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32-476: As critic Brian Olewnick writes, the SME emphasised an "extremely open, leaderless aspect where a premium was placed on careful and considered listening on the part of the musicians. Saxophonist Evan Parker observed that Stevens had two basic rules: (1) If you can't hear another musician, you're playing too loud, and (2) if the music you're producing doesn't regularly relate to what you're hearing others create, why be in

64-537: A feedback loop and shifting soundscape . His various Electro-Acoustic Ensembles are a showcase for this area of his work, as well as the Trance Map project with Matthew Wight, which has included improvised live events across Europe and the US, involving other invited guest performers, with various Trance Map+ recordings released on psi, Intakt and FMR Records. Parker has recorded a large number of albums both solo or as

96-589: A group leader, and has recorded or performed with Peter Brötzmann , Michael Nyman , John Stevens , Derek Bailey , Keith Rowe , Joe McPhee , Anthony Braxton , Cecil Taylor , John Zorn , Fred Frith , Bill Laswell , Ikue Mori , Thurston Moore , Cyro Baptista , Milford Graves , George E. Lewis , Tim Berne , Mark Dresser , Dave Holland , Sylvie Courvoisier , and many others. Two key associations have been pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach 's trio with Parker and drummer Paul Lovens (documented on recordings such as Pakistani Pomade and Elf Bagatellen ) and

128-575: A guitarist and session musician in clubs, radio, and dance hall bands, playing with Morecambe and Wise , Gracie Fields , Bob Monkhouse , Kathy Kirby , and on the television program Opportunity Knocks . Bailey's earliest foray into free improvisation was in 1953 with two guitarists in Glasgow. He was part of a trio founded in 1963 with Tony Oxley and Gavin Bryars called Joseph Holbrooke , named after English composer Joseph Holbrooke , although

160-531: A part of the city’s improvised music scene based around the Little Theatre Club, joining John Stevens ’ Spontaneous Music Ensemble . Along with guitarist Derek Bailey , he quickly became a leading figure in the improvised music movement in London and throughout Europe. One of his most lasting connections was with German pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach , whose trio he joined in 1970. Parker

192-773: A principle known as auditory streaming , where the use of wide registers creates the illusion of polyphony , which Parker terms “pseudo-polyphony”. This effect is achieved primarily by using multiphonics or harmonics in combination with circular breathing , polyrhythmic fingering, and split tonguing . Working with electronic music since the early days of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble or with his duo with Paul Lytton , Parker has become increasingly interested in electronics , usually through inviting collaborators such as Phil Wachsmann , Walter Prati , Joel Ryan , Lawrence Casserley , Sam Pluta or Matthew Wright to process his playing electronically, creating

224-434: A trio with bassist Barry Guy and drummer Paul Lytton . On Parker's 50th birthday, these two bands played a set apiece at a London concert; the results were issued by Leo Records as the 50th Birthday Concert . Parker, Bailey, and Tony Oxley founded Incus Records in 1970. The label continued under Bailey's sole control after a falling-out between the two men in the early 1980s. Parker curates Psi Records , which

256-758: Is issued by Martin Davidson's Emanem Records . From 1999 to 2007 Parker co-ordinated, recorded and played in the Free Zone at the Appleby Jazz Festival , held in Cumbria, England. The recordings were issued through his Psi record label. Although Parker's focus is free improvisation, he has appeared in conventional jazz contexts, such as Charlie Watts 's big band and Kenny Wheeler 's ensembles and participated in Gavin Bryars 's recording After

288-410: Is perhaps best known for his solo performances. Originally dismissive of solo performance as being too close in nature to traditional composition, he was inspired to experiment with solo performance by the possibilities for musician-instrument interaction demonstrated by Derek Bailey ’s solo guitar improvisations. Primarily using the soprano saxophone for these solo performances, the music makes use of

320-846: The Globe Unity Orchestra With Barry Guy /The London Jazz Composers' Orchestra With the Barry Guy New Orchestra With Paul Haines With Dave Holland With Tony Hymas - Barney Bush With Steve Lacy With Chris McGregor With Roscoe Mitchell With Louis Moholo With The Music Improvisation Company With Natural Information Society With Michael Nyman With Tony Oxley With Jean-François Pauvros With Paul Rutherford and Iskra 1912 With Alexander von Schlippenbach With Manfred Schoof With Setoladimaiale Unit With

