Iskra 1903
Paul Rutherford formed Iskra 1903 in 1970 with Derek Bailey and Barry Guy. All three musicians had worked together in larger groups, starting off with the 1966/7 edition of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. However, they had a strong desire to work as a percussionless trio. It's not that they were or are anti-percussion - each of them have subsequently worked in various settings with numerous percussionists - it’s just that they felt a need for this sort of instrumentation. Rutherford named the group after 'Iskra' (the Russian word for spark) which was the paper that Lenin edited before the Russian Revolution. The '19' indicates 20th century music, and the '03' is the number of performers.
Paul Rutherford formed Iskra 1903 in 1970 with Derek Bailey and Barry Guy. All three musicians had worked together in larger groups, starting off with the 1966/7 edition of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. However, they had a strong desire to work as a percussionless trio. It's not that they were or are anti-percussion - each of them have subsequently worked in various settings with numerous percussionists - it’s just that they felt a need for this sort of instrumentation. Rutherford named the group after 'Iskra' (the Russian word for spark) which was the paper that Lenin edited before the Russian Revolution. The '19' indicates 20th century music, and the '03' is the number of performers.
Nipples (CD)
Rare first and only CD re-issue of the essential early manifesto of European improvisation, featuring Brötzmann, Han Bennink, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Fred Van Hove, Buschi Niebergall.
Epiphany (2LP)
Original 1982 double-LP set with gatefold sleeve on Incus featuring improvisations by various combinations of a large group of who's who of the international free improvisation scene, including Derek Bailey, Fred Frith, Akio Suzuki, Keith Tippett, George Lewis, etc..
Trios (LP)
Original 1983 LP set on Incus featuring trio improvisations by a large group of who's who of the international free improvisation scene, including Peter Brötzmann, Derek Bailey, Hugh Davies, Evan Parker, Vinko Globokar, Jamie Muir, etc..
Live In Wuppertal (LP)
Original edition on FMP of the first album from 1973 by 'the' free jazz big band, featuring Peter Brotzmann, Peter Kowald, Paul Lovens, Evan Parker, Alex Schlippenbach, Paul Rutherford, Kenny Wheeler and a host of others.
Improvisations (LP)
Original German edition on Japo of the 1978 album by 'the' free jazz big band, featuring Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, Albert Mangelsdorff, Peter Kowald, Paul Lovens, Evan Parker, Tristan Honsinger, Alexander von Schlippenbach and a host of others.
Iskra 1903 (2LP)
Rare second pressing with white labels from 1983 in original 1972 gatefold sleeve of one of the very early Incus releases from 1972, the revolutionary and monumental album by Barry Guy, Derek Bailey and Paul Rutherford.
The Music Improvisation Company (LP)
Original 1970 edition on ECM of the landmark first album by the improvisation supergroup with electronics composed of Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Jamier Muir and Hugh Davies, with Christine Jeffrey. Adventurous and essential.
1968-1971 (LP)
Rare original 1976 edition on Incus of the second and last album, with recordings from 1969/70, by the improvisation supergroup with electronics composed of Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Jamier Muir and Hugh Davies.
1968-1971 (LP)
Rare original 1976 edition on Incus of the second and last album, with recordings from 1969/70, by the improvisation supergroup with electronics composed of Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Jamier Muir and Hugh Davies.
February Papers (LP)
Very rare original 1977 edition on Incus of superb classic album of British improvisation with electronics, featuring Ian Brighton, Barry Guy, David Bourne and Philipp Wachsmann.
Drawn Inward (CD)
Excellent 1999 CD-only release by the Enseble featuring a.o. Philipp Wachsmann, Barry Guy, Walter Prati and Paul Lytton. With slipcase.
So, What Do You Think? (LP)
Original and only edition on Tangent of the 1973 album by John Stevens' and Trevor Watts' Ensemble featuring Derek Bailey, Dave Holland and Kenny Wheeler. With rare insert limited to copies exported to France. A classic never re-issued on either CD or LP.
Free Improvisation (3LP box)
Landmark release on Deutsche Grammophon from 1974, an amazing 3LP box set with booklet with the cream of European improvisation: New Phonic Art (Carlos Roqué Alsina, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Michel Portal, Vinko Globokar), Iskra 1903 (Barry Guy, Derek Bailey, Paul Rutherford), Wired (Karl Heinz Böttner, Mike Lewis, Michael Ranta, Conny Plank). Fundamental and ever re-issued on either CD or LP as a set.
Guitar Solos 2
Original first Italian edition on Caroline from 1978 of the second volume of the Guitar Solos series featuring Derek Bailey, Fred Frith, G.F. Fitzgerald and Hans Reichel. With original innersleeve. Never re-issued on either CD or LP.
Level Two
1993 release ** Free improv quintet led by saxophonist George Haslam, who is joined by trombonist Paul Rutherford, pianist Howard Riley, bassist Marcio Mattos and drummer Tony Marsh, plus vocalist Liz Hodgson on two tracks. “George Hasam's Level Two has been in existence, with various personnel changes, since 1987. It plays improvised music, a form Haslam describes as located between Level One (the performance of compositions) and Level Three (completely abstract sonic textures). Of course even …
Deep Memory
2016 release ** "After the highly praised trio CDs, Odyssey and ITHAKA, the composer and bassist Barry Guy presents a new CD – Deep Memory – with the same trio members, pianist Marilyn Crispell and percussionist Paul Lytton. For his new compositions, Barry Guy was inspired by Irish painter Hughie O’ Donoghue - all titles on Deep Memory courtesy of the Irish painter Hughie O’ Donoghue’s Berlin exhibition (2007) entitled “Last Poems”. A music has emerged of a tense and lacerating beauty. Tonal pai…
Innocence
1992 release ** "In 1984, Joe Gallivan settled in London and organized the avant-garde big band Soldiers of the Road, featuring Elton Dean, Evan Parker, Marcio Mattos, and, later, Ashley Slater, Paul Rutherford, Jim Dvorak, Claude Deppa, and Guy Barker. This ensemble recorded eight pieces for the BBC, performed often in London including at the London Jazz Festival, and, in 1992, made a critically acclaimed CD, Innocence."
Irma
In 1977, for Brian Eno’s Obscure Records, I made a version of Irma. These notes arise from that experience and explore how the piece can be performed. Irma is an unusual score—printed on a single 50cm x 50cm sheet. Its notation consists of verbal fragments from Tom Phillips' A Humument, referencing “libretto,” “decor and mise-en-scène,” or “sounds.” These categories are arranged separately, with stave notation at the bottom. At first glance, it appears indeterminate—requiring preparation before …
Ensemble Pieces
A split album by Christopher Hobbs, John Adams, and Gavin Bryars, released in 1975 as the second title on Brian Eno's imprint Obscure. The album includes two pieces by Hobbs and one each by Adams and Bryars. Side A opens with the experimental compositions of Hobbs, followed by Adams’ spoken-word and orchestral work, while Side B concludes with Bryars’ dissonant, frontier-classical ambient piece, featuring contributions from Brian Eno and Derek Bailey. "Aran" and "McCrimmon Will Never Return" (19…
Barry Guy — Plays
"The bass music you will hear on this album is, it might be said, a child of the seventies. A ferociously radical time in the development of the double bass as a solo instrument found composers eager to formulate soundscapes that would send our Bottesinis and Dragonettis running for the exit !
As an emerging bassist in these heady times, immersed deeply into the art of improvisation where almost on a daily basis colleagues pushed the boundaries of instrumental possibilities, I found myself addit…