BAILEY, DEREK - Aida

"Continuing their ongoing series of reissues of music by Derek Bailey, Honest Jons Records present a first vinyl reissue of Aida, originally released on the guitarists own Incus label in 1980. Expanded for this release, the present version of this masterwork adds two hitherto unreleased gems recorded solo for Charles Foxs Radio 3 program Jazz in Britain, in the same few months of 1980 as the stunning original performances. The phrase in the moment" is often bandied about with reference to free improvisation, and indeed theres no better way to describe Derek Baileys playing. The acoustic guitar is notoriously lacking in natural reverberation -- notes barely hang in the air for a couple of seconds before they disappear -- which explains the almost non-stop flow of new material in these stellar performances. Bailey knew from one split-second to the next exactly where to find the same pitch on different strings, either as a stopped tone or a ringing harmonic, and theres never a note out of place. "He who kisses the joy as it flies," in the words of William Blake, "lives in eternitys sunrise" -- and this music is forever in the moment, constantly active but never gabby, kissing the joy. One of the special pleasures of the BBC set is the guitarists own laconic commentary, a deliciously deadpan description of what hes doing while hes doing it. "I like to think of it -- as a kind of music" -- and the interaction between words and music is a particular delight. "You may have noticed a certain lack of variety," he quips, while unleashing a furiously complex volley. Is it a coincidence that the final seconds recall the famous cycling fifths of the coda to Thelonious Monks "Round Midnight"? Surely not; Bailey, like Monk, was a note man par excellence; theyre both still alive and well in eternitys sunrise." - Honest Jons.