Search - Joseph Holbrooke :: Moat Recordings

Release at last of the Derek Bailey, Gavin Bryars and Tony O

saareman | 04/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Joseph Holbrooke Trio was the legendary group of guitarist Derek Bailey, bassist (later composer) Gavin Bryars and percussionist Tony Oxley. They started in 1963 as a jazz trio inspired by such as the Bill Evans-Scott LaFaro-Paul Motion Trio and the Miles Davis modal period and developed into a group that played totally non-idiomatic improvisation before they went their separate ways in 1966. As they primarily played in the Northern UK area in Sheffield there were very few people who actually ever heard them until a rehearsal single titled Joseph Holbrooke '65 Rehearsal Extract 10'26" of Miles Mode (John Coltrane) was finally released by Bailey's self-owned Incus Records label in 1999. An earlier reunion attempt in 1995 failed to happen due to illness but the group finally got together again on the occasion of a Tony Oxley retrospective organized in Cologne, Germany in 1998. The German radio recording was also subsequently released on Incus as Joseph Holbrooke '98. The group then met in the studio under the sponsorship of Gary Todd and his Cortical Foundation (issuer of a few dozen unique recordings including the archives of composer Terry Riley, some Derek Bailey reissues, and audio/visual works by the extreme composer Hermann Nitsch)



This double CD has had a long gestation period since those recordings at Moat Studios at Stockwell, London in November 1998.

Originally planned as a double CD with 9 tracks on the Cortical Foundation's Organ of Corti record label, the project was delayed due to a tragic fall suffered by producer Gary Todd in 2001 who has been hospitalized ever since. Bassist Gavin Bryars explains in his very thorough liner notes that the project was taken over by John Zorn for his Tzadik label in late 2005. Then, guitarist Derek Bailey passed away in December 2005 from motor neuron disease. So the CD release now has more of a tribute aura about it as there will never be any further new recordings by the visionary guitarist Bailey and it is unlikely that there will be further productions by experimental music proponent Todd.



As of this writing in late March 2006, you can still read Gavin Bryars' original liner notes intended for the Cortical Foundation release at Bryars' website. Those original notes have been considerably expanded in the Tzadik edition and also brought up to date with a Bryars note about Bailey's participation in the final editing of the production and on his passing. Bailey's own notes from 1999 are included which contain primarily some anecdotes of the Trio's early days.



The original planned double CD's 9 tracks (now CD One's 1,2,3,4,7 and CD Two's 1,3,4,8) have been expanded with 6 more. The notes also state that future releases are expected and these will likely be at least the Moat Studio Concert held on the evening of the last day of the sessions in front of a small invited audience and the final '98/'99 reunion concert in Antwerp, Belgium in January 1999.



Fans of Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley will find their music making here to be of their usual high sensitivity, compatibility, surprise and humour. Fans of Gavin Bryars's compositions who may not know about his earlier participation on the UK improvisation scene or with experimental groups as the Portsmouth Sinfonia may be the most surprised to find him here, but if they approach this with no preconceptions and take it in the spirit of Bryar's various early process or collage explorations such as Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet (the original UK release of which Bailey played on) and The Sinking of the Titanic they should not be disappointed, and this will open their listening experience to a whole other world of music that is out there but not commonly known.



Tzadik always has high production values but often minimal or non-existent notes, so this release is even more recommended for giving background on this little known group that was at the forefront of the UK free non-idiomatic improvisation scene.



"

A powerful reunion.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 03/30/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the 1960s, guitarist Derek Bailey, bassist Gavin Bryars and drummer Tony Oxley worked together as the Joseph Holbrooke Trio, named after (but never playing pieces by) the British composer of the same name. The band evolved from a trio jazz form into something wholly other. The trio's work was woefully underdocumented and they eventually dissolved.



Flash forward thirty years to the late '90s and the three got together for a couple live performances and a series of studio recordings. But problems with record labels and whatnot delayed the release of these until Oxley suggested Tzadik. Now, several months after Derek Bailey's death, these recordings finally see the light of day (Bryars points out that the planned release of these recordings was discussed with Bailey in 2005).



The music on these recordings is exceedingly exciting-- the trio perform together quite honestly like they've never stopped. As with most projects Bailey is involved in, his idiom (or "non-idiom" as it were) is extraordinarily strong, and the music has a fractured, nonlinear quality to it. But really the interaction between the three is the star-- Oxley sets up a clatter of sound (with a leaning towards more metallic percussion) either providing a platform, a nudge, or a response to the work of Bailey and Bryars. The latter, primarily pizzicato, provides the closest thing to a linear foundation, playing lines that associate freely with Oxley and Bailey and provide a sense of unity to the music. Bailey, for his part, is all over, always aggressive, sometimes way in the foreground, sometimes a bit more receeded, but exciting, powerful and energetic. And while my thoughts may be somewhat romanticized by the context into which these CDs are released, it seems to me that his playing is particularly inspired.



The two-disc set comes in a "fat double" case whose presentation in all black with grey line illustrations and gold lettering actually makes for quite a striking presentation. An extensive essay (prepared for this release) by bassist Gavin Bryars discusses the history of the project, the releae of these recordings, and his thoughts on the music contained within, and a briefer piece by Bailey (written in 1999) discusses similar topics.



"The Moat Recordings" is not going to win any new fans, but it is a powerful piece and some fantastic music. Highly recommended."