Puneet Varma (Editor)

Company (free improvisation group)

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Genres
  
Free improvisation

Years active
  
1968–present

Active from
  
1968

Record label
  
Incus Records

Occupation(s)
  
Musical collective

Labels
  
Incus Records

Genre
  
Free improvisation

Members
  
Derek Bailey, Han Bennink

Albums
  
Company 4, Company 2, Company 3, Company 1, Trios, Fables, Fictions

Similar
  
Tony Oxley, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Joseph Holbrooke, Tristan Honsinger, Hugh Davies

Company was an ever changing collection of free improvising musicians. The concept was devised by guitarist Derek Bailey in order to create challenging and artistically stimulating combinations of players who might not otherwise have had an opportunity to work together.

Contents

At various times Company has included Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton, Tristan Honsinger, Misha Mengelberg, Lol Coxhill, Fred Frith, Steve Beresford, Steve Lacy, Jamie Muir, Johnny Dyani, Leo Smith, Han Bennink, Eugene Chadbourne, Henry Kaiser, John Zorn, Buckethead, Georgie Born and many others. Company Weeks, annual week-long free improvisational festivals organised by Bailey, ran from 1977 until 1994.

Literature

  • Derek Bailey: Improvisation - Its Nature and Practice in Music - Da Capo Press 1992
  • Ben Watson: Derek Bailey and the Story of Free Improvisation - Verso 2004
  • Songs

    Trio - Minus OneTrios · 1986
    AkhrajatCompany 2 · 1977
    The 1st Hackney Scroll Consisting Of: And Speak Up - LadFictions · 1977

    References

    Company (free improvisation group) Wikipedia