Improvisation on Guitar Piece No. 1

Derek Bailey died on December 25. I came close to hearing him live once, at Copenhagen jazzhouse a couple of years ago where he was to perform with terribly overrated danish drummer Kresten Osgood. The gig was cancelled due to illness. At that point I had no idea that Derek was ill, and seriously ill at that.

Until he left us, I still had some hope of booking him at Jazz i Malmo or finding some way to get him to play with Christian Saggese. Now I can only imagine what this duet would have sounded like. Luckily, there are many recordings of Bailey, mainly on the Incus and Emanem labels. Support these companies and buy some Bailey recordings.

Derek Bailey (1930-2005) was buried this morning in London.

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Improvisation on Guitar Piece No. 1 is, of course, an improvisation by Derek Bailey. It is taken from the Tzadik CD Pieces for Guitar, featuring some of Bailey's earliest recorded playing. It is incredible to hear him play the way he does on these private recordings. The ideas were there already forty years ago, and he spent the rest of his life refining his art and craft.