New Piece: Portraits of the Dead- Derek Bailey

[Joseph Benzola]

In my on going series of pieces (started in 1994), I present my newest portrait, POD Derek Bailey. Derek has had a huge influence on my musical conception since I first heard his playing in the late 1970's. This portrait is performed on solo Drum Kat. Funny how Derek at times sounds like a cross between Tony Oxley and Milton Babbitt!!! So goes the way of the cosmos...

Portraits of the Dead- Derek Bailey

[James Ross]

Lightning quick and pointillistic. Yet somehow guitarlike and spidery. Cool piece, man.

You should put a link in here.

[Joseph Benzola]

Hey Jim:

Thanks sooooo much for the listen and kind words. But the question needs to be asked; how the hell did I forget to post a link????? The only answer is old age... it's sabotaging a very promising career ... ;-)

James Ross said:

Lightning quick and pointillistic. Yet somehow guitarlike and spidery. Cool piece, man.

You should put a link in here.

[Greg Hooper]

yeah it's a beauty Joseph - and hints of the return of the syndrum too!!

[Joseph Benzola]

Thanks for the listen Gregg.... I figured that the plectrum community would be coming out to listen to this one! Yes hints of Syndrum but mostly to my ears the Roland 808 and 909. Though I probably own more acoustic drums/percussion instruments than most music stores, I heard this piece as being electronic in nature.

[Jeff Harrington]

Weird, intense and believably chaotic although sonically artificial. Very odd! ;)

[Joseph Benzola]

Ha...that is a perfect description of Bailey's music! He never sounded like a guitar player, he abstracted all melody, rhythm, and harmony and his musical notation and tools were of the moment. To me, he is truly a unique individual and master deconstructionist. Whether one liked his music or not, he was one of the rare few to create their own sound/vibrational universe.

Jeff Harrington said:

Weird, intense and believably chaotic although sonically artificial. Very odd! ;)

[Paul H. Muller]

Very precise, tight rhythm. Light and airy texture. Fast-paced.

Nice piece...

[danstearns]

hey the jB \

No aliens, just a suddenly dead mobile -------but hey man, it’s so great to hear you back up and Portrait of the Dead-ing (et al-ing) again .Bailey was interesting in that he wasn’t afraid to set up and do his thing with anybody……..in fact, I think he got off on the dichotomy of the collisions so long as his favored extension of improvisation was front and center. I’d hesitate to call what he did non-idiomatic, as he kind of was an idiom unto himself as well as a noble citizen in a community of like-minded folks.

anyway, he left a zillion recorded epitaphs in his passing, and a few of my favorites that jump right to mind are Dark Drug, a duo with percussionist Jamie Muir, and the duo record he did with Tony Coe on clarinet, called Time.

what’s nice on your homage, ImO, is that you didn’t intentionally ape the Bailey syntax as so many admirers would be wont to do, but you rather offered a crystal-clear, Benzola-filtered piece thrown hard and fast for a strike in that place where Bailey resonates in the creative process rather than that place where one is engaged in a collaboration, distillation, impression, or interpretation

Ok, enough of my droning on-----Bravo (etc) and thanks for sharing !

[Bob West]

word.
good work JB !
i enjoyed it.
smile on my face.

[Steve Moshier]

This is so totally bitchen I can't believe it!

[Dominik Strycharski]

Nice. Nice usage of arpeggiator.
Nice idea of semi-chaotic yet unified music.

[Joseph Benzola]

Hey Dominik- thanks for the listen and comments. One thing though, there was no arpeggiator used. All of that was played in real time on a drum kat with drum sticks and two foot pedals.

Dominik Strycharski said:

Nice. Nice usage of arpeggiator.
Nice idea of semi-chaotic yet unified music.