 1999 recording released in 2000, shows Bailey moving into the free funk
genre performing with Jamaaladeen Tacuma
and Calvin Weston. Carpal Tunnel, the last record to be released during his lifetime, documented his personal struggles to come to terms with the development of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
in his right hand, which had rendered him unable to grip a plectrum
(and in fact marked the onset of his motor neurone disease
). Characteristically, he refused invasive surgery to treat his condition, instead being more "interested in finding ways to work around" this limitation. He chose to "relearn" guitar playing techniques by utilising his right thumb and index fingers to pluck the strings.
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist and leading figure in the free improvisation
Free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....
movement.
Career summary
Bailey was born in SheffieldSheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, England. A third generation musician, he began playing the guitar at the age of ten, going on to study with John Duarte
John W. Duarte
John William Duarte was a British composer, guitarist and writer.Duarte was born in Sheffield, England, but lived in Manchester from the age of 6...
among others. As an adult he found work as a guitarist and session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
in clubs, radio, dance hall bands, and so on, playing with many performers including Gracie Fields
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields, DBE , was an English-born, later Italian-based actress, singer and comedienne and star of both cinema and music hall.-Early life:...
, Bob Monkhouse
Bob Monkhouse
Robert Alan "Bob" Monkhouse, OBE was an English entertainer. He was a successful comedy writer, comedian and actor and was also well known on British television as a presenter and game show host...
and Kathy Kirby
Kathy Kirby
Kathy Kirby was an English singer who was reportedly the highest-paid female singer of her generation. She is best known for her cover version of Doris Day's "Secret Love" and for representing the United Kingdom in the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest, where she came in second place...
, and on television programs such as Opportunity Knocks. Bailey was also part of a Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
based trio founded in 1963 with Tony Oxley
Tony Oxley
Tony Oxley is an English free-jazz drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records.-Biography:Tony Oxley was born in Sheffield, England. A self-taught pianist by age eight, he first began playing the drums at seventeen. While in the Black Watch military band from 1957 to 1960 he studied music...
and Gavin Bryars
Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism.-Early life and career:Born in Goole, East...
called 'Joseph Holbrooke
Joseph Holbrooke (band)
Joseph Holbrooke were a musical trio active in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and briefly re-formed in 1998. The group consisted of: Derek Bailey , Gavin Bryars and Tony Oxley...
' (named after the composer
Joseph Holbrooke
Joseph Charles Holbrooke was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was sometimes referred to as "the cockney Wagner".-Family:...
, whose work they never actually played). Although originally performing relatively 'conventional' jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
this group became increasingly free in direction.
Bailey moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1966, frequenting the Little Theatre Club run by drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
John Stevens
John Stevens (drummer)
John William Stevens was an English drummer. He was one of the most significant figures in early free improvisation, and a founding member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble .-Biography:Stevens was born in Brentford, the son of a tap dancer...
. Here he met many other like-minded musicians, such as saxophonist Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
, trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
player Kenny Wheeler
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....
and double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
player Dave Holland
Dave Holland
Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....
. These players often collaborated under the umbrella name of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble
Spontaneous Music Ensemble
The Spontaneous Music Ensemble was a loose collection of free improvising musicians convened beginning in the mid-1960s by the late South London-based jazz drummer/trumpeter John Stevens and alto and soprano saxophonist Trevor Watts...
