Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician(s) involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right.
Derek Bailey 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 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.
The Spontaneous Music Ensemble (SME) was a loose collection of free improvising musicians convened beginning in the mid-1960s by the late South London-based jazz drummer/trumpeter John Stevens and alto and soprano saxophonist Trevor Watts. SME performances and recordings could range from Stevens–Watts duos to gatherings of more than a dozen players.
John William Stevens was an English drummer and a founding member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble.
Evan Shaw Parker is a British saxophone player who plays free jazz.
Tony Oxley is an English free-jazz drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records.
The Snake Decides is a studio album by British jazz saxophonist Evan Parker. It was released in 1988 on Parker and Derek Bailey's Incus Records label, and re-released on Parker's Psi label in 2003. It is currently out of print.
Barry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music under Buxton Orr, and later taught there.
Emanem Records is a record company and independent record label founded in London, England in 1974 by Martin Davidson and Madelaine Davidson to record free improvisation.
Paul William Rutherford was an English free improvising trombonist.
The Topography of the Lungs is an album by saxophonist Evan Parker, guitarist Derek Bailey and percussionist Han Bennink which was recorded in London on 13 July 1970 and became the first release on the Incus label. It is considered a milestone of the free improvisation genre.
John Howard Riley is an English pianist and composer, who worked in jazz and experimental music idioms.
Yankees is an album of improvised music by Derek Bailey, John Zorn & George Lewis. The album was released as an LP by Celluloid in 1983 and was reissued on CD by Celluloid and Charly. It is the first recorded meeting of John Zorn and Derek Bailey. The pair would later release the album, Harras, with William Parker in 1993. Zorn and Lewis would collaborate further on News for Lulu (1988) and More News for Lulu (1993) with Bill Frisell.
Nipples is a 1969 album by free jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, originally released on the Calig record label. The title track is performed by a sextet comprising Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey (guitar), Fred Van Hove (piano), Han Bennink (drums), and Buschi Niebergall (bass). The other track featured, "Tell a Green Man", is performed by a quartet made up of Brötzmann, Van Hove, Niebergall, and Bennink.
Far Cry is a jazz album by musician Eric Dolphy with trumpeter Booker Little, originally released in 1962 on New Jazz, a subsidiary of the Prestige label. Featuring their co-led quintet, it is one of the few studio recordings of their partnership. It is also one of the earliest appearances of bassist Ron Carter on record. Dolphy took part in Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz session before recording this album on the same day. He had participated in the recording of Jazz Abstractions the previous day.
John Russell (1954–2021) was an acoustic guitarist who worked in free improvisation beginning in the 1970s. He promoted concerts and appeared on more than 50 recordings.
First Duo Concert is an album by American jazz saxophonist Anthony Braxton and British guitarist Derek Bailey recorded in 1974 at the Wigmore Hall in London and released by Emanem.
Frode Gjerstad is a Norwegian jazz musician with alto saxophone as principal instrument, but he also plays other saxophones, clarinet, and flute. He has collaborated with Paal Nilssen-Love, Borah Bergman, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Bjørn Kjellemyr, Terje Isungset, William Parker, Sabir Mateen, John Stevens, Johnny Dyani, Kent Carter, and since 1979 has contributed to more than 50 recordings.
The Baptised Traveller is the debut album by English free-jazz drummer Tony Oxley, which was recorded in 1969, released on CBS as part of their Realm Jazz Series and reissued on CD by Columbia in 1999. The album, the first of a trilogy that Oxley recorded for major labels, has enjoyed legendary status for years as an avant-garde classic.
Ode is an album by the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra composed by bassist Barry Guy and conducted by his teacher, Buxton Orr. It was recorded as part of the English Bach Festival at the Oxford Town Hall in 1972 and first released as a double album on the Incus label then as a double CD on Intakt in 1996 with additional material.
