DEREK BAILEY - Solo Guitar, Vol. 2 (1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

In his liner notes to this disc, extracted from his book on improvisation, British guitarist Derek Bailey writes, "...maintaining solo playing which remains meaningful as improvisation is an elusive business, not least because the easier it becomes to perform solo the harder it becomes to improvise solo...." Bailey's insistence on "non-idiomatic improvisation" requires not only that he not fall into patterns derived from other musical forms, but that he also not be trapped in his own habits or ruts -- a tall order indeed. Guitarist/composer Jim O'Rourke has noted that even high-level free improvisation tends to generate its own recognizable sound-world so that one might, say, immediately identify a Evan Parker piece and predict, to some extent, its structure and anticipate its musical elements. While Bailey's style is easily recognized, he has shown a remarkable ability to wring not only altogether new sounds from the guitar, but to invent entirely new approaches to individual improvisations.
Solo Guitar, Vol. 2 is one of Bailey's most successful recordings and a shining example of his extraordinary imagination and integrity. The pieces, titled only for the clock time at which they were recorded, are utterly assured even while venturing into territory that no one else has explored. Bailey seems incapable of not having a wealth of ideas at his fingertips. Think of it as being in the company of a master conversationalist, telling stories the likes of which you've never heard before. This is Derek Bailey, one of the finest storytellers around. by Brian Olewnick  
Tracklist :
1    Ten 10    17:08
Derek Bailey
2    Ten 28    6:33
Derek Bailey
3    Two 50    6:28
Derek Bailey
4    Two 57    3:25
Derek Bailey
5    Three    4:04
Derek Bailey
6    Three 05    2:44
Derek Bailey
7    Three 08    1:21
Derek Bailey
Credits :
Guitar – Derek Bailey

DEREK BAILEY — Aida (1980-1996) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Aida, consisting of two live recordings from 1980, captures Derek Bailey on the cusp between his early-career thorny and more drastic explorations of the outer limits of guitar playing and the subtler, softer (though no less idiosyncratic) approaches he would often employ later on. Throughout his career, Bailey has championed what he calls "non-idiomatic improvisation," an attempt to improvise without reference to any pre-existing musical styles. While perhaps impossible to achieve 100 percent, he has certainly made it difficult to describe his work with the normal allusions and comparisons to that of others. The first track on Aida, "Paris," is a gorgeous and relatively smooth excursion in Bailey's sound-world. One imagines that if England had a tradition of koto accompaniment for Noh plays, it might sound something like this. Not that there is an overt Asian influence, but the sparseness and careful choice of notes gives one a slight sense of both Eastern asceticism and luxury within that asceticism.
Though he has professed to not particularly enjoying solo playing, that circumstance is often the easiest introduction to Bailey's work. Aida is a remarkably beautiful entry to one of the world's masterful musicians. Indeed, he sounds like no one else. Brian Olewnick  
Tracklist :
1     Paris 19:36
Derek Bailey
Recorded By – Jean-Marc Foussat
2     Niigata Snow 6:55
Recorded By – Adam Skeaping     
3     An Echo in Another's Mind 14:07
Derek Bailey
Recorded By – Adam Skeaping
Credits :
Guitar – Derek Bailey

DEREK BAILEY - Duo & Trio Improvisations (1978-1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This 1978 recording finds the estimable British guitarist in the musical company of several members of the cutting edge of the Japanese jazz avant-garde of the time. These musicians, including Kaoru Abe (who died later that year), the late bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa, and the trumpeter Toshinori Kondo match Bailey's unique brand of spiky intelligence with grace and confidence. The duo between Bailey and Kondo, wielding two trumpets simultaneously, is a small gem of concise free improv, while the trio with Abe and saxophonist Mototeru Takagi screams along with abandon. The session includes a couple of duos between Kondo and Takagi. One is a brief piece with each on multiple horns, sounding very much as though intended in tribute to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, who had died a few months prior to this recording. The other is a very attractive, considered performance beginning with watery lines that escalate into cascading torrents of sound. When the trio that opened the disc (Bailey, Yoshizawa, and drummer Toshi Tsuchitori) returns for a finale, the listener has the sense of having witnessed an intriguing roundtable of ideas, a meeting of cultures that turned out to not be very different. Duo + Trio Improvisations isn't an earthshaking entry in Bailey's lengthy discography, but a fine and absorbing listen, worthy of notice. by Brian Olewnick
Tracklist :
1    Improvisation 21 9:23
Bass – M. Yoshizawa
Drums, Percussion – T. Tsuchitori
2    Improvisation 22 2:28
Trumpet, Alto Horn – T. Kondo
3    Improvisation 23 12:04
Alto Saxophone – K. Abe
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – M. Takagi
4    Improvisation 24 8:00
Drums, Percussion – T. Tsuchitori
5    Improvisation 25 1:59
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – M. Takagi
Trumpet, Alto Horn – T. Kondo
6    Improvisation 26 5:41
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – M. Takagi
Trumpet, Alto Horn – T. Kondo
7    Improvisation 27 6:16
Bass – M. Yoshizawa
Drums, Percussion – T. Tsuchitori
Credits :
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – D. Bailey (faixas: 1 to 4, 7)

