These twelve duets between African-American avant-gardist Anthony Braxton and Brit Derek Bailey are remarkable for several reasons, not the least of which is that this is the first recording of these two seminal figures performing in tandem.
For this live concert, Braxton brought his array of horns: contrabass, soprano, and Bb clarinets, flute, and sopranino and alto saxophones, while Bailey alternated between amplified and acoustic 19-string guitars.
Coming from entirely different traditions of free music, Braxton emits a more melodic, tonal approach, while Bailey exemplifies an atonal, abstract concept.
The results are hugely successful, with the two meeting halfway.
As an indication of Braxton's remarkable diversity, it is worth noting that he recorded his two mainstream In the Tradition albums for SteepleChase just the month before.
The duo recorded here with Bailey is surprisingly accessible, and contrasts two complementary approaches within the free music genre.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The First Set - Area 1Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Play | 08:23 | 19 MB | 30 MB |
| 2 | The First Set - Area 2Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Play | 03:12 | 7 MB | 9 MB |
| 3 | The First Set - Area 4 (Solo)Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Play | 02:44 | 6 MB | 7 MB |
| 4 | The First Set - Area 5Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Play | 05:21 | 12 MB | 16 MB |
| 5 | The First Set - Area 6Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Play | 06:11 | 14 MB | 16 MB |
| 6 | The Second Set - Area 7Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Play | 06:48 | 15 MB | 20 MB |
| 7 | The Second Set - Area 8Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Play | 06:22 | 14 MB | 22 MB |
| 8 | The Second Set - Area 9 (Solo)Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Play | 05:56 | 13 MB | 19 MB |
| 9 | The Second Set - Area 10Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Play | 04:32 | 10 MB | 14 MB |
| 10 | The Second Set - Area 12Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton | Play | 03:58 | 9 MB | 15 MB |
| 11 | The First Set - Area 3 (Open) | Derek Bailey | Play | 08:43 | 19 MB | 28 MB |
| 12 | The Second Set - Area 11 (Open) | Derek Bailey | Play | 15:28 | 35 MB | 53 MB |
| 77 mins | 178 MB | |||||
| 77 mins | 257 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Derek Bailey | Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Primary Artist |
| 2 | Anthony Braxton | Clarinet, Clarinet (Contrabass), Clarinet (Soprano), Composer, Flute, Primary Artist, Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano) |
| 3 | Martin Davidson | Engineer, Liner Notes |
| 4 | Valerie Wilmer | Photography |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |