''The Music Improvisation Company'' is an album by saxophonist

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

, guitarist Derek Bailey, Hugh Davies on various self-made electronic devices, and percussionist

Jamie Muir Jamie Muir (born 1943 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish painter and former musician, best known for his work as the percussionist in King Crimson from 1972–1973. Biography Muir attended the Edinburgh College of Art during the 1960s, and began playi ...

(along with vocalist Christine Jeffrey added on two tracks) which was recorded in 1970 and released on the ECM label.

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Chris Kelsey noted "Although the musicians were conversant in jazz styles, the music made by the MIC was essentially and intentionally non-idiomatic, drawing upon any and all elements of musical thought and given voice in the moment. The resulting music was dissonant, discontinuous, and ultimately in the vanguard of improvised music". Tyran Grillo wrote that "As can be expected from one look at the roster, the musicianship is excellent. Evan Parker steals the show with his bubbling outbursts of indiscernible melody while Bailey cultivates an even more anonymous approach, cutting in and out with a surgeon’s touch. In the end, such a project can only be what one makes of it. Its difficulties are also what make it go down smoothly, even as its effortless approach renders it impossible to fathom. It is a mysterious object, to be sure, and one that casts a new reflection with every turn".Grillo, T
The Music Improvisation Company (ECM 1005)
June 10, 2010

Track listing

All compositions by Derek Bailey, Hugh Davies, Jamie Muir and Evan Parker except where noted. # "Third Stream Boogaloo" (Bailey, Davies, Christine Jeffrey, Muir, Parker) – 2:40 # "Dragon Path" – 10:25 # "Packaged Eel" – 8:43 # "Untitled No. I" – 7:06 # "Untitled No. II" (Bailey, Davies, Jeffrey, Muir, Parker) – 7:33 # "Tuck" – 3:05 # "Wolfgang Van Gangbang" – 6:54

Personnel

* Derek Bailey – guitar * Hugh Davies –

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

– percussion *

–

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

*Christine Jeffrey – vocals (tracks 1 & 5)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Music Improvisation Company, The Free improvisation albums ECM Records albums Derek Bailey (guitarist) albums 1970 albums Evan Parker albums Collaborative albums Albums produced by Manfred Eicher