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 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.
Funkadelic is the debut album by the American funk band Funkadelic, released in 1970 on Westbound Records.
The Hokey Cokey or Hokey Pokey is a participation dance with a distinctive accompanying tune and lyric structure. It is well known in English-speaking countries. It originates in a British folk dance, with variants attested as early as 1826. The song and accompanying dance peaked in popularity as a music hall song and novelty dance in the mid-1940s in the UK. The song became a chart hit twice in the 1980s. The first UK hit was by The Snowmen, which peaked at UK No. 18 in 1981.
Han Bennink is a Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing clarinet, violin, banjo and piano.
"Chattanooga Choo Choo" is a 1941 song written by Mack Gordon and composed by Harry Warren. It was originally recorded as a big band/swing tune by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra and featured in the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade. It was the first song to receive a gold record, presented by RCA Victor in 1942, for sales of 1.2 million copies.
Evan Shaw Parker is a British saxophone player who plays free jazz.
Borbetomagus are a free jazz/noise rock group. They are cited by critics as pioneers of aggressive improvised noise music.
Amy Denio is a Seattle (USA)-based multi-instrumental composer of soundtracks for modern dance, film and theater, as well as a songwriter and music improviser. Her inspirations include world music, and is mainly known as a vocalist, accordionist and saxophone-player. Among her current musical involvements are The Tiptons Sax Quartet and Die Resonanz Stanonczi, a radical folk group based in Salzburg, Austria. She has also collaborated repeatedly with the Pat Graney Dance Company, David Dorfman Dance Company, Victoria Marks, and with many other choreographers.
"Idioteque" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their fourth album, Kid A (2000). Primarily electronic and dance-oriented in style, the song was hailed as a radical departure from the band's earlier guitar-driven music. Although it was never released as a single, it has become one of the band's most popular songs, and played at nearly every concert since 2000. The song is listed at #8 on Pitchfork Media's top 500 songs of the 2000s,, ranked #56 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of the 2000s and ranked #33 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Songs of the Century - So Far".
Killick Hinds of Athens, Georgia is active as a composer, performer, and promoter of a wide range of music. He plays quartertone electric guitar, as well as Big Red harp guitar and the H'arpeggione, an 18-stringed upright acoustic instrument with sympathetic strings, both built by Fred Carlson. Equally influenced by improvisational music and "composed" sounds, Killick's style blends primitive folk, heavy metal, and sacred musics from around the world. Killick has played with improvisers including Susan Alcorn, Liz Allbee, Susie Allen, Brent Bagwell, Colin Bragg, Jeff Crouch, Chris Cutler, Jeremiah Cymerman, Brann Dailor, Ernesto Diaz-Infante, Lisle Ellis, Tony Evans, Drew Gardner, the Georgia Guitar Quartet, Vinny Golia, Frank Gratkowski, Mary Halvorson, Blake Helton, Carl Ludwig Huebsch, Henry Kaiser, Ben Kennedy, Harald Kimmig, Habib Koité, Peter Kowald, Craig Lieske, Marshall Marrotte, Jeff McLeod, Tatsuya Nakatani, Larry Ochs, Brian Osborne, Ravi Padmanabha, Dennis Palmer, Dave Rempis, Blaise Siwula, Carl Smith, Bob Stagner, Sándor Szabó, Ken Vandermark, Matthew Welch, and Eric Zinman.
Mario Sorrenti is an Italian-American photographer and director best known for his spreads of nude models in the pages of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.
Pop Levi is an English singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer.
John Stigall was an American poet, Associate Professor of English, and poet-in-residence at Chattanooga State Technical Community College.
Playfair Cricket Annual is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. It has been published every year since 1948. Its main purposes are to review the previous English season and to provide detailed career records and potted biographies of current players. It is produced in a "pocket-sized" format, being approximately 5×4 in, so that it is a convenient size for carrying to cricket matches. The front cover of each edition has featured a photograph of a prominent current cricketer. There is a popular myth that this "honour" has a "hex" or "curse" associated with it, as the player featured then invariably has a poor season.
Bob Stagner is an American drummer and percussionist who has worked with a wide range of artists in every discipline, from Blueground Undergrass to Derek Bailey and Howard Finster. Stagner and Dennis Palmer co-founded the free improvisation duo the Shaking Ray Levis and the Shaking Ray Levi Society, an arts education organization that supports emerging artists in performance, art and film. Stagner also works with The Rhythmic Arts Project, founded by drummer Eddie Tuduri. He is not only a musician but also a very talented drum teacher.
Wayne White is an American artist, art director, puppeteer, set designer, animator, cartoonist and illustrator. He has won three Emmy Awards for his work.
The Monolators are an American rock band from Los Angeles composed of Eli Chartkoff, Mary Chartkoff (drums), Ashley Jex (bass), Ray Gurrola, and Jillinda Palmer (keyboards).
Frank Pahl is a Michigan-based musician/composer, working in several styles including "toy pop", or music made with toys. He works primarily in Wyandotte and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has exhibited his work in Canada, Europe and Japan, as well as the United States.
"Harlem Shake" is a song recorded by American DJ and producer Baauer. It was released as his debut single on May 22, 2012, by Mad Decent imprint label Jeffree's. The uptempo song—variously described as trap, hip hop or bass music—incorporates a mechanical bassline, Dutch house synth riffs, a dance music drop, and samples of growling-lion sounds. It also samples Plastic Little's 2001 song "Miller Time", specifically the vocal "then do the Harlem shake", which is an allusion to the dance of the same name. Baauer added a variety of peculiar sounds to the song so that it would stand out.