, recording the seminal album Karyobin for Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
in 1968. In this year Bailey also formed the Music Improvisation Company with Parker, percussionist Jamie Muir
Jamie Muir
Jamie Muir is a UK painter and former percussionist, best known for his work in King Crimson.-Biography:Muir attended Edinburgh College of Art during the 1960s and began playing jazz on trombone before settling on percussion....
and Hugh Davies
Hugh Davies
Hugh Seymour Davies was a musicologist, composer, and inventor of experimental musical instruments.Davies was born in Exmouth, Devon, England. After attending Westminster School, he studied music at Worcester College, Oxford from 1961 to 1964. Shortly after he traveled to Cologne, Germany to work...
on homemade electronics, a project that continued until 1971. He was also a member of the Jazz Composers Orchestra and Iskra 1903, a trio with double bass player Barry Guy
Barry Guy
Barry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe...
and trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
player Paul Rutherford
Paul Rutherford (trombone player)
Paul William Rutherford was an English free improvising trombonist.-Biography:Born in Greenwich, South East London, Rutherford initially played saxophone but switched to trombone...
that was named after a newspaper published by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
.
In 1970, Bailey founded the record label Incus with Tony Oxley, Evan Parker and Michael Walters. It proved influential as the first musician-owned independent label in the UK. Oxley and Walters left early on; Parker and Bailey continued as co-directors until the mid-1980s, when friction between the men led to Parker's departure. Bailey continued the label with his partner Karen Brookman until his death in 2005.
Along with a number of other musicians, Bailey was a co-founder of Musics
Musics (magazine)
Musics was an independent magazine launched with Issue No. 1 April/May 1975 of MUSICS an impromental experivisation arts magazine. It was dedicated to the coverage of free improvised music. Its need was originally suggested in a conversation between Evan Parker and Madelaine and Martin Davidson.In...
magazine in 1975. This was described as "an impromental experivisation arts magazine" and circulated through a network of like-minded record shops, arguably becoming one of the most significant jazz publications of the second half of the 1970s, and instrumental in the foundation of the London Musicians Collective
London Musicians Collective
The London Musicians' Collective is a cultural charity based in London, England devoted to the promotion of contemporary, experimental and improvised music...
.
1976 saw Bailey form Company
Company (free improvisation group)
Company was an ever changing collection of free improvising musicians. The concept was devised by guitarist Derek Bailey in order to create challenging and artistically stimulating combinations of players who might not otherwise have had an opportunity to work together.At various times Company has...
, an ever changing collection of like-minded improvisors, which at various times has included Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
, Tristan Honsinger
Tristan Honsinger
Tristan Honsinger is a cello player active in free jazz and free improvisation. He is perhaps best known for his long-running collaboration with free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor and guitarist Derek Bailey....
, Misha Mengelberg
Misha Mengelberg
Misha Mengelberg is a Dutch jazz pianist and composer. He won the Gaudeamus International Composers Award in 1961.-Biography:...
, Lol Coxhill
Lol Coxhill
Lowen Coxhill, generally known as Lol Coxhill is a free improvising saxophonist and raconteur...
, Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
, Steve Beresford
Steve Beresford
Steve Beresford is a British musician who graduated from the University of York. He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, trumpet, euphonium, double-bass and a wide variety of toy instruments, such as the toy piano. He has also played a wide range of music...
, Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York City, was a jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone....
, Johnny Dyani
Johnny Dyani
Johnny Mbizo Dyani was a South African jazz double bassist and pianist, who played with such musicians as Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, David Murray and Leo Smith....
, Leo Smith
Wadada Leo Smith
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith is a trumpeter and composer working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation.-Biography:...
, Han Bennink
Han Bennink
Han Bennink is a Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured his playing on clarinet, violin, banjo and piano....
, Eugene Chadbourne
Eugene Chadbourne
Eugene Chadbourne is an American improvisor, guitarist and banjoist. Highly eclectic and unconventional, Chadbourne's most formative influence is free jazz. He has also been a reviewer for Allmusic and a contributor to Maximum RocknRoll.Chadbourne started out playing rock and roll guitar, but...
, Henry Kaiser
Henry Kaiser (musician)
Henry Kaiser is an American guitarist and composer.Recording and performing prolifically in many styles of music, Kaiser is a fixture on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. He is considered a member of the "first generation" of American free improvisers.-Biography:His grandfather was the...
