Derek Bailey
English guitarist central to free improvisation and non-idiomatic playing.
Derek Bailey (1930–2005) was central to the development of free improvisation and non-idiomatic playing, co-founding the Music Improvisation Company with Evan Parker, Jamie Muir, and Hugh Davies in 1968, and Incus Records with Parker, Tony Oxley, and Michael Walters in 1970 — the first musician-owned independent record label in England, launched with the trio recording The Topography of the Lungs alongside Parker and Han Bennink. From 1987 to 1994 he organized the ad hoc Company Weeks, bringing together improvisers across disparate traditions.
Works in the Library
Derek Bailey, Jamie Muir ALBUM 1981
1981 duo album by Derek Bailey and Jamie Muir, recorded at Crane Grove, London.
Derek Bailey BOOK 1980
Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music
Derek Bailey's 1980 book, the first to treat improvisation across every musical tradition as a unified subject.
TIME
Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink ALBUM 1970
1970 trio recording by Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, and Han Bennink — Incus Records' inaugural release and Parker's debut as a leader.
Related Groups in the Library
Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, Evan Parker, Michael Walters ORGANIZATION
The first musician-owned independent record label in England, founded 1970 by Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, and Evan Parker.
Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Hugh Davies, Jamie Muir 1968
London free-improvisation quartet active 1968-1971, pairing Derek Bailey's guitar and Evan Parker's saxophone with live electronics and percussion.
