Derek Bailey Music

For a pairing that gets talked about frequently to this day (and who put on one of the finest improvised performances I've ever seen a couple years back), Eugene Chadbourne and John Zorn in a duo setting are stunningly undocumented. In fact, I believe that this now quite out of print recording, "In Memory of Nikki Arane", is it for extended performances.

What this record presents is about an hour of duet performances, recorded live in 1980 according to the liner notes (though if there's a crowd they're quite unnoticed). Having been 2 at the time of the recording, I'd never experienced these performances live, and I'll temper my review by pointing out two things. First, I have the benefit of viewing these with hindsight, of knowing what both Zorn and Chadbourne would do in the 27 years since this recording. More to the point, having seen them duet in 2006, my experience will invariably draw comparisons to that performance, where the two had completely developed their own languages on their instruments. Second, it's been my experience that very few improvised performances that make serious use of space tend to flourish on record, this recording included.

With that stated, I'll talk a bit about the performance-- Zorn (on clarinet, soprano sax and alto sax) and Chadbourne (on electric guitar) put together a series of performances that range from delicate to fierce, that show hints at both the vocabulary and the music they'd develop over the next three decades, and that are staggering in their ability to sustain your interest. There seems to be an intentional avoidance of melody and any real extended statement-- instead, moving in small passages of skronk with small passages of amelodic scratchings and whisperings interluding. When an idea does develop, it tends to be one driving the other amelodically. This is fairly unusual, even for free improv, where it seems snatches of at least implied melody tend to work their way in. Without this touchstone, the music tends to be fairly difficult to latch onto. The one exception to this is the very beginning of the third track, where Chadbourne makes a brief stab at a rock riff before giving it up.

This isn't saying it's not full of interesting ideas, mind you, but it's a whole lot closer to The Classic Guide To Strategy than to anything else, very associative in it structure and at times quite dense. Nonetheless, as a document of an underdocumented collaboration, it is well worth investigation.

What are you folks hearing? I wish I knew...This was a CD that really helped put me off Derek Bailey. I thought: "Free Improv, OK, I love it. But when its virtual inventor kind of shows that what it means is play whatever you were gonna play anyway, no matter what else is going on then...what?" Well, this is not what is REALLY going on here, but sometimes it sounds that way. Then I heard it blasting over speakers in a club and I realized that if I didn't come to it with any expectations, sonically it had its thing. Jamaal and Calvin have always been two of my favorites, although I wouldn't say this is their finest hour. SO...? It is what it is; I'm glad it exists, but this really shouldn't be your favorite Derek Bailey disc. I mean, PEOPLE! Come on! It is not true that anything which is great is better with a "Groove" under it. Time to get that Webern box set and hang out with it a bit. What a world...

this man PLAYS his guitar - and while many will NOT hear anything masterful in his harmonics, scrunched clicked muted strings, or 'random' sounding polychromatic 'chords' this man *is* a genius.
the powerful funk/rock grooves that he lays his guitar work over are instinctive and imperative - they move you -
Bailey believes in taking the guitar in a holistic approach -
this is the deal - 99% of all music falls within a small range of possible sounds that could be made with any instrument.
Bailey attempts to break that mode and stretch the envelope.
Does it always succeed?
I think musicians will love it -

i've liked bailey in other settings, and i've heard some tacuma that i've thought was all right, but i took a chance on this and it just sounds like they took just any ol' derek bailey improv and stuck it on top of the rhythm section -- which might work better with his acoustic guitar, actually. here it just sounds like an experiment gone wrong.