, John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, Buckethead
Buckethead
Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
and many others. Company Week, an annual week long free improvisational festival organised by Bailey, ran until 1994.
In 1980, he wrote the book Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice. This was adapted by UK's Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
into a four part TV series in the early nineties, edited and narrated by Bailey.
Bailey died in London on Christmas Day, 2005. He had been suffering from motor neurone disease
Motor neurone disease
The motor neurone diseases are a group of neurological disorders that selectively affect motor neurones, the cells that control voluntary muscle activity including speaking, walking, breathing, swallowing and general movement of the body. They are generally progressive in nature, and can cause...
.
Bailey's music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
, Bailey's distinctive style can be challenging. Its most noticeable feature is what appears to be its extreme discontinuity, often from note to note: there may be enormous intervals
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
between consecutive notes, and rather than aspiring to the consistency of timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
typical of most guitar-playing, Bailey interrupts it as much as possible: four consecutive notes, for instance, may be played on an open string, a fretted string, via harmonics
Guitar harmonics
A guitar harmonic is a musical note played by preventing or amplifying vibration of certain overtones of a guitar string. Music using harmonics can contain very high pitch notes difficult or impossible to reach by fretting...
, and using a nonstandard technique such as scraping the string with the pick or plucking below the bridge. Many of the key features of his music—radical discontinuity, the self-contained brevity of each gesture, an attraction to wide intervals—owe much to Bailey's early fascination with Anton Webern
Anton Webern
Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
, an influence most audible on Bailey's earliest available recordings, Pieces for Guitar (1966–67, issued on Tzadik
Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...
).
Playing both acoustic and electric guitars (although more usually the former), Bailey was able to extend the possibilities of the instrument in radical ways, obtaining a far wider array of sounds than are usually heard. He explored the full vocabulary of the instrument, producing timbres and tones ranging from the most delicate tinklings to fierce noise attacks. (The sounds he produced have been compared to those made by John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
's prepared piano
Prepared piano
A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers....
.) Typically, he played a conventional instrument, in standard tuning
Guitar tuning
Guitar tunings almost always refers to the pitch of the open string, though some tunings may only realistically be attained by the use of a capo on an unmodified instrument....
, but his use of amplification was often crucial. In the 1970s, for instance, his standard set-up involved two independently controlled amplifiers to give a stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
effect onstage, and he often would use the swell pedal to counteract the "normal" attack and decay of notes. He also made highly original use of feedback
Audio feedback
Audio feedback is a special kind of positive feedback which occurs when a sound loop exists between an audio input and an audio output...
, a technique demonstrated on the album String Theory (Paratactile, 2000).
Although Bailey occasionally made use of prepared guitar
Prepared guitar
A prepared guitar is a guitar that has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques...
in the 1970s (e.g., putting paper clips on the strings, wrapping his instruments in chains, adding further strings to the guitar, etc.), often for Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
ist/theatrical effect, by the end of this decade he had, in his own words, 'dumped' such methods. Bailey argued that his approach to music making was actually far more orthodox than performers such as Keith Rowe
Keith Rowe
Keith Rowe is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both the hugely influential AMM in the mid-1960s and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, Rowe's paintings have been featured on most of his own albums...
of the improvising collective AMM
AMM (group)
AMM are an important British free improvisation group, founded in London, England in 1965.AMM have never been well known to the general public, but have been incredibly influential on the field of improvised music...
, who treats the guitar purely as a 'sound source' rather than as a musical instrument. Instead, Bailey preferred to "look for whatever 'effects' I might need through technique.".
Eschewing labels such as "jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
" (even "free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
"), Bailey described his music as 'non-idiomatic', a label which has been much debated. In the second edition of his book, Improvisation..., Bailey indicated that he felt that free improvisation was no longer 'non-idiomatic' in his sense of the word, as it had become a recognizable genre and musical style itself. Bailey frequently sought performance contexts that would provide new stimulations and challenge that would prove musically "interesting", as he often put it. This led to work with collaborators from highly diverse fields: players as diverse as Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
, John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
, David Sylvian
David Sylvian
David Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...
