Derek Bailey Albums (51)
'To Play: The Blemish Sessions'
Release Date 1/1/2006
Tracks 8
Label Samadhisound
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
It's a bit difficult to understand how, after more than four decades of playing guitar, Derek Bailey developed a debilitating case of carpal tunnel syndrome. It's not like holding a pick was something new to him, but the condition (fortunately confined to his right hand) made it such that he was no longer able to hold a "plectrum." This fact comes out in "Explanation & Thanks," the introductory piece to the album entitled Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, an audio letter dictated/played by Derek to someone named "Carol." He goes on to describe his playing as "desultory and inaccurate" as a result, having to relearn to play with his thumb instead of a pick, but "not using a plectrum has turned out to be quite interesting for me." He says that while "medical people" insist he should have an operation, he's "more interested in...trying to find a way around it," claiming at that moment to be "only partly successful." Thus the stage is set for a fascinating aural documentary. Here you have a man who single-handedly changed the vocabulary and future of guitar decades ago, having to relearn how to play his own instrument. Never afraid of a new situation, Bailey documents his progress after that "letter" with pieces recorded over the weeks following his diagnosis. He actually explains some of the problems he's having in the first piece (while simultaneously demonstrating them), giving the listener some guideposts to the challenges he's facing. His playing at the beginning sounds somewhat hesitant and a bit clunky, and the harmonics don't quite ring they way they probably should. As the tracks progress, the playing gets more and more deliberate, and swells of volume and distortion start to enter the mix again until it's clear that Bailey has largely overcome this rather serious hurdle. Although musicians have come back strong from what could have been career ending medical issues (Sun Ra, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Tom Petty come to mind), few would have the courage to actually release their baby steps to the public. His music has not changed tremendously as a result, but on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome you hear Derek Bailey figuring out how to sound like Derek Bailey again, and succeeding in every way. ~ Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Derek Bailey accumulates collaborations, always eager to discourse with young improvisers through his guitar. Some of his choices may be disputable, but he sure had his ears in the right place when he stumbled upon Antoine Berthiaume. The Montreal guitarist was only 24 years old when he recorded a string of improvised duets with the British master at the latter's home. Part of this session came out on Bailey's Visitors Book, while two more pieces (13 minutes of music) end up on Soshin. "Seize the day" the saying goes, so when Fred Frith made a rare visit to Montreal in December 2002, Berthiaume dragged him into the studio to record three inspired duets. The disc begins with the title piece, a multi-tracked solo number where Berthiaume explores delicate sonic textures. An interesting piece, earthlier than Oren Ambarchi's forays into similar territory, it feels a bit out of place on this collection -- a prologue of sorts. Of the duets with Frith, "Wolf's Wood" is the keeper. Here a true dialogue remains open throughout the duration of the piece -- and Frith displays a fresh imagination instead of relying on his trusty bag of tricks. Berthiaume's surgical playing is a marvel to follow. "Morning Froth," on the other hand, doesn't rise above Frith's average output from the same period. It seems that Bailey will always be Bailey: challenging and frantic in his playing and yet opening up to welcome the input of his young friend. Pushing your own voice across between those two key figures of improvised guitar is no easy task and maybe Berthiaume would have been better-served by a first album featuring lesser musicians. But if you are lured to Soshin by either of its big names, you might be surprised to find out that, in the end, the star player is not who you thought. ~ François Couture, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
What an unexpected treasure trove this turned out to be! Derek Bailey's earliest extant recordings, all solo guitar, none previously heard. Although still very much under the influence of Webern, Bailey was already committed to the idea of non-idiomatic free improvisation, even if he arguably hadn't quite achieved that goal by this time. Compared to his work from only a couple of years later, these pieces are considerably more on the melodic and jazz-tinged end of things (he even comes close to quoting Monk!), although even so, they certainly would have gotten him unceremoniously removed from most stages in 1966-1967. Aside from their inherent beauty as stand-alone works, part of the fascination of this disc is the way certain pieces clearly anticipate avant-garde rock trends of the next several years. For instance, "G.E.B.," which opens the album, sounds very much akin to Don Van Vliet's delicate instrumental tracks like "Peon" and "One Red Rose That I Mean." Similarly, the closing improvisations bear a marked similarity to Robert Fripp's sparse, spatially aware playing on "Moonchild" from the first King Crimson album. But the nascent abstract and almost insectival aspect that Bailey fans would come to know and love is surely present as well on gnarly, knotty works like "Bits," which also incorporates early explorations into the use of feedback. And "Practising: Wow & Stereo" would still cause the hackles to rise on the necks of the great majority of jazz fans, lo, these 35 years hence. Pieces for Guitar is an invaluable artifact in the archeology of free improvised music and a must for any fans of the genre. Highly recommended. ~ Brian Olewnick, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