352-589: The Spontaneous Music Ensemble With Spring Heel Jack With David Sylvian with Cecil Taylor Derek Bailey (guitarist) Derek Bailey (29 January 1930 – 25 December 2005) was an English avant-garde guitarist and an important figure in the free improvisation movement. Bailey abandoned conventional performance techniques found in jazz , exploring atonality , noise , and whatever unusual sounds he could produce with

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384-695: The Japanese noise rock group Ruins . Despite often performing and recording in a solo context, he was far more interested in the dynamics and challenges of working with other musicians, especially those who did not necessarily share his approach. As he put it in a March 2002 article of Jazziz magazine: There has to be some degree, not just of unfamiliarity, but incompatibility [with a partner]. Otherwise, what are you improvising for? What are you improvising with or around? You've got to find somewhere where you can work. If there are no difficulties, it seems to me that there's pretty much no point in playing. I find that

416-599: The Music Improvisation Company with Parker, percussionist Jamie Muir , and Hugh Davies on homemade electronics. The band continued until 1971. He was a member of the Jazz Composer's Orchestra and formed the trio Iskra 1903 with double bassist Barry Guy and trombonist Paul Rutherford that was named after a newspaper published by Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin . He was a member of Oxley's sextet until 1973. In 1970, Bailey founded

448-623: The Requiem , performing the composition "Alaric I or II" as part of a saxophone quartet. Parker contributed to David Sylvian 's albums Manafon and Died in the Wool . Parker marked his 80th birthday with a three-concert series at Café Oto, London (April 2024) and The Heraclitean Two-Step, etc. (4CDs of solo performances with a 120 page book; on False Walls). He also has appeared in pop-music contexts: on Scott Walker 's Climate of Hunter , and on dub -influenced albums with Jah Wobble ,

480-418: The SME kept at least a measure of jazz in their sound, though this became less audible in the later "string" ensembles. Stevens' death in 1994 brought an end to the SME. Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation . Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in

512-484: The SME over the years, including Derek Bailey , Paul Rutherford , Maggie Nichols , Dave Holland , Barry Guy , Peter Kowald and Kent Carter . The final edition of the group was a trio of Stevens, Smith, and the saxophonist John Butcher , a configuration documented on A New Distance (1994). Inspired both by American free jazz and by the radical, abstract music of AMM , as well as influences as diverse as Anton Webern and Samuel Beckett (two Stevens touchstones),

544-998: The adventurous drum n bass duo Spring Heel Jack and rock group Spiritualized . He appeared on the b-side to Vic Reeves and The Wonderstuff 's UK 1991 number-one hit "Dizzy", performing saxophone on "Oh, Mr Songwriter" (based on Vic Reeves Big Night Out TV show end theme song). At one point during a sax solo, Vic can be heard shouting: "Pack it in, Parker!" Parker has also made notable appearances on record with Robert Wyatt . Evan Parker playing in Aarhus, Denmark , 2010 With Derek Bailey With Han Bennink With Borah Bergman With Paul Bley With Anthony Braxton With Peter Brötzmann With Gavin Bryars With Lawrence Casserley With Alvin Curran With Pierre Favre With Joe Gallivan With

576-644: The annual music festival Company Week, which lasted until 1994. In 1980, he wrote the book Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice . In 1992, the book was adapted by Channel 4 in the UK into a four-part TV series, On the Edge: Improvisation in Music , which was narrated by Bailey. Bailey died in London on Christmas Day in 2005. He had been suffering from motor neurone disease . Throughout both his commercial and improvising careers, Bailey's principal guitar

608-407: The development of European free jazz and free improvisation . He has pioneered or substantially expanded an array of extended techniques . Critic Ron Wynn describes Parker as "among Europe's most innovative and intriguing saxophonists...his solo sax work isn't for the squeamish." Parker's original inspiration was Paul Desmond . Parker soon discovered the music of John Coltrane , who would be

640-462: The free improvisation scene. The answers received varied from long, and theoretical essays to plain, direct comments. Typically pithy was Bailey's reply: "The ticks turn into tocks and the tocks turn into ticks." Mirakle , a 1999 recording released in 2000, shows Bailey moving into the free funk genre, performing with bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma and drummer Grant Calvin Weston . Carpal Tunnel ,

672-468: The group never played his work. The band played conventional jazz at first, but later moved in the direction of free jazz. In 1966, Bailey moved to London. At the Little Theatre Club run by drummer John Stevens , he met like-minded musicians such as saxophonist Evan Parker , trumpeter Kenny Wheeler , and double bassist Dave Holland , with whom he formed the Spontaneous Music Ensemble . In 1968 they recorded Karyobin for Island Records . Bailey formed