, Cyro Baptista
Cyro Baptista
Cyro Baptista is a Brazilian musician, teacher, and recording artist specializing in percussion in the genres of jazz and world music....
, Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
, Keiji Haino
Keiji Haino
Keiji Haino born May 3, 1952 in Chiba, Japan, and currently residing in Tokyo, is a Japanese musician whose work has included rock, free improvisation, noise, singer-songwriter, solo percussion, psychedelic, minimalism and drone styles...
, tap dancer Will Gaines, Drum 'n' Bass DJ Ninj, Susie Ibarra
Susie Ibarra
Susie Ibarra is a Contemporary Composer and Percussionist who has worked and recorded with jazz, classical, world, and Indigenous musicians. She is known for her work as a performer in avant-garde, jazz, world and new music...
, Thurston Moore
Thurston Moore
Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...
of Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
and the Japanese noise rock
Noise rock
Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...
group Ruins. In fact, despite often performing and recording in a solo context, he was far more interested in the dynamics and challenges of working with other musicians, especially those who did not necessarily share his own approach. As he put it in a March 2002 article of Jazziz:
Bailey was also known for his dry sense of humour. In 1977, Musics magazine sent the question'"What happens to time-awareness during improvisation?" to about thirty musicians associated with the free improvisation scene. The answers received varied from lengthy and highly theoretical essays to more direct comments. Typically pithy was Bailey's reply; "The ticks turn into tocks and the tocks turn into ticks."
Mirakle, a 1999 recording released in 2000, shows Bailey moving into the free funk
Free funk
Free funk is a term that Allmusic and writer Scott Yanow use to describe a combination of avant-garde jazz with funk music that developed in the 1970s. Leaders of the genre include Ornette Coleman and his Prime Time group, Ronald Shannon Jackson and his group Decoding Society, Jamaaladeen Tacuma...
genre performing with Jamaaladeen Tacuma
Jamaaladeen Tacuma
-External links:*...
and Calvin Weston. Carpal Tunnel, the last record to be released during his lifetime, documented his personal struggles to come to terms with the development of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is an entrapment idiopathic median neuropathy, causing paresthesia, pain, and other symptoms in the distribution of the median nerve due to its compression at the wrist in the carpal tunnel. The pathophysiology is not completely understood but can be considered compression...
in his right hand, which had rendered him unable to grip a plectrum
Plectrum
A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick, and is a separate tool held in the player's hand...
(and in fact marked the onset of his motor neurone disease
Motor neurone disease
The motor neurone diseases are a group of neurological disorders that selectively affect motor neurones, the cells that control voluntary muscle activity including speaking, walking, breathing, swallowing and general movement of the body. They are generally progressive in nature, and can cause...
). Characteristically, he refused invasive surgery to treat his condition, instead being more "interested in finding ways to work around" this limitation. He chose to "relearn" guitar playing techniques by utilising his right thumb and index fingers to pluck the strings.
Bailey's family
Bailey has one son, Simon Bailey, who is married to Maresa Bailey. They have 3 children, Jessica A. Bailey, Michael T. Bailey, and Connor J. BaileyPartial discography
- Karyobin (with the SME, Island records, 1968)
- The Topography of the LungsThe Topography of the LungsThe Topography of the Lungs was the first release on Incus Records, the record label founded by Derek Bailey, Evan Parker and Tony Oxley. It is generally considered a milestone of the free improvisation genre...
