Been a Derek Bailey fan for a long time. He definitely has habits and go-to chords/phrases. The last chord in particular is a favorite. He does a lot of octave transposition to inject angularity into his phrases (e.g. playing a chromatic phrase with each pitch in a different octave). What I find the most striking is his absurdly deep knowledge of the guitar as an instrument and his guitar in particular. He knows the pitches of all of the open harmonics and of the strings plucked behind the nut/bridge and works them into his melodies and chords effortlessly.
Very interesting playing. His picking makes me very anxious. Can't tell if he knows exactly what he's doing or if he has no idea what he's doing and I'm loving it. Glad to see that you give music like this a chance
Derek is a totally unique player. I have been a fan of his since 1972, I reckon. He is always thinking, always changing, always new...an icon of integrity and humor and a relief from the sustain and decibel kings of the 70s (although I like some of them, too.)
You may want to be aware that Derek Bailey was a studio musician for some time in the 50's I believe. He played this style since the 60's and influenced countless free think guitarists and other musicians. I take exception to the label of "experimental" applied to everything outside the conventional tonal music spectrum. In D.B. 's case, after 60+ years of performance he is hardly experimenting, while listening to his music might be an experiment for you.
Derek was the grandfather of European improvisation, that clip was totally improvised, he has a disc called “standards” you should hear his approach to that.
I love Dereck’s work, but I have to be in the mood for it. There’s an angular beauty in his playing. I would agree that his approach is more akin to that of an artist. He creates colours and shades with sound. Thanks for giving this peripheral artist an honest listen. Btw, Dereck recorded an album (Arc of Testimony) with Tony Williams and Bill Laswell. Interesting to hear what he does in a group format.
I love this sort of thing. Makes me think of some of Fripp's work on the King Crimson Improvisations, but this I think takes it even further. I'd also call it minimalistic since it's just a guitar by itself, but then he makes so much noise out of it without having to use heavy distortion or boosting.
Derek was playing like this before Fripp showed up, although I agree it fits some of what Fripp did. Sonny Sharrock was also a Fripp influence. Sonny was a little like Derek, but his energy was more aggressive.
Are you familiar with David Sylvian? Singer/songwriter who used to be in new wave/progressive pop band Japan. On his album Blemish, he hired Derek Bailey to perform some guitar improvisations, to which he set lyrics. Beautiful stuff
Can you react to an artist that you’ve never heard of, Ez (Easy) Mil and his song Superly Real? I would like to hear your take on his music. He composed the song, mixed the track, played all the instruments including drum and guitars, sang lead and back up vocals. He’s a 23 y/o independent artist, but he put this together when he was 20-21 y/o.
As a guitarist, I can tell you that's not easy to do. It sounds like he's just making random sounds, but he's actually practiced how to consistently make those random sounds. He's not missing a lot of notes, and the harmonics are completely on point. Point is: Not anyone can do that.
Really trying to get into him but I’ll admit it’s tough haha! What Derek Bailey does is not easy to do and many will definitely laugh at it. I think a lot of people approach experimental music with a pre conceived notion of what music and expression is. If you’re feeling it check out Fred Frith from Henry cow, nels cline, and sonny sharrock. It’s more along the lines of free jazz but very avant garde nonetheless. I think these guys play a little more “inside” than Bailey so you might really enjoy it. It’s refreshing to see somebody be very objective with this type of music, seems like you understand what it is he’s trying to achieve.
I find most improv (musical, artistic, comedic etc) to be very self indulgent, and that is perfectly fine, after all, real musicians only play to please themselves & pleasing an audience is just a happy coincidence for them. I do however, find people that pontificate (not Dean) about improv as if they somehow have an insight into the inner psyche of the musician, to be pretentious in the extreme.
I'm not a good guitarist but I managed to amuse my friends playing years ago this kind of stuff. Trying not to remember the chords and scales is the method.
Its really unbelievable that people love this pseudo-guitarist Derek... All of you guys are just pseudo intellectuals... And that's it (Whether you like what I said or not)...!!!
If someone did a one-off of this kind of thing, that'd be easy to say. Someone who has worked consistently at something and carved out a unique niche of creativity and slowly built a small army of fans can't be touched, and criticisms like yours will ring hollow.
7:06 "this is somebody who almost could be an artist but he just happens to be a musician" This is how you describe one of the greatest artist/musician/guitarist of the 20th century ?