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704-480: The group? This led to the development of what would jocularly become known as 'insect improv' – music that tended to be very quiet, very intense, arrhythmic, and by and large atonal." The SME began an intensive six nights per week residency at the Little Theatre Club in London in January 1966 and recorded their first album Challenge the following month. One can loosely divide the group's history into two periods:

736-574: The guitar. Much of his work was released on his own label Incus Records . In addition to solo work, Bailey collaborated frequently with other musicians and recorded with collectives such as Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Company . Bailey was born in Sheffield , England. A third-generation musician, he began playing guitar at the age of ten. He studied with Sheffield City organist C. H. C. Biltcliffe, an experience he disliked, and with his uncle George Wing and John Duarte . As an adult he worked as

768-417: The improvising collective AMM , who treats the guitar purely as a "sound source" rather than as a musical instrument. Instead, Bailey preferred to "look for whatever 'effects' I might need through technique". Eschewing labels such as "jazz" and "free jazz", Bailey described his music as "non-idiomatic". In the second edition of his book Improvisation... , Bailey indicated that he felt that free improvisation

800-493: The last album to be released during his lifetime, documented his struggle with the carpal tunnel syndrome in his right hand which had rendered him unable to grip a plectrum . This problem marked the onset of motor neurone disease . Characteristically, he refused invasive surgery to treat his condition, instead being more "interested in finding ways to work around" this limitation. He chose to "relearn" guitar playing techniques by utilising his right thumb and index fingers to pluck

832-519: The more horn-oriented earlier ensembles (typically with some combination of Watts, saxophonist Evan Parker and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler ), and the later string-based ensembles with guitarist Roger Smith (who became as central to the second edition of SME as Watts was to the first) and violinist Nigel Coombes. The transitional point is the quartet album Biosystem (Incus, 1977), which also featured cellist Colin Wood. Countless other musicians passed through

864-449: The primary influence throughout his career. Other important early influences were free jazz artists Cecil Taylor , Albert Ayler and Jimmy Giuffre . Since the 1990s the influence of cool jazz saxophone players has also become apparent in his music, with Parker recording tributes to Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz on Time Will Tell (ECM, 1993) and Chicago Solo ( Okka Disk , 1997). Parker moved to London in 1966 and quickly became

896-424: The record label Incus with Tony Oxley, Evan Parker, and Michael Walters. It was the first musician-owned independent label in the UK. Oxley and Walters left early in the label's history; Parker and Bailey continued as co-directors until the mid-1980s, when friction between them led to Parker's departure. Bailey continued the label with his partner Karen Brookman until his death in 2005. With other musicians, Bailey

928-420: The things that excite me are trying to make something work. And when it does work, it's the most fantastic thing. Maybe the most obvious analogy would be the grit that produces the pearl in an oyster, or some shit like that. Bailey was also known for his dry sense of humour. In 1977, Musics magazine sent the question "What happens to time-awareness during improvisation?" to about thirty musicians associated with

960-470: Was a 1963 Gibson ES 175 model. Although he occasionally made use of prepared guitar in the 1970s (he would, for example, put paper clips on the strings, wrap his instruments in chains, or add further strings to the guitar), often for Dadaist /theatrical effect, by the end of that decade he had, in his own words, "dumped" such methods. Bailey argued that his approach to music-making was actually far more orthodox than that of performers such as Keith Rowe of

992-482: Was a co-founder in 1975 of Musics magazine, described as "an impromental experivisation arts magazine". In 1976, Bailey started the collaborative project Company , which at various times included Han Bennink , Steve Beresford , Anthony Braxton , Buckethead , Eugene Chadbourne , Lol Coxhill , Johnny Dyani , Fred Frith , Tristan Honsinger , Henry Kaiser , Steve Lacy , Keshavan Maslak , Misha Mengelberg , Wadada Leo Smith , and John Zorn . Bailey organized

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1024-535: Was no longer "non-idiomatic" in his sense of the word, as it had become a recognizable genre and musical style itself. Bailey frequently sought performance contexts that would provide new stimulations and challenge that would prove musically "interesting", as he often put it. This led to work with collaborators such as Pat Metheny , John Zorn , Lee Konitz , David Sylvian , Cyro Baptista , Cecil Taylor , Keiji Haino , tap dancer Will Gaines, Drum 'n' Bass DJ Ninj, Susie Ibarra , Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and

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