Derek Bailey RIP

i was going to start a thread about this...

Very sad if this is true, although I know only the tip of the iceberg of of his music.

I'm very saddend by this news. The man made a massive contriubution to improvised music and to my enjoyment and understanding of it and he shall be greatly missed. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Although I've never unreservedly loved his music, he's one of those guys whose interviews are simply fascinating I think. I could read/listen to him talk about music all day.

i guess for many people was the door to enter to improv music. trying to listen to those noises, scraps and sounds and not just thinking that was crap, and the feeling when you discover the logic behind that. i guess that is something that doesn't happen when you listen to evan parker. by the way there will never be a reconciliation between those guys. which is sad.

cant remember NOT being into this guy's playing...been into him for soooo long...stopped paying attention for a bit, and now look what happened...crushing

my favorite Bailey record is "Ballads"... sounds almost like samba, without the rhythmic structure... cascading shimmering tones that almost form songs, but not quite.

The most recent time I heard him play was last August at the 291 Gallery - his playing made me grin at least twice. The first time was when I lived in Hackney 15 or more years ago. He ran regular Saturday morning concerts on the Lower Clapton Road at a long-gone venue called the Oasis Wine Bar. I saw him play with the likes of Steve Noble, Alex Marshall, Pat Thomas and a host of other guests. The experience was ongoingly ear-opening. I recall the proximity of the players, just a few feet away - which proved dangerous sometimes when Steve Noble was swinging vacuum cleaner tubes round our heads. Much of the place was dark, chairs stacked in the corners, the audience small, but committed. I also saw the last Company week at the Place Theatre off Euston Road, the festival of free improv that he organised for a while. I know it's crass as hell, but I find myself comparing Derek Bailey to Samuel Beckett. Both achieved a hard-won freedom out on the liminal edge of things. Both now have their ultimate freedom. I'm sure he'd laugh at such sentimentality.

dead derek

haven't heard a whiff of press about this, maybe coz it's xmas, definitley the most pivotal UK figure in improvised music. His trio with Bryars & Oxley (Joseph Holbrooke) was the grounding for the english improv scene. No doubt Ben Watson will be jumping up and down about it in the new year, i'm sure the Wire will deliver.

Obits online in the Independent and Guardian which kind of surprised me, to be honest...

Bailey's one of those musicians who I've never really checked out. The only things I have knowingly heard are on David Sylvian's album 'Blemish'. At first I couldn't find any sort of pattern at all, but, mainly because the tracks are fairly short, I always stuck with them and have slowly grown to like them heaps and heaps. I'm still a bit nervous about the prospect of a whole album!

michael said:

Obits online in the Independent and Guardian which kind of surprised me, to be honest...

I'm still a bit nervous about the prospect of a whole album!

Click to expand...

the way into derek baileys music was to see him live.alas not possible now.

RIP (only just heard,been beneath media for a while)

never thought of Topography of the Lungs as a new years eve record but it has become one in our house.