As I have intoned before, you know you're getting old when you come upon something spectacular that's been out and about for 6 years. Such is the case with this release by the late English guitarist extraordinaire, Derek Bailey, and his cohorts, Jamaladeen Tacuma on bass and Calvin Weston on drums. Weston is as polyrythmic as Bill Bruford, no mean feat, and Tacuma is positively stunning with the pwoer and the bluesy funk of his commanding performance. I am not sure if this was "composed" in any way, or done a la Miles, but it rings with such sense that the intelligence, as well as the soul, of this music is the raw and real deal.
My other forays into the world of Derek Bailey have included his acoustic workout with Bill Frisell and his very abstract tour de force with Pat Metheny and Paul Wertico in the SIGN OF FOUR recording, one not for the timid. Bailey passed away this past winter and with his passing a very unique artist, and influential musician, and a pioneering spirit flew away from this world. I have no idea whether Robert Fripp was familiar with this effort, but Derek seems to have resolved many of the musical quandries, conundrums, dead ends Fripp hit with the assorted ProjeKcts, post the double trio version of Crimson. And Bailey does them with something in the trunk. At times the rhythm section is as abstract as Bruford and Levin, at times as funky as Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell, as frontier pushing as Ricky Wellman and Foley McCready. Certainly they are their own men, but in calling forth predecessors and colleagues, they reference a direction in music that had a hard time finding believers. You can believe in this effort. It is genius.
So, if you want to enjoy your next experimental leap into what Music can say when the practitioners are not afraid to do what they do not know how to do, I can recommend no finer effort than Mirakle. It is aptly titled. And it makes the loss of Bailey all the more sorrowful.

In recent years something of a subproject has developed in the Derek Bailey canon, seemingly at the prompting of John Zorn--the Derek Bailey Power Trio. Prior to this disc was the Arcana group that recorded _The Last Wave_ (Bailey plus Tony Williams & Bill Laswell), & a pair of discs with Japan's The Ruins. _Mirakle_ finds him in the company of Jamaaladeen Tacuma & Calvin Weston, & it's indeed something of a miracle that this encounter turns out well. What's striking to this listener is the amount of interaction among the musicians--on his own ground in free-improv situations Bailey frequently avoids obvious interplay or dialogue, but here there's little sense of parallel paths: check out, for instance, his brilliant bobbing & weaving over & under the head-nodding groove that opens "What It Is". Frequently Bailey simply ignores pitch entirely to scrub rhythmically at the strings to create counterrhythms; or he will let a harsh ringing note hang over the tumult below. Actually, I suspect many blindfolded listeners might suppose this a particularly offbeat James Blood Ulmer date.

Listening to this album one hears a strange meeting of two musical worlds--American funk & English avantgarde improv--& one's sense is expanded of what these styles can do, & how flexible they can be. Tacuma and Weston are terrific--it's remarkable how Tacuma's feline, rubbery lines set up grooves that push ahead without locking things down. The improvisations are basically jams in which the American musicians set a groove up & then the trio picks it apart until it falls to pieces, only to be replaced by another. A common method of proceeding--but what's rare in such jamming, & impressive here, is how the segues never seem to be treading water in search of the next idea: this is music packed with moment-by-moment detail & eventfulness.

A strange, compelling & rather addictive album: rather unexpectedly for an album by Derek Bailey it's, er, a lot of fun. A really fine CD: fans of rarefied Brit-improv will probably hate it, but I suspect James Blood Ulmer fans will love it....

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.

Every recording Derek Bailey put's out is an adventure, so how about releasing some of his earliest private work?? If you are wondering about the content, I can tell you that its very good; but in a different way. It's calm, searching, innocent, serene- you almost feel as though your listening to a private moment that wasn't meant for anyone else. And this is correct as Derek notes that these recordings were made at his London flat in the 60's with no intention of being released. Thankfully John Zorn treated this CD with kid gloves via- sound restoration, and reflective notes from Derek about the music.

Hi, it's me again. I just realized that Amazon doesn't have any of the track's even listed by title. This cd is great and that's an injustice so I've decided to list the titles here, just so you can get a bit more of a feel for this cd.

Bai Ha She

Huang Qin

Zhu Ye

Ba Qing Ye

Wan Er Wan

Xiang Qing Qing

Sha Fen

Zhu Shu

Min Xiao-Fen is a Chinese master musician and she plays the pipa (Chinese lute). Derek Bailey (playing acoustic guitar here) is one of the fathers of free-improvisation. These two musicians are from different cultures, different genders, and different generations, but the improvisations contained on this cd are played by two minds that are always fully locked on to every nuance of what the other is playing.

