company- fables (1980- incus 36) - flac

this too, was a lucky introduction to free improvised music.

bought on the same day as the previously posted fictions .. and the bailey/holland improvised duets on ecm(which i no longer own) this one was a real revelation and remains one of my favourite incus sets.

a very luminous album ..that hopefully may one day see the light of day once more.

the incus back catalog in disarray now that derek's gone

who knows..

fables incus 36- 1980

derek bailey -guitar

evan parker -soprano and tenor saxes

george lewis- trombone

dave holland -bass

side 1-

atg 4

atg 6

atg 3

side 2-

atg 13

atg 2

atg 9

if by any chance someone has the bailey/holland duets they could upload in either flac or 320 mp3 that would be wonderful!!

company- fictions 1977 incus.. flac and lame

An early improv purchase , thats long out of print and hasn’t seen cd reissue.
This is an often misunderstood album.. almost universally panned by critics who tend to miss the pervasive whimsy and obvious self parody.
In part it stems from the fact that each of the group read from Derek baileys book ‘improvisation its nature and practice in music’ as the music unfolds.
Nothing portentious or even remotely self important here though at times they appear to be hamming serious pretense..

Mengelbergs solo and interaction with coxhill( in particular) on side 2 where he builds an incredible solo which incorporates quotes and dissections of several Beethoven sontas,(including the’ hammerklavier’) seemingly tossing them all in a rhythmic blender.

Beautiful stuff.



Great to hear bailey, mengleberg,and coxhill together, I hadn’t listened to this in years .. what a joy !!!



Info
Side 1
Consisting of-
1) theology
2) ontology
3)speak up lad

side 2
1) so few
2) so many
3) so so
4) so what
5) so long



Derek bailey- guitar, voice
Lol coxhill- soprano sax , voice
Steven Beresford- piano ,toys, voice
Mischa mengelberg- piano, celeste, voice
Ian croall- voice

Recorded in London, august 1977