I'd say start w/'Aida', Mark. Marcello, who has far more Bailey discs
than me, nominated this rec as his absolute fave on another thread,
and it's certainly one of DB's most beautiful and (relatively
speaking) 'tuneful' solo acoustic albs. Hans Reichel, for one, has
prob. listened to it quite a lot. It was reissued by Dexter's Cigar
on CD a few years ago and shouldn't be too hard to find. The two
'Solo Guitar' albs on Incus are also v. fine, as is the live 'Lace'
CD on Emanem (plus it includes some inimitable between-song-chitchat
from Bailey.) 'Guitar, Drums'N'Bass' on Zorn's Japanese Avant label
has DB playing along to DJ Ninj's frankly rather average jungle
tracks; it's a pretty approachable novelty alb, if perhaps a little
dated now. 'Playbacks' (on the American Bingo label) does a similar
kind of thing, with a variety of backing track suppliers (Casey Rice,
Kaiser, John French, John Oswald, Jim O'Rourke, Loren Mazzacane
Connors etc.) producing some rather mixed results.
Of the duo albs, I like 'Music and Dance', reissued by Table of the
Elements/Revenant, where Bailey accompanies dancer Min Tanaka.
There's an extraordinary moment when rain begins to fall heavily on
the concert hall roof, adding a harsh percussive beat to the
recording. There's also 'Dart Drug', an Incus alb recorded w/ ex-King
Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir, which is classic kitchen sink
improv wildness, while DB's meeting w/ Cecil Taylor - on the live FMP
alb 'Pleistozaen Mit Wasser' - pretty much lives up to all
expectations. 'Daedal', a recentish Incus alb with
drummer/percussionist Susie Ibarra, has Bailey on v. strong form on
electric guitar throughout. 'Wireworks' w/Henry Kaiser is a
relatively rare example of DG playing w/ another guitarist. It's a
little dry and 'academic' in places, but beautifully recorded in a
church. I've only heard the first of DB's two encounters w/Keiji
Haino - 'Drawing Close, Attuning' on Japanese Takoma - but it lacked
the fireworks I was sort of hoping for (they both play acoustic
throughout, which doesn't help.)
DB has played w/ a number of different groups/line-ups in his time.
'Karyobin' by the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, recorded in early 1968,
already has a spikily recognisable Bailey playing alongside the cream
of early British improv - Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland, John Stevens
and DB's old sparring partner Evan Parker. Parker and Bailey also
appear on Peter Brotzmann's 'Nipples' (if you see what I mean...)
which is a great free jazz mindfuck muckfest. Previously rare as
hen's teeth, it was finally resissued by Atavistic last year and is
well worth seeking out for a great thick wodge of classic Euro improv
skree. Tony Oxley's '4 Compositions For Sextet' is another recently
reissued stone improv classic, w/ Bailey, Parker, Oxley, and Wheeler
joined by bassist Jeff Clyne and trombonist Paul Rutherford for a no-
holds-barred blast off.
Bailey also played w/ Rutherford and Barry Guy in the early-mid
seventies line-up of Iskra 1903, and a couple of years ago Emanem
brought out an absolutely terrific 3CD live/studio comp by the trio
called 'First Chapter'. Back in the 70s and 80s Bailey also used to
organise 'Company Week', a big musical face-off for European and
American improvisers, including Anthony Braxton, Zorn, Buckethead,
even Lee Konitz! Any of the 'Company' albs you can find are well
worth yr time and money.
More recently, the two (?) recs that Bailey has made w/ Japanese
psych noise skronkers Ruins are fast, loud and even quite proggy in
places, while the 'Harras' trio alb w/ John Zorn and William Parker,
and 'The Last Wave' by Arcana (Bailey, Tony Williams and Bill
Laswell) are thick, fat flat-out electric noise blurts from start to
finish.
Finally, Bailey also played guitar on the original version of 'Jesus'
Blood Never Failed Me Yet' by Gavin Bryars, which is almost certainly
the most 'gentle' recording in DB's discog.
Is that enough to be going on with...?
― Andrew L, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)