This is one of the best free-improvisation cd's I have ever heard. Period. As much as I love Min in her other musical settings (and I do love her!) I keep hoping she will venture into the world of free-improvisation more often because she is such a force of nature in this wide open context. And as far as Derek's playing on this cd is concerned, I rank this cd up there with AIDA and WIREFORKS without hesitation!

Want a few favorite tracks? Well I'm not going to name any because this cd is consistently great, and to name my favorites would be too tough for me.

Here is a cd that shows that there are still new realms to be explored within the context of guitar improvisation. The album has both acoustic and electric tracks and if you are already a fan of either Henry or Derek then you won't be disappointed. If this cd will be your first exposure to either of these 2 musicians then it is fantastic because it will open you up to both men, both of whom play these instruments in a manner that I guarantee you have never heard before. Like I told Henry about one of this cd's tracks on his website..."Silver Tails puts me in the mindset of what it must be like to do LSD in a big room filled with windchimes and fine crystal".

Following the successful concert performances in London and fully staged in Glyndebourne, this empty-theatre recording captures the riveting drama of Janacek's most acclaimed opera. I must admit that being mostly into Italian opera I struggled with his music that I initially found crude and unsubtle, especially in the first act. I heard little connection between the emotional state of the characters and the music written for them. By the second act, the fascinating story got me involved and I felt more comfortable with the music.

Both Alexander and Silja are excellent in their roles. Alexander's Jenufa is very convincing as the daughter manipulated by her mother but at the same time believable in her madness when she finds out about her child. Silja's Kochelnicka reminds me of Olivia in `flowers in the attic'. Scary in a nutty way and you never know what she's going to do next which is Silja's acting style anyway. Baker and Langridge sing well, though I expected Steva to upset me more than Baker did. Minor roles are in some cases interestingly cast, the chorus is committed but not always accurately cooperating with Davis who brings enough energy to excite the viewer.

This is an opera that needs both visual and textual presentation to appreciate it and the dvd format is the best alternative to a live performance. Most Jenufa recordings offer something to admire but in dvd format, this is probably the best way to discover the opera.

Opinions on the sound will be very polarized, so I want to get to the reason why first. My first impression listening on excellent (AKG k240 Studio) headphones was one of bad sound. As the opera progressed I was impressed with how clearly I was hearing Janacek's complex harmonies. Turning the treble way down and the bass way up, improved the sound greatly, leading me to suspect that there was a major equalization error in the recording set up. If you do not have at least two tone controls (bass and treble) this disk will sound pretty bad. If you have an octave equalizer, so much the better. I suspect that very few microphones were used at a distance, as there was no need to suppress audience noise. That gives a perspective that is not common anymore, because of the need in live recordings to close mic.

Many live opera DVD use hairline microphones on the singers and many microphones in the pit. With all these separate microphones the skill of the Tonmeister (balance engineer) is crucial to getting something that resembles a normal mix. Generally this complex mix is a bit close sounding. Hairline microphones in my opinion are great for solos, but as more and more hairline microphones are activated for ensembles, the more "electronic" sounding the mix gets.

Here we have an empty opera house hence the reverberation is longer than it would be with an audience. If you like this reverb, fine. If you expect close up sound you will not like this very "live" acoustic. If the microphones had been just a little closer, the sound would have been more normal.

The Jenufa (Alexander) struck me as being a bit old (but not overweight) for the part. On the other hand, her singing and acting is exceptional. I know of no other singer who could do better combining the extreme emotional and musical demands as accurately, without holding back. Silja goes off pitch on occasion, but who else could display so much drama as well? The men are excellent too. Davis conducts with great energy adding plenty of gas to the fire on stage.

Finally there is the excellent staging, which is free of regietheater additions where none are needed.

