Derek Bailey Interviewed By Henry Kaiser

Full interview with avant-garde guitarist from 1989   21-Sep-21

Derek Bailey was an avant-garde guitarist who started out as a conventional session musician in the 1960s. Having met Gavin Bryars and other experimental musicians, he went on to forge his own unique style of guitar playing. This full interview from December 7th details his various techniques, discussing the details of spacing, fingering, and the interplay between consciousness intention and free improvisation. 

They go on to discuss the role of improvisation in classical Indian music, the jazz music of John Coltrane, the cadenzas of traditional concertos, and even church organ music. The interviewer, Henry Kaiser is an established guitarist in his own right, with 300+ albums to his name as well as 20 years of research diving and film making in Antarctica to his name. We posted Henry's interview with Terry Riley a few weeks ago. 

A version with the pre-recorded music removed is available here. 

About the author [midierror]: midierror makes nifty Max For Live devices, innovative music hardware, award winning sample packs and hosts a podcast speaking to people in the music world.