Derek Bailey - Mirakle (2000)

In recent years something of a subproject has developed in the Derek Bailey canon, seemingly at the prompting of John Zorn--the Derek Bailey Power Trio. Prior to this disc was the Arcana group that recorded _The Last Wave_ (Bailey plus Tony Williams & Bill Laswell), & a pair of discs with Japan's The Ruins. _Mirakle_ finds him in the company of Jamaaladeen Tacuma & Calvin Weston, & it's indeed something of a miracle that this encounter turns out well. What's striking to this listener is the amount of interaction among the musicians--on his own ground in free-improv situations Bailey frequently avoids obvious interplay or dialogue, but here there's little sense of parallel paths: check out, for instance, his brilliant bobbing & weaving over & under the head-nodding groove that opens "What It Is". Frequently Bailey simply ignores pitch entirely to scrub rhythmically at the strings to create counterrhythms; or he will let a harsh ringing note hang over the tumult below. Actually, I suspect many blindfolded listeners might suppose this a particularly offbeat James Blood Ulmer date.

Listening to this album one hears a strange meeting of two musical worlds--American funk & English avantgarde improv--& one's sense is expanded of what these styles can do, & how flexible they can be. Tacuma and Weston are terrific--it's remarkable how Tacuma's feline, rubbery lines set up grooves that push ahead without locking things down. The improvisations are basically jams in which the American musicians set a groove up & then the trio picks it apart until it falls to pieces, only to be replaced by another. A common method of proceeding--but what's rare in such jamming, & impressive here, is how the segues never seem to be treading water in search of the next idea: this is music packed with moment-by-moment detail & eventfulness.

A strange, compelling & rather addictive album: rather unexpectedly for an album by Derek Bailey it's, er, a lot of fun. A really fine CD: fans of rarefied Brit-improv will probably hate it, but I suspect James Blood Ulmer fans will love it.... [in amazon customers reviews]

Jamaaladeen Tacuma - bass
Calvin Weston - drums
Derek Bailey - guitar

1. Moment
2. What it is
3. This Time
4. Nebeula
5. Present
6. S' Now

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Ornette Coleman - Virgin Beauty (1988)

1. Wishes
2. Bourgeois Boogie
3. Happy Hour
4. Virgin Beauty
5. Healing The Feeling
6. Singing In The Shower
7. Desert Players
8. Honeymooners
9. Chanting
10. Spelling The Alphabet
11. Unknown Artists

Bern Nix - guitar

Calvin Weston - drums

Chris Walker - bass

Denardo Coleman - percussion, drums, keyboards

Ornette Coleman - trumpet, performer, arranger, violin, saxophone

Jerry Garcia - guitar

Al Macdowell - bass

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