On The Edge - Improvisation in Music

In the continuing search for programs that would not get made today, we present Derek Bailey's series on Improvisation from 1992...

Jun 23, 2023

The Series

Before we get to some of the artists themselves, the series itself generated a lot of interest and discussion.

Here's a link to the "No Idea" Festival, a festival of improvised music based in Austin, Texas, which recently showed the complete documentary as part of their Film/Video section.
Here's an article from the "Sound American" which discusses Bailey's involvement with the series, with particular reference to the earlier book.

Messiaen organ improv

The Performers, (or should that be “Players”?)

I suppose I could have chosen anything for Mark Eastley, it just so happens that I have a weakness for Follies…

Eastley's Arc reminds me of Kapelmeister Kreisler's favourite instrument, the Tromba Marina!

Here is a link to an entire thesis on the subject of improvisation in Classical Music

The Misra Brothers. Sadly, Rajan died in 2021 from complications surrounding Covid.

Here’s a cool Ram Narayan freak out!

Some Omissions…

Here’s Sun Ra doing a form of “Conduction”, where he literally plays the Arkestra. There was also a thing called the “Space Chord”, where on a command, each musician would play the first note that came into their heads.

The Art Ensemble of Chicago in front of a very polite French audience.

The Future….slight return.

The series was fair enough, but things didn’t quite turn out as it predicted… here are some unexpected developments…

Spring Heel Jack is an intriguing use of DJ technology with free jazz elements. I could have put up something from their very successful album “The Sweetness of the Water”, but this album sounds much closer to the time I heard them.