Guest Chaney Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 (edited) Sorry if it's been mentioned in this thread before... How do you like Derek Bailey's 'Ballads' on Tzadik? It's the only one of his I own, but it's completely fascinating, and not at all daunting (as I was led to believe Bailey could be). I get the impression that it was recorded as a sort of all in one take, stream of consciousness thing, and subsequently divided up into individual tracks. Never heard that one. I believe I'll make Aida my first (but hopefully not last) Bailey solo effort purchase. (I don't believe I'm alone in saying that guitars scare me when played in an imprv setting. Don't know why that is; maybe I just haven't heard enough. Certainly haven't heard enough to have any sort of valuable opinion. Listening to the Aida sound samples provided at CD Universe, I do like what I'm hearing. Discovery! Always exciting, the possibility of making the acquaintance of a musician previously unknown to me.) Review by Brian Olewnick Aida, consisting of two live recordings from 1980, captures Derek Bailey on the cusp between his early-career thorny and more drastic explorations of the outer limits of guitar playing and the subtler, softer (though no less idiosyncratic) approaches he would often employ later on. Throughout his career, Bailey has championed what he calls "non-idiomatic improvisation," an attempt to improvise without reference to any pre-existing musical styles. While perhaps impossible to achieve 100 percent, he has certainly made it difficult to describe his work with the normal allusions and comparisons to that of others. The first track on Aida, "Paris," is a gorgeous and relatively smooth excursion in Bailey's sound-world. One imagines that if England had a tradition of koto accompaniment for Noh plays, it might sound something like this. Not that there is an overt Asian influence, but the sparseness and careful choice of notes gives one a slight sense of both Eastern asceticism and luxury within that asceticism. Though he has professed to not particularly enjoying solo playing, that circumstance is often the easiest introduction to Bailey's work. Aida is a remarkably beautiful entry to one of the world's masterful musicians. Indeed, he sounds like no one else. David: Plsek is a darn fine player. He might rely too much on certain gimmicks but his talent outweighs that irritant. Edited January 16, 2005 by Chaney Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blake Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 hi jon! i'm slowly working my way into the amplify 02 box. no lucid comments to report just yet. but to lift a line from john lurie, it's strange and beautiful music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 (edited) hi jon! i'm slowly working my way into the amplify 02 box. no lucid comments to report just yet. but to lift a line from john lurie, it's strange and beautiful music. I just listened to the box all the way through again last week. Not all of it is to my taste, but there is some fantastic music in there. Disc #4 is my favorite right now. I had to listen to the Lehn / Schmickler set repeatedly. If you really enjoy this set Jon has two new live Ersts coming out this week. I'll postmy thoughts once I receive them. I just wanted to admit that I have never, to my knowledge, heard any Derek Bailey. Edited January 16, 2005 by John B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blake Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 i just received the box yesterday. it's more or less my introduction to the music... at least the many different facets. to this point i've only heard a couple of fennesz discs. since we've moved on to confessions of unheard guitarists, i admit (to my knowledge) i've never heard keith rowe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Dorward Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 I like Ballads & there are certainly many passages where he addresses the tunes obliquely--but it's not perhaps Bailey's best solo disc. Aida, Drop Me off at 96th & Lace are all good places to start for the solo work. Drop Me Off is in many ways a more searching examination of standards repertoire & styles than Ballads even though it's not explicit: aside from the blasts of dissonant swing-guitar in "Bunn Fights" there's an improvisation that emerges out of "I Didn't Know What Time It Was". & it's a good album for demonstrating that Bailey is very precise, especially about tempo: despite his many skewing interpolations you can actually (if you're determined) tap along to it. If you haven't heard any Bailey then I take it you haven't heard early SME, LJCO, Tony Oxley, Iskra 1903, &c (all bands Bailey was in). Definitely worth remedying the omission! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chaney Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 (edited) Derek Bailey ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hmmm... Listening to ARP Music. I might have been happier if this were a solo disk as Lambert and Moss do not impress, at least not in this setting. The music is generally of a gentle nature and all play in that manner, so I may be the problem. Not that I don't like gentle music, it's just that alot of this has that new agey world music sound about it; lots of cascading piano, irritating wind instruments -- what? no didgeridoo -- and cheap drama. At times very pleasant but perhaps devoid of nourishment. That's after one listen though so don't be surprised if I do a 180. Sorry David but this may be a miss. Edited January 16, 2005 by Chaney Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chaney Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 (edited) Where in hell is Flurin! 