(with Han Bennink and Evan Parker, Incus, 1970 (nb, this was the first release on the Incus record label)) - The Music Improvisation Company, 1968 - 1971 (with the Music Improvisation Company, Incus, 1971)
- The London Concert (with Evan Parker, Incus, 1971)
- Solo Guitar Volume 1 (Incus, recorded 1971, reissued 1992)
- Solo Guitar Volume 2 (Incus, 1972)
- Duo (with Anthony Braxton, Emanem, 1974, reissued on CD with extra material, 1996)
- Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me YetJesus' Blood Never Failed Me YetJesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet is a 1971 composition by Gavin Bryars. It is formed on a loop of an unknown homeless man singing a brief stanza. Rich harmonies, comprising string and brass, are gradually overlaid over the stanza. The piece was first recorded for use in a documentary which...
/The Sinking of the Titanic (with Gavin Bryars and others, Obscure RecordsObscure RecordsObscure Records was a U.K. record label which existed from 1975 to 1978. It was created and run by Brian Eno, who also produced the albums . Ten albums were issued in the series...
, 1975) - Company 6 & 7 (other players on this re-issue originally recorded at the 1977 Company Week include Lol Coxhill, Han Bennink, Leo Smith, Tristan Honsinger, Steve Beresford, Anthony BraxtonAnthony BraxtonAnthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
and others, Incus 1992) - Drops (with Andrea CentazzoAndrea CentazzoAndrea Centazzo is an Italian-born American percussionist and composer of minimal music. He acquired U.S. citizenship in 2000 and lives in Los Angeles, California....
, Inctus, 1977) - Dart Drug (with Jamie MuirJamie MuirJamie Muir is a UK painter and former percussionist, best known for his work in King Crimson.-Biography:Muir attended Edinburgh College of Art during the 1960s and began playing jazz on trombone before settling on percussion....
, Incus, 1981) - Aida (Incus, 1982, reissued on Dexter's Cigar, 1996)
- Cyro (with Cyro Baptista, Incus, 1982)
- YankeesYankees (album)-Track listing:# "City, City, City" - 8:29# "The Legend of Enos Slaughter" - 9:27# "Who's on First?" - 3:15# "On Golden Pond" - 17:49# "The Warning Track" - 5:47-Personnel:*Derek Bailey – guitar*John Zorn – alto*George Lewis – trombone...
(with John ZornJohn ZornJohn Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
and George Lewis, recorded 1983; issued variously on Celluloid and Charly) - Figuring (with Barre PhillipsBarre PhillipsBarre Phillips is a jazz and free improvisation bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he migrated to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972 he has been based in southern France....
, Incus, 1987) - Takes Fakes and Dead She Dances (Incus, 1987)
- Lace (solo guitar, Emanem, recorded 1989)
- Village Life (with Thebe Lipere and Louis MoholoLouis MoholoLouis Tebugo Moholo , is a South African jazz drummer.He formed The Blue Notes with Chris McGregor, Johnny Dyani, Nikele Moyake, Mongezi Feza and Dudu Pukwana, and emigrated to Europe with them in 1964, eventually settling in London, where he formed part of a South African exile community that made...
, Incus 1992) - Playing (with John Stevens, Incus 1992)
- Rappin & Tappin (with Will Gaines, Incus, 1994)
- Saisoro (with Yoshida TatsuyaYoshida Tatsuyais a Japanese musician and composer who is the only consistent member of the renowned progressive rock duo Ruins, as well as Koenji Hyakkei...
, Masuda Ryuishi; Tzadik, 1995) - HarrasHarras-Track listing:# "Morning Harras" - 12:35# "Noon Harras" - 8:59# "Evening Harras" - 36:00-Personnel:*Derek Bailey – guitar*John Zorn – alto*William Parker – bass...
(with John ZornJohn ZornJohn Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
and William ParkerWilliam Parker (musician)William Parker is an American free jazz double bassist, poet and composer.-Biography:Parker was not formally trained as a classical player, though he did study with Jimmy Garrison, Richard Davis, and Wilbur Ware and learned the tradition. Parker is one of few jazz bassists who regularly plays arco...
