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.
George Lowen Coxhill known professionally as Lol Coxhill, was an English free improvising saxophonist. He played soprano and sopranino saxophone.
Steve Beresford is a British musician who graduated from the University of York He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, electronics, trumpet, euphonium, bass guitar and a wide variety of toy instruments, such as the toy piano. He has also played a wide range of music. He is probably best known for free improvisation, but has also written music for film and television and has been involved with a number of pop music groups.
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.
John Butcher is an English tenor and soprano saxophone player.
Trevor Charles Watts is an English jazz and free-improvising alto and soprano saxophonist.
Caroline Kraabel is an American saxophonist.
Phil Minton is a British avant-garde jazz/free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter.
Roger Turner is an English jazz percussionist. He plays the drumset, drums, and various percussion, and was brought up into the jazz and visual art cultures inhabited by his older brothers, playing drums from childhood in informal jazz contexts.
John Russell was an acoustic guitarist who worked in free improvisation beginning in the 1970s. He promoted concerts and appeared on more than 50 recordings.
The Seven Dials Jazz Club opened its doors in 1980 as a venue for live music in Covent Garden, London. It hosted a range of artists and styles of jazz and began to attract a regular audience. Starting in 1983, a series of saxophone festivals was held on the premises each year.
Oh Moscow is a 1991 live album by English experimental musician and composer Lindsay Cooper. It is a recording of a song cycle of the same name performed at the 7th Victoriaville Festival in Quebec, Canada on 8 October 1989. The work was composed in 1987 by Cooper with lyrics written by English film director and screenwriter Sally Potter. The song cycle reflects on the Cold War that divided Europe at the time.
Veryan Weston is a British pianist active in free improvisation, jazz, and rock music. He has worked with Lol Coxhill, Eddie Prévost, Trevor Watts, Caroline Kraabel and Phil Minton.
Blown Bone is an album by trombonist Roswell Rudd. It was recorded in March 1976 at Blue Rock Studios in New York City, and was released on LP by Philips Japan in 1979. On the album, Rudd is joined by clarinetist Kenny Davern, saxophonists Steve Lacy and Tyrone Washington, trumpeter Enrico Rava, vocalist Sheila Jordan, pianist Patti Bown, guitarist and vocalist Louisiana Red, bassist Wilbur Little, and drummers Jordan Steckel and Paul Motian. The album was reissued on CD by Emanem Records in 2006 with a different track sequence, and with an additional track recorded in 1967 featuring another ensemble.
A Doughnut in Both Hands is a live album by British vocalist Phil Minton. His first solo album, it was recorded during 1975–1982 at various locations, and was initially released on LP in 1981 by Rift Records. In 1998, Emanem Records reissued the album on CD with six extra tracks.
Live in the World is a live album by the David S. Ware Quartets. Six tracks were recorded in Switzerland in 1998, and feature Ware on saxophone, Matthew Shipp on piano, William Parker on bass, and Susie Ibarra on drums. The remaining tracks were recorded in two locations during 2003: Terni, Italy, with Ware, Shipp, Parker and drummer Hamid Drake; and Milano, Italy, with Drake replaced by Guillermo E. Brown. The album was released as a triple CD set by Thirsty Ear Recordings in 2005.
Light Never Bright Enough is a live album by guitarist Keiji Haino and saxophonist John Butcher. It was recorded on July 9, 2016, at Cafe Oto in London, and was released in 2017 by the Otoroku label.
Chicago 2002 is a live album by trombonist Paul Rutherford. It was recorded on April 26 and 27, 2002, at The Empty Bottle in Chicago, and was released later that year by Emanem Records. The album features an extended Rutherford solo followed by three tracks on which he is joined by saxophonists Lol Coxhill and Mats Gustafsson, trombonist Jeb Bishop, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, bassist Kent Kessler, and percussionist Kjell Nordeson.
In Backward Times is a live album by trombonist Paul Rutherford. Drawn from archival tapes, it was recorded in 1979, 1988, 2004, and 2007, in Milano, London, and Brussels, and was released in 2017 by Emanem Records. On track 1, Rutherford is accompanied by live electronics, while track 2 is a duet with bassist Paul Rogers. Track 3 is a solo performance, and track 4 is a trio setting featuring cellist Marcio Mattos and pianist Veryan Weston. The final track was recorded roughly three months before Rutherford's death, and documents his last public performance.
Tetralogy is a two-CD live album by trombonist Paul Rutherford. Drawn from archival tapes, it was recorded in 1978, 1981, and 1982, in London and Pisa, and was released in 2009 by Emanem Records. The album presents Rutherford in a variety of contexts: two solos, one with electronics, and one without; a brass quartet that features trombonist George E. Lewis, French hornist Martin Mayes, and tubist Melvyn Poore; and a trio with bassist Paul Rogers and drummer Nigel Morris.