100 pages and finally he can make the proper announcement! ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Listening to: Edited January 16, 2005 by Chaney Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 Where in hell is Flurin! 100 pages and finally he can make the proper announcement! ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Listening to: huh? I'm right here Doing fine, and don't feel like announcing anything, as I'll be proven wrong by some funny rat anyway... Gave a listen to both Braxton's and Sam River's sets from 2004's London Jazz Festival. The Braxton consists of one 45+ minute piece and an encore and is not the complete concert, but all that was broadcasted by BBC. Fantastic music, in my opinion! The Rivers is all there was, 40 minutes of his trio, and 40 minutes of the "Rivbea Orchestra UK", featuring several of UK's best musicians, it seems. Very nice concert, too, though somehow I fail to totally warm to the trio Rivers has been leading for the last years. I always find their music good and interesting, but it just doesn't fully click with me. ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Д.Д. Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 Listening to ARP Music. Sorry David but this may be a miss. Hmm, surely there is something wrong with your CD copy - no new-agey sound on mine. Sorry you didn't like it. Give it one more listen one of these days. And you can't consider youself relieved of responsibility for formal announcements - you started the whole thing, after all. But it's still a bit eraly, anyway. ---------------------------------- How is the Arch Duo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon abbey Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 oh, hi, blake! I didn't make that connection before... there are about 30 other Bailey discs I'd rather own before this own. What are you favorite ones, Jon? for whatever reason, a lot of my favorite Bailey is from 1978-1980. Aida and New Sights, Old Sounds (both solo) Duo and Trio Improvisation (on DIW, with five different Japanese musicians) Music and Dance (with dancer Min Tanaka, you can also hear the rain outside, great environmental improv) I also like Playing (duos with John Stevens), Playbacks (not really improv, different collaborators on each track working with Bailey material), the triple disc on Emanem from Iskra 1903 (trio with Barry Guy and Paul Rutherford), Quintessence 1 and 2 (SME, also on Emanem), and Incus Taps (solo from 1973, on Organ of Corti, probably hard to find now). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Д.Д. Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 (edited) Duo and Trio Improvisation (on DIW, with five different Japanese musicians) I am listening to this one for the first time right now! It's a 2003 Japanese Universal Hardcore Jazz reissue with four bonus tracks (making it a 76-minute disc): http://www.universal-music.co.jp/jazz/hard...z/uccu9021.html I am only 1/4 into it so far, and loving it already! Probably to an extent due to flawless sound, I'm finally hearing what Bailey is doing. And the guys he is playing with are amazing - Kondo I knew, but this Kaoru Abe guy - wheew, this might be some of the most intense and insane alto saxophone work I've ever heard! Gotta explore more Abe (excellent EUgene Chadbourne write up on Abe). Edited January 16, 2005 by Д.Д. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chaney Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Listening to ARP Music. Sorry David but this may be a miss. Hmm, surely there is something wrong with your CD copy - no new-agey sound on mine. Sorry you didn't like it. Give it one more listen one of these days. I'll give it more that one more listen as my first encounters are often found to be unreliable. How is the Arch Duo? Difficult. Jon mentions having a greater appreciation for Bailey's work occurring between 1978-1980. Arch Duo was recorded before an audience on October 17, 1980. One or two listens to this one will clearly not suffice. At this point though, it's not one I'd recommend. (Not a Bailey recording that I'd recommend? Bailey has how many recordings? And I own how may? Roundabout way of my saying that my Bailey recommendations are worth $0. Not a recording I'd currently recommend.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon abbey Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 this Kaoru Abe guy - wheew, this might be some of the most intense and insane alto saxophone work I've ever heard! Gotta explore more Abe (excellent EUgene Chadbourne write up on Abe). for more info on Kaoru Abe, check Nick Cain's series of reviews in issue 4 of Opprobrium, archived here: http://www.info.net.nz/opprobrium/html/pri...4_reviewsA.