Derek Bailey (29 January 1930 – 25 December 2005) was an English avant-garde guitarist and an important figure in the free improvisation movement.[1] Bailey abandoned conventional performance techniques found in jazz, exploring atonality, noise, and whatever unusual sounds he could produce with the guitar. Much of his work was released on his own label Incus Records. In addition to solo work, Bailey collaborated frequently with other musicians and recorded with collectives such as Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Company.[2]
Bailey's earliest foray into free improvisation was in 1953 with two guitarists in Glasgow.[4] He was part of a trio founded in 1963 with Tony Oxley and Gavin Bryars called Joseph Holbrooke,[2] named after English composer Joseph Holbrooke, although the group never played his work. The band played conventional jazz at first, but later moved in the direction of free jazz.[5]
In 1970, Bailey founded the record label Incus[2] with Tony Oxley, Evan Parker, and Michael Walters. It was the first musician-owned independent label in the UK. Oxley and Walters left early in the label's history; Parker and Bailey continued as co-directors until the mid-1980s, when friction between them led to Parker's departure. Bailey continued the label with his partner Karen Brookman until his death in 2005.
With other musicians, Bailey was a co-founder in 1975 of Musics magazine, described as "an impromental experivisation arts magazine".[7]
Bailey died in London on Christmas Day in 2005. He had been suffering from motor neurone disease.[8]
Music
Derek Bailey performing at the ICA Company Week, 1978
Throughout both his commercial and improvising careers, Bailey's principal guitar was a 1963 Gibson ES 175 model.[9] Although he occasionally made use of prepared guitar in the 1970s (he would, for example, put paper clips on the strings, wrap his instruments in chains, or add further strings to the guitar), often for Dadaist/theatrical effect,[citation needed] by the end of that decade he had, in his own words, "dumped" such methods.[10] Bailey argued that his approach to music-making was actually far more orthodox than that of 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".[10]
Eschewing labels such as "jazz" and "free jazz", Bailey described his music as "non-idiomatic". 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 such as Pat Metheny, John Zorn, Lee Konitz, David Sylvian, Cyro Baptista, Cecil Taylor, Keiji Haino, tap dancer Will Gaines, Drum 'n' BassDJ Ninj, Susie Ibarra, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and the Japanese noise rock group Ruins. 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 approach. As he put it in a March 2002 article of Jazziz magazine:
There has to be some degree, not just of unfamiliarity, but incompatibility [with a partner]. Otherwise, what are you improvising for? What are you improvising with or around? You've got to find somewhere where you can work. If there are no difficulties, it seems to me that there's pretty much no point in playing. I find that the things that excite me are trying to make something work. And when it does work, it's the most fantastic thing. Maybe the most obvious analogy would be the grit that produces the pearl in an oyster, or some shit like that.[11]
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 long, and theoretical essays to plain, direct comments. Typically pithy was Bailey's reply: "The ticks turn into tocks and the tocks turn into ticks."[12]
Mirakle, a 1999 recording released in 2000, shows Bailey moving into the free funk genre, performing with bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma and drummer Grant Calvin Weston. Carpal Tunnel, the last album to be released during his lifetime, documented his struggle with the carpal tunnel syndrome in his right hand which had rendered him unable to grip a plectrum. This problem marked the onset of motor neurone disease. Characteristically, he refused invasive surgery to treat his condition, instead being more "interested in finding ways to work around"[citation needed] this limitation. He chose to "relearn" guitar playing techniques by utilising his right thumb and index fingers to pluck the strings.
^Jazziz, March 2002, quoted at "Derek Bailey 1930–2005". Bagatellen.com. 26 December 2005. Archived from the original on 13 January 2006. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
Bailey, Derek. Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice, revised edition (1992) The British Library National Sound Archive (UK); Da Capo Press (US); ISBN978-0-306-80528-8
Clark, Philip. The Wire Primers: A Guide to Modern Music: Derek Bailey, pages 121–129; Verso, 2009; ISBN978-1-84467-427-5