Jenufa -- Leos Janacek's "breakout" composition -- had a long and in some ways turgid performance history. The present recording, using the "original" score (before major revisions by the composer in the 1920s) is welcome if only for the ability to compare Janacek's original intention with his later reflections and alterations. Having said that, the audio quality lacks immediacy and presence and the otherwise excellent production values are ultimately hindered by the lackluster sound. Indeed, after viewing this DVD I immediately took out the MacKerras Jenufa recording (Elizabeth Soderstrum) to remind me just exactly how this magnificent opera is supposed to "sound." It's a pity that there is not another DVD available; this opera deserves the widest possible audience.

There are two DVDs available of Jenufa, and this is slightly the better choice for musical reason. Neither production satisfies my conception of this great and moving opera. Both are somewhat dramatically turgid. The flaws of this production are chiefly visual and acoustical, as pointed out by other reviewers. It really is a problem, on a DVD movie scale, that Roberta Alexander simply doesn't "look the part" though she acts with conviction; in an opera house, the same production would be sublime.
Janacek is a composer who integrates the voices and the orchestra with great success; that ensemble effect is not captured well on either DVD production (and I confess that it's often not achieved in live performances either). The sound on this DVD is distant played at lower volume, tinny played at higher.
Five stars for the opera itself, three for the realization.

I bought this DVD at the recommendation of an opera-loving friend. I knew nothing about it, so I found a plot synopsis on the web (there are no notes at all, just a list of sections). Well, wow. This is a powerful work...the music reminds me of Wagner, except a human Wagner, with real people and emotions, instead of gods. In fact, and this will enrage Wagnerians I suppose, I think there is more honest emotion in Act II of this opera than in the entire ring cycle. The acting is believable and the singing is fine. Anja Silja as the mother is riveting. The only reason I don't give it five stars is that I think the sound recording is a bit tinny, and it's not a live performance. At the end I wish there'd been an audience cheering, because I wanted to cheer too.

Listening to this over high fidelity stereo loudspeakers, I found this video largely unsatisfying. It's pleasant to look at, and the singing is fine. The main problem is the balance. The orchestra is much too far in the background, as if the engineers mistakenly considered it to be accompaniment to the singing. As a result the spectacularly colored orchestrations, the harmony, and much of the DRAMA (!) of this work are lost in this video. In short, musically it makes no sense...except for a number of scattered moments when the beautiful sound of the music is discernible. I suspect that this was a good performance, badly recorded or engineered.

On the DVD the orchestra is really there. I liked the production, and the cast sang and acted well. Perhaps the sound was remixed for the DVD as I could not understand the negative reviews given this production.

The cold and abstract staging here is clearly meant to reflect the suffocating world of the title character, but two hours of it becomes very disagreable. Better get the CD version: the music is gorgeous and there is no distraction from the intensity of the music.

This production of Katya Kabanova is OK, but not much more than that. It has respectable singers, especially in Nancy Gustafson and Felicity Palmer, but they appear bloodless and dull, and the orchestra, as another reviewer has pointed out, has faded into the background. Add this to Glyndebourne's totally non-descript sets and costumes, and you get something that's sort of dull. Also, there are some cuts from Janacek's original score, which is absolutely unfathomable in an opera that doesn't run for an hour and a half in its full version

A much better choice is the Salzburg Festival DVD of this opera by TDK. First, the negatives: it's one of those productions by a European director who thinks that Janacek would have done it this way if only he had just been as clever as the director. It's set not on the banks of the Volga, but in the courtyard of a Soviet-era apartment building somewhere in Eastern Europe. There are a few distractors: a non-singing drunk/demented person (take your choice) who is on-stage all the time; a broken fountain that substitutes for the Volga; the Kabanicha's room perpetually open onto the stage, and so on.

However, the positives far outweigh the negatives. Angela Denoke is incandescent as Katya. The entire supporting cast beats the Glyndebourne cast, one-on-one, hands down. Dagmar Peckova (Varvara) and Rainer Trost (Kudryas) elevate their roles through their artistry to primario status. The orchestra(the Czech Philharmonic, Sylvain Cambreling conducting) is clear and powerful, and well-balanced with the singers. Worst case, you can turn off the picture and just listen to it.

I got my copy of this version of KK from the Royal Opera's website (Region 0 encoded). ...