''The Music Improvisation Company 1968–1971'' is an album by The Music Improvisation Company recorded over 1968 and 1970 and released on the

Incus The ''incus'' (: incudes) or anvil in the ear is one of three small bones (ossicles) in the middle ear. The incus receives vibrations from the malleus, to which it is connected laterally, and transmits these to the stapes medially. The incus i ...

label in 1976. The quartet features 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 instruments, and percussionist

Jamie Muir William James Graham Muir (4 July 1945 – 17 February 2025) was a Scottish painter and musician, best known for his work as the percussionist in King Crimson from 1972 to 1973, appearing prominently on their fifth album '' Larks' Tongues in As ...

.Jazzlists: Incus LP discography
accessed May 25, 2016

Reception

AllMusic's Thom Jurek stated "It is a necessary addition to anyone's library who is interested in improvised music." The authors of the ''

Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on compact disc, CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions wer ...

'' wrote: "The six pieces are in the main about a quartet thinking and speaking as freely with one another as they possibly could."

Track listing

All compositions by Derek Bailey, Hugh Davies, Jamie Muir and Evan Parker. # "Pointing" – 7:19 # "Untitled 3" – 6:32 # "Untitled 4" – 4:09 # "Bedrest" – 7:37 # "Its Tongue Trapped to the Rock by a Limpet the Water Rat Succumbed to the Incoming Tide" – 9:01 # "In the Victim's Absence" – 10:33

Personnel

The Music Improvisation Company

* Derek Bailey –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

* Hugh Davies –

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

and cover art *

–

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

, amplified autoharp

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Music Improvisation Company 1968-1971, The Free improvisation albums Incus Records albums Derek Bailey (guitarist) albums 1976 albums Evan Parker albums 1976 collaborative albums