The Music Improvisation Company
Derek Bailey electric guitar
Evan Parker soprano saxophone
Hugh Davies live electronics
Jamie Muir percussion
Christine Jeffrey voice
Recorded on August 25th, 26th, 27th, 1970 at Merstham Studios, London
Engineer: Jenny Thor
Produced by Manfred Eicher
Derek Bailey is a seminal figure in the development of British free improv, and although this is one of Baileys earliest recordings, it houses much of what he would come to be known for: microscopic precision, a love of empty space, a supremely fractured aesthetic, and a refreshingly subtle disregard for the rules. As with his later solo outings and fruitful collaborations with John Zorn and other bastions of the avant-garde, Bailey brings his full commitment to the table in this early, digitally reissued ECM recording. Yet how to describe it? A possessed duck call tripping down a flight of stairs into a pile of discarded instruments? A broken jack-in-the-box heavily amplified on cheap speakers? A radio being tortured to give up its innermost secrets? A coven of instrumental wizards poring over the crucibles of some private alchemical experiment? Unfortunately, none of these seems to come close to mapping the albums rambling course. One thing I can say for sure: the results are very consistent. So much so that track titles like Packaged Eel, aside from making me want to eat an unagi roll, do nothing to deepen my understanding of the goings on. As can be expected from one look at the roster, the musicianship is excellent. Evan Parker steals the show with his bubbling outbursts of indiscernible melody while Bailey cultivates an even more anonymous approach, cutting in and out with a surgeons touch.
In the end, such a project can only be what one makes of it. Its difficulties are also what make it go down smoothly, even as its effortless approach renders it impossible to fathom. It is a mysterious object, to be sure, and one that casts a new reflection with every turn.