(Avant-Garde Jazz, Free Improvisation, Discus) [CD] Derek Bailey, Mick Beck, Paul Hession - Meanwhile, Back In Sheffield... - 2005, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

In August 2004 at the invitation of Mick Beck and Paul Hession, Derek Bailey returned to his home city, Sheffield, for a couple of gigs there and in Leeds. Bailey now lives most of the time in Barcelona, and sometimes likes to get away from the heat of its summer. Sheffield's meteorological response was dramatic - cold, and so much rain that it necessitated buckets under a few drips. Possible onomatopoeic resonances from the openings of tracks two and three can be detected. Fortunately, the Red Deer pub was just round the corner.
The Sheffield gig was recorded live and gratis by Chris Trent, for which many thanks.
It was supported by Sheffield's Other Music.
Studio production was by Ian Stead.
Music by Bailey, Beck, Hession (PRS / MCPS), is taken from Chris Trent's recording with only minor editing. It is in many parts reflective but with some spiky bits.
Good to have Mr Bailey back in town - his first live performance there for more than ten years.
"MEANWHILE, BACK IN SHEFFIELD captures on disc a now-uncommon occurrence: the first live gig in a decade by that British city’s best-known native improviser: guitarist Derek Bailey, now a Barcelona-resident. He’s joined by local Mick Beck on tenor saxophone, whistles and bassoon, and drummer Paul Hession from Leeds. Both men have played individually with Bailey, but never recorded with him in this formation. Recorded live – but with audience applause excised – the barely 53 minute MEANWHILE, BACK IN SHEFFIELD reproduces the concert exactly as it evolved. Bailey’s hyper-distinctive guitar phrasing is such that while Beck sometimes screams and squeals through both horns, and Hession unleashes fierce cross-handed textures, the fretman guides the improvisations. Oh course, whether this happens through tacit musical agreement, the force of Bailey’s personality or the others’ deference to an elder is open to interpretation. Showpiece track is “After The Red Deer”, the nearly-33-minute opening salvo. Beginning with bird-whistle chirps from Beck and understates flams from Hession, it gains its shape from Bailey’s distinctive strums and string swipes. Soon the saxophonist’s sparrow peeps swell to crow-like caws as he tops off the body tube with glottal punctuation and tongue-fluttering. With the drummer limiting himself to nerve beats and wooden concussions, the guitarist’s irregular patterns, scraping pulsation and quaking reverb match Beck’s spacious tone expelling, finally diminishing to trilling obbligatos from the reedist and claw-hammer picking from the guitarist. Asserting himself, Bailey chromatically works his way across his strings and frets, goading Hession to follow suit with snare press rolls, cymbal slaps and drumstick-across-the-metal squeaks. Beck’s response in the improvisation’s penultimate minutes is to bring out his bassoon, showcasing basso quivers, and side-slipping sonority. Diminishing his own contribution to a dewy mist of spiky notes, the guitarist presages the ending with highly rhythmic chording. Both other, shorter instant compositions feature more of the same, with Bailey and Hession sticking to spanked and tapped single note textures. Meanwhile Beck consolidates his sound, at one point spraying a wailing melody with one horn as he simultaneously peeps penny-whistle decoration. As a maximalist, his solos often consumes the entire sonic space." - Ken Waxman, JazzWord

Derek Bailey: electric guitar
Mick Beck: tenor sax, bassoon and whistles
Paul Hession: drumset