Derek Bailey Music

This disc is a collaboration between Min Tanaka, a dancer, Mr. Bailey, free-improv guitar veteran, and the sounds of the evironment (i.e., autos passing by rain from a leaky roof, etc.). I heard about this cd and was intrigued enough to buy. Having become more familiar with Bailey since then, I realized that buying any Bailey disc without researching 1st is a big mistake. As with basically all improvisors, Bailey dooms himself to inconsistent efforts by depending solely on improvistion and by being determined to be prolific (for some reason, that's important to some people). So, Bailey's work varies widely in style and especially quality. Personally, I prefer his solo work, as it's usually very reliable, though there is sadly little of that widely available, as Bailey is obsessed with the collaborative effort. Which is OK except that some collaborations work and some don't. If you already know Bailey, or pretty much any imporv artist for that matter, than you know this already. But as a warning to those exploring Bailey or the free-improv genre as a whole, buy albums after careful research only, or you'll waste alot of money on garbage and filler.
Anyways, on to the review. In all fairness, this disc may fail simply because the visual element is missing. After all, this was an audio-visual collaboration, where Bailey was more than likely acting and reacting mostly to Tanaka's movement, not sound, and Tanaka was reacting with movement to Bailey's sounds (logically). So this release was a bad idea in the 1st place, as you only get 1/2 the picture (gee, why the heck did I buy this?). The label must have assumed that the audio element stands well enough on it's own. They assumed wrong. ...he makes no effort (that can be HEARD in this recording at least) to play with or against Tanaka or the evironmental sounds at all. Tanaka doesn't seem to either (though again, with only half the picture we'll never know). It's as if both artists are acting on their own without even being aware of the others presence. While there are a few mildly interesting moments, none of it comes together in an interesting or appealing manner, and most of it sounds like sonic idiocy. Dissapointing from guy who's capable of really good stuff...

What did you expect?! This music is IMPROVISED. Derek Bailey has always deliberately avoided any semblance of traditional music from time structures to doing so much as repeating a phrase. Every note that he has ever played so far as can be determined by his recorded work is through composed. The basic idea that the liner notes try to explain is that for Bailey this music represents a collaboration in that he is interacting both with the movement and sound of Min Tanaka dancing as well as with the environment, the sounds of rain and cars moving outside, the sounds we ear all the time but never hear as music. To say this is just noise is like saying that Frank Lloyd Wright just made boxy houses, taking no notice of the environment in which they are built. This being said I should also mention that the music has a very serene quality to it. There is not so much of the frenetic energy that Bailey is sometimes capable of but instead he chooses to set a mood which in some ways contrasts with the intensity of the dancer and the rain. It almost makes the rain sound violent. This music was recorded in 1980 I'm glad to have an opportunity to hear its beauty now.

This album was inspired by _Guitar, Drums & Bass_, & similarly has Bailey playing over a variety of prerecorded electronic rhythm tracks. Bailey is playing well, which makes it doubly frustrating that many of the tracks are tedious in the extreme--try the opening track (programmed by Darryl Moore) for a good instance of the disparity between the guitarist's typically shrewd contributions & the feebleness of the underlying track. If you're looking for off-the-wall Bailey, try _Mirakle_, which has him with a jazz-funk rhythm section & turns out an unexpected success. This disc is only for the curious. Fans of John Oswald's plunderphonics will want to note that track 11 is an Oswald cut-up of a solo recording by Bailey; Bailey doesn't play on top of it.

A very nicely produced DVD capturing Derek Bailey's remarkable guitar playing. Bailey is playing "unplugged" in a very small performance space, evidently a record shop - he barely has room to open his case to remove his guitar. He tells a funny story about working in a music store in his younger days, interjecting tiny bursts of guitar dissonances as he speaks. Derek Bailey was a unique and thoughtful guitarist. If Anton Webern had been an improvising guitarist he would have sounded like this. The only flaw with this DVD is the filmmakers occasional "creativity" - unnecessary special effects that interrupt the performance here and there are nothing but distracting. However this flaw is not enough to ruin the presentation. For a Derek Bailey fan this DVD is well worth the price... if nothing else it's fascinating to see how he does it...

seriously, if you can be patient, and wait out the intial derek bailey intro, you will find herein some of the most quizzical, interesting interaction between cecil taylor and any collaborator ever. when this session heats up it's almost unbeatable. admittedly, it'd be nice if the two played together longer, but it's totally worth it and gets my 5 stars for the interaction that takes place nontheless. trust me, this is concentrated genius. dont belive the haters, just get this. you wont be sorry.

The sound of this CD is as if music as we know it had ceased to exist, Taylor and Bailey set out to reinvent it, and it doesn't come out quite the way it did the first time. Odd and abstract, surprising and delightful.

The idea behind this concert from Cecil's extended stay in Berlin in 1988 seems like a good one -- the unique pairing of Cecil with Derek Bailey, the European free jazz guitarist -- but for me it's a disappointment. The first part of the concert ('Acoustic Guitar') finds Bailey in the spotlight, picking and strumming somewhat lazily and abstractly on his guitar and sounding as if the strings are wound too slack. Cecil emits some screeches and guttural noises in the background and recites the occasional poetic phrase, and then eventually plucks and scratches at the strings of his piano in the spirit of comaraderie, blurring the lines between his and Bailey's playing. But he really doesn't sit down in front of the keyboard until after Bailey plugs in for the second track ('Electric Guitar') at the half hour mark and even then it takes a while for things to warm up. The last 15 minutes give you an idea of the potential, but too late. This is a quiet and restrained Cecil Taylor effort, but I can't count myself among the fans of Derek Bailey, so I find it frustrating. I find this much more enjoyable if I just skip the first track, and the second has therefore grown on me with repeated listenings, but it's no gem in the CT discography. I still like the idea of Cecil playing with a guitarist, but maybe John McLaughlin or Pat Metheny (I'm thinking Song X here) in an adventuresome mood might work better. But this was the first time Cecil tried playing with a guitarist and he hasn't attempted it again since.

In July 1988, Cecil Taylor recorded ten (!) albums while performing live at a festival celebrating his music in Berlin. The discs, including the classics "Spots, Circles And Fantasy" with Han Bennink, "Remembrance" with Louis Moholo, "Leaf Palm Hand" with Tony Oxley, and this one, "Pleistozaen Mit Wasser" with Derek Bailey, are only available as imports on the FMP label. They may be a bit expensive, but for fans of avant-garde jazz and European improvised music, they are must purchases. Unlike the piano/drum duos listed above, "Pleistozaen Mit Wasser" is a piano/guitar duo, with Bailey playing acoustic guitar on the first track and electric on the second. The result is music that is less structured and rhythmic than the drummer duos, and more free-flowing and challenging, not only for Taylor and Bailey to play, but for us to listen to. It is clearly not for everyone, but those willing to give themselves over to Taylor's music will find pure joy.