DEREK BAILEY WITH MIN TANAKA - Music and Dance (1996) FLAC (tracks), lossless

 Min Tanaka is a dancer, and although can hear the sporadic shuffling or stomping of feet or the slapping of hands against a wall, one gets the impression that Derek Bailey is being more directly influenced by the dance movements themselves and adjusting his improvisations accordingly. A photo inside the disc package shows Bailey walking and playing around Tanaka who, in this instance, is huddled nude, pressing himself into a wall.
The ambience of the recording site, a glass-ceilinged, abandoned forge in Paris, plays the other significant role here. Several minutes into the first track, a heavy rainstorm erupts, creating a low roar that briefly threatens to overwhelm the music. Bailey, with his classic English ability to take things in stride, simply uses the sound as material to work with and accompanies the downpour with aplomb. When the leaking roof causes a small fusillade of water drops, these too are incorporated into the fabric of the piece, and quite beautifully. In fact, on occasion Bailey sits out entirely, allowing the rain splatters, the dancer's movements and the passing car engine to fully inhabit the sound space.
As is the case with many of his releases, Bailey consistently amazes the listener both with his extraordinary ability to coax sounds from his guitar that may have never before been heard or imagined and, more importantly, his unerring sense of exactly when to utilize those sounds. While Bailey remains maligned in so-called traditional circles, it's clear that he's admired by one of the musicians most deeply involved with the entire tradition of the guitar. by Brian Olewnick  
Tracklist :
Rain Dance    
1    Rain Dance Pt 1    5:02
2    Rain Dance Pt 2    7:49
3    Rain Dance Pt 3    3:10
4    Rain Dance Pt 4    5:14
5    Rain Dance Pt 5    6:20
Saturday Dance    
6    Saturday Dance Pt 1    5:00
7    Saturday Dance Pt 2    8:25
8    Saturday Dance Pt 3    3:58
9    Saturday Dance Pt 4    5:15
10    Saturday Dance Pt 5    3:31
Credits :
Guitar – Derek Bailey
Performer [Dance] – Min Tanaka

DEREK BAILEY / GEORGE LEWIS / JOHN ZORN - Yankees (1982-1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

A collective improvisation by Derek Bailey on acoustic and electric guitars, George Lewis on trombone, and John Zorn on alto and soprano saxes, clarinets, and game calls. Subtle, droll, hilarious takes on the trivia of baseball sounds: Lewis speaks through the trombone "ball one, ball one...." There are snippets of a slipping and sliding version of "Take Me out to the Ball Game" and so on. Sections are titled "City City City," "The Legend of Enos Slaughter," "Who's on First," followed by "On Golden Pond," a tongue-in-cheek tone poem of the flora and fauna and mosquitoes. "The Warning Track" is about a very tiny railroad system . by "Blue" Gene Tyranny
Tracklist :
1     City City City 8:29
Derek Bailey / George Lewis / John Zorn
2     The Legend of Enos Slaughter 9:27
Derek Bailey / George Lewis / John Zorn
3     Who's on First? 3:15
Derek Bailey / George Lewis / John Zorn
4     On Golden Pond 17:49
Derek Bailey / George Lewis / John Zorn
5     The Warning Track 5:27
Derek Bailey / George Lewis / John Zorn
Credits :
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Derek Bailey
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet, Reeds [Game Calls] – John Zorn
Trombone – George Lewis