6. Derek BaileyAida
I understand you worked with Derek Bailey early in your career?
He was invited in the 80s to my hometown to play an improvised music festival – it was a festival for only one year, an attempt to make a festival out there. It didn’t work so well. But Derek was there and I had the pleasure of playing with him. And then we just kept in touch. I think this is ‘88 or something. And he invited me to [free improv festival] Company Week in London and we always kept in touch. An amazing, amazing learning experience on all levels.
There’s a lot of Derek Bailey records but I think this is my favourite solo record because he’s one of the most amazing solo musicians ever in the history of music. This record is so… it’s a little more held back maybe? There’s other records of his that are more expressive and with more energy maybe, but when you go into the micro details this is such a rich record and it goes in a lot of different directions. With Derek it’s about the flow of energy and the details, it’s such an extremely detailed music and it keeps me awake, it keeps me alive. I need this music!
Derek is one of the most important figures in improvised music. Also the book and the series he made for Channel 4, On The Edge, on improvisation. When I have a workshop situation or have students, I always point them in the direction of the book or the series. It’s so easy going, it’s all about music and all about communication between human beings, which I think is pretty beautiful and very important if you want to do music.