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon abbey Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Jon mentions having a greater appreciation for Bailey's work occurring between 1978-1980. no, to clarify, I said that "a lot of my favorite Bailey is from 1978-1980". I don't like Arch Duo much either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chaney Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Thanks Jon. That's reassuring to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon abbey Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 I'm not a big Kaoru Abe fan, but Masayuki Takayanagi, the other preeminent Japanese free improviser in the seventies, is/was amazing. he independently invented the tabletop guitar, in the mid-sixties in Tokyo when Keith Rowe was doing the same thing in London, neither with knowledge of each other (as best I can determine). Takayanagi was also extremely influential on Otomo Yoshihide, who studied under him for a while until they had a serious falling out, which was unfortunately not reconciled before Takayanagi died (one reason Otomo doesn't talk about him much, because Takayanagi made him promise to never say he was his student). a lot of his stuff has never been reissued on CD, and others are long OOP, but the first one listed here is quite good, and will give you a good idea of what he was up to at his wildest (the second one is good also): http://www.fe.org/artists/takayanagi.new.d...n.masayuki.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Д.Д. Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Now-defunct CRI (Composers Recordings) label releases are avialble for $3.50 at Qualiton. All of the CRI releases are to be reissued later by New World. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Д.Д. Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 I'm not a big Kaoru Abe fan, but Masayuki Takayanagi, the other preeminent Japanese free improviser in the seventies, is/was amazing. Direct link to the P.S.F. Records. Lots of stuff to explore here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Flurin, did you get all the Free America reissues? I cannot find Braxton CDs in stores here... Flurin has them all. I hate him. Yup, have them all! Tell me if you need help, David! I could hook you up with the phone number of the store I got them (the 2CD solo goes at the same prize as all the other Free Americas). Tony, I bet the Free Americas shall be renamed in the US, how about "French Fries - The undermining Freedom Music Series" or something similar? Maybe you just need to be a bit more creative in searching and you'll see they're already being distributed... I agree with David on the Wright, as well as on the Shorter, though I have to say I didn't think the Shorter is THAT bad. Need to give it a spin again. Of the AECs I only gave a spin to one, so far: the one with only two long tracks, one of them dedicated to Ayler. Fabulous (but what early AEC isn't)! ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Д.Д. Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Of the AECs I only gave a spin to one, so far: the one with only two long tracks, one of them dedicated to Ayler. Fabulous (but what early AEC isn't)! That's Phase One, which is the best of these three AEoC reissues. Excellent sound quality as well. I wish there was more material available from these sessions. Flurin, you listened to Braxton yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Of the AECs I only gave a spin to one, so far: the one with only two long tracks, one of them dedicated to Ayler. Fabulous (but what early AEC isn't)! That's Phase One, which is the best of these three AEoC reissues. Excellent sound quality as well. I wish there was more material available from these sessions. Flurin, you listened to Braxton yet? Nope, but as I said, I listened to his London Jazz Fest 04 concert (or parts of it, 55 or 60 minutes), and I like that well enough to consider getting into Braxton a bit... will spin them soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chaney Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Tony, I bet the Free Americas shall be renamed in the US, how about "French Fries - The undermining Freedom Music Series" or something similar? Maybe you just need to be a bit more creative in searching and you'll see they're already being distributed... ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Flurin, you listened to Braxton yet? Nope, but as I said, I listened to his London Jazz Fest 04 concert (or parts of it, 55 or 60 minutes), and I like that well enough to consider getting into Braxton a bit... will spin them soon! If you decide to start exploring Braxton a few of his Hat's (Basel and Dortmund) are mid-priced now and excellent starting points. The quartet sets on Leo (Coventry, Birmingham, London) are also fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 If you haven't heard any Bailey then I take it you haven't heard early SME, LJCO, Tony Oxley, Iskra 1903, &c (all bands Bailey was in). Definitely worth remedying the omission! no to all. Where would you recommend starting with Bailey to someone with open ears? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Flurin, you listened to Braxton yet? Nope, but as I said, I listened to his London Jazz Fest 04 concert (or parts of it, 55 or 60 minutes), and I like that well enough to consider getting into Braxton a bit... will spin them soon! If you decide to start exploring Braxton a few of his Hat's (Basel and Dortmund) are mid-priced now and excellent starting points. The quartet sets on Leo (Coventry, Birmingham, London) are also fantastic. Dortmund I have, for the Basel I'd be happy for pointers, seems gone... ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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