It's not as though Derek Bailey hadn't given a hint or two before. On his wonderful Drop Me Off at 96th (on Scatter), he tantalized listeners with a couple of bars of "I Didn't Know What Time It Was." Even those who might have preferred that he stood steadfast and true to the non-idiomatic free improv "tradition" might have wavered slightly. Still, for those so inclined, Ballads might be a bittersweet experience. They might prefer to understand that Bailey was quite capable of playing in a traditionally, romantically beautiful manner but feel that he had no need to prove it, rather having him wend his unique way through a strange landscape. However, met on its own terms, Ballads is stunningly gorgeous, lovely melodies like "Laura" being passionately stroked even as they abut against Bailey's questioning angularities and brusque, impolite commentary. The pure sound he elicits from his acoustic guitar is mouthwatering, so reverberant and alive. When he absolutely wrenches the melody of "Stella By Starlight" from the poor body of his instrument, it's enough to leave one gasping. And longtime Bailey fans might simply shake their heads in disbelief when he strums with schmaltz -- as well as beauty -- the sentimental theme from "My Buddy" before taking it on a circuitous walk. Whether one is glad or distressed that he chose to dip his toes into these waters, Ballads is a singularly lovely recording, one that certainly stands out in Bailey's oeuvre and one that is nigh impossible not to smile about and linger over. Highly recommended. ~ Brian Olewnick, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Carlos Bechegas wears a microphone in front of his nose, dangling from his forehead. This is not a fashion statement, but a way to capture the sound of his flute, translate it to MIDI data, and send it to a computer for real-time processing. After a delightful album where he used his set-up in free improvisation with bassist Peter Kowald, here comes a session with guitarist Derek Bailey, recorded in a Portuguese studio in July 2001. It must be impossible to catch Bailey on a bad day. His playing here is up to his standard, witty, challenging, open-minded, and generous. The fact that he doesn't transcend his own art leaves room to listen to the lesser known variable in this equation. Bechegas likes to alternate long slow phrases with short quick ones. Paradoxically, his playing sounds more original when the flute is up front; when we clearly hear his inflections and breathing effects. Whenever the electronics take center stage the music becomes somehow more predictable. "R. In" strikes the perfect balance: Bechegas circumvolutes around Bailey's electric guitar with the computer adding menacing low-end growls. In "R. On" on the other hand, it could be any computer wiz dueting with the Englishman. The flute has a hard time being accepted in free improv circles -- for reasons not fully understood, but which probably have to do with its heavy "classical" historical baggage. Bechegas thrives to find new state-of-the-art ways to make it "fit in," but in the end his acoustic playing remains his best argument. ~ François Couture, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Recorded and originally issued in Japan in 1978, the contents of this two-disc set quickly became something of a collector's item as the album quickly went out of print. Happily, the master tapes were reacquired for release on Incus in 2002, providing further documentation of a rich portion of Derek Bailey's long career. The solo sessions here date from right around the same time as his collaborations with the cream of the Japanese jazz avant-garde that were released on the DIW disc Duo + Trio Improvisations, and the music is within the same general sphere. But solo Bailey is often revelatory and, arguably, the clearest path toward understanding his conception. Here, listeners find him about midway between the spikier, more "insectile" music of the late '60s and early '70s as heard on his first solo album and in contexts like the Music Improvisation Company and the somewhat mellower (though no less intense) tack he would follow beginning in the late '80s. Perhaps it was due to an influence from the country where these recording took place, but several of the selections find Bailey taking the utmost care about exactly where he was "placing" the notes into sonic space, not unlike rocks in a Japanese garden. Indeed, in cuts like "Nothing So Difficult as a Beginning" (titles courtesy of Lord Byron), one can hear anticipations of the future work of guitarists like Taku Sugimoto. Disc one is a series of studio improvisations and disc two a pair of live performances. The expansiveness and intuitive sense of the overall arc of the piece displayed on the latter disc are very impressive; no matter what the length of a given improv, he never seems to play too long or cut things off too short. He even takes advantage of a bit of (inadvertent?) feedback hum to indulge in some quasi-flamenco playing on "Live in Kalavinka"! Both sets are primo Bailey, making New Sights, Old Sounds a necessary purchase for aficionados. ~ Brian Olewnick, All Music Guide
'Derek Bailey & Franz Hautzinger'
Release Date 1/1/2002
Tracks 11
Label Grob
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
This eponymous CD is a good cross-generational session of free improv between guitar legend Derek Bailey and Franz Hautzinger, an Austrian trumpeter of the Austro-German reductionist conviction with two previous albums on the label Grob (the solo Gomberg and his group Dachte Musik's first release). The info printed on the digipack doesn't specify a recording date; the press release hints at January 2001. The digipack indicates it was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Toby Robinson in London and later remixed, remastered, and edited by Patrick Pulsinger in Vienna; the press release vaguely states that Hautzinger "repeatedly made tiny changes in the sound that outsiders probably will never perceive." What it actually means remains a mystery, but the important thing is that the album sounds very natural and spontaneous. If the tapes have been tampered with, it doesn't show. The session is as satisfactory as one could expect. Bailey's talent to adapt to any young player coming his way should be an inspiration to everyone else working on the free improv scene. Here he favors delicate, pensive lines, even resorting to a bit of strumming to leave room for Hautzinger's ever-so-quiet playing. Much like on his solo album, he breathes in his quartertone trumpet and makes sounds with the pistons but rarely plays what would commonly be called a note. Recorded at a very high level, the "wind effects" sound almost electronic in nature. Although the liner notes say Bailey plays electric guitar, he also uses the acoustic version. "Krautrock" (of all titles!) stands as a highlight, Hautzinger being particularly playful over Bailey's take on what might be described as a rock ballad (or would that be imagining things?). Bailey has the power to bring the best out of an improviser. That's exactly what happens here. ~ François Couture, All Music Guide
