The Topography Of The Lungs

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In free improv circle, the acrimonious split between Evan Parker (sax) and Derek Bailey (guitar) carries as much weight as the Beatles bust-up does in rock. Pretty much the founding fathers of a strand of European improvisational music, blending post-serialist austerity with dada gymnastic, Parker and Bailey mixed-up something as impossible, mad and dazzling as a bag of spiders at a snake-charming contest. In the late sixties and early seventie, this was the underground beneath the underground - a sound which stood up and questioned what listening, playing and music itself actually wa. It’s never been entirely clear why they fell out - Bailey largely refused to mention the affair when he was alive. Parker remains quietly diplomatic - suggesting something of a clash of personalitie. Whatever the cause, after the split Parker devoted himself increasingly to post-Coltrane extended techniques and solo project. Bailey ploughed his own unique non-idiomatic furrow, working with a myriad of international musicians whilst largely steering clear of anything that could remotely be called ‘jazz’, or ‘melodic’. .

via Last.fm

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