, 1995) - Guitar, Drums 'n' Bass (with DJ Ninj, Avant records, 1996)
- The Sign Of Four (with Pat MethenyPat MethenyPatrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
, Gregg BendianGregg BendianGregg Bendian is a jazz percussionist and composer, primarily a vibraphonist. He was born on July 13, 1963 in Englewood, New Jersey.Bendian studied under Noel DaCosta. He has played and recorded with Nels Cline, Pat Metheny, Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Steve Hunt, Gary Lucas and Cecil Taylor...
, Paul WerticoPaul WerticoPaul Wertico is an American drummer. He gained recognition as a member of the Pat Metheny Group from 1983 until 2001, leaving the group to spend more time with his family and to pursue other musical interests. Metheny heard the Simon Bard Group with Wertico and bassist Steve Rodby, and invited...
, Knitting FactoryKnitting FactoryThe Knitting Factory is a music venue and concert house with locations in Brooklyn, Boise, Reno, and Spokane. The club originally specialized in jazz and experimental music and has expanded to showcasing all genres of music, performing arts and comedy....
, 1997) - The Gospel Record (with Amy DenioAmy DenioAmy Denio is a Seattle -based multi-instrumental composer of soundtracks for modern dance, film and theater, as well as a songwriter and music improviser. Often called an unclassifiable avant-garde jazz musician, she is also deeply inspired by world music. She is probably best known as a...
, Dennis Palmer, recorded 1999; released on Shaking Ray Records, 2005) - Ballads, (Tzadik, 2002)
- Pieces for Guitar, (Tzadik, 2002)
- Barcelona (with Agusti Fernandez), Hopscotch Records, 2001, available from emusic
- Wireforks (with Henry KaiserHenry Kaiser (musician)Henry Kaiser is an American guitarist and composer.Recording and performing prolifically in many styles of music, Kaiser is a fixture on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. He is considered a member of the "first generation" of American free improvisers.-Biography:His grandfather was the...
) Shanachie/Jazz, 1993 available from emusic - Legend of the Blood Yeti with Thirteen Ghosts and Thurston Moore
- Limescale (with Tony Bevan, Incus, 2002)
- Improvisation Ampersand/Runt 1975, available from emusic
- BlemishBlemish (album)Blemish is the sixth solo album by David Sylvian. It is experimental in its use of electronics and sound. It features Derek Bailey, an avant-garde guitarist, and Fennesz, a guitarist and electronic music musician...
(David SylvianDavid SylvianDavid Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...
, Samadhisound, 2003) - Soshin (with Fred FrithFred FrithFred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
and Antoine Berthiaume) Ambiances Magnetiques, 2003, available from actuellecd.com - Carpal Tunnel, Tzadik, 2005
- The Moat Recordings (as part of the Joseph Holbrooke TrioJoseph Holbrooke (band)Joseph Holbrooke were a musical trio active in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and briefly re-formed in 1998. The group consisted of: Derek Bailey , Gavin Bryars and Tony Oxley...
), Tzadik, 2006 - To Play (The Blemish Sessions), Samadhi, 2006
- Standards, Tzadik, 2007
External links
- 'Audio ad' for Incus records featuring Bailey speaking and playing
- Appreciation by Gavin Bryars from the UK Guardian
- Audio Recordings of WCUW Jazz Festivals - Jazz History Database
- "I Miss A Friend Like You" from The Gospel Record, Shaking Ray Records, 2005
- Ben Watson obituary from Socialist Worker online
- Derek Bailey interview 1
- Derek Bailey interview 2
- European Free Improvisation index page on Bailey
- Obituary by John Fordham from the UK Guardian
- Obituary by Steve Voce from the UK Independent
- Sample of Derek Bailey's playing 1
- Sample of Derek Bailey's playing 2
- Sample of Derek Bailey's playing 3
- Sample of Derek Bailey's playing 4 (with Han Benninik)
- Tributes from The Wire magazine archive
- Video footage of Derek Bailey playing
- Video footage of Derek Bailey playing with tap dancer Will Gaines