JOHN BAILEY - From A Dream Like State
Guitarist, John Bailey may be a new name to many, but his credentials speak of a well travelled and educated musician. Born in Huddersfield and playing in local heavy metal bands, he went on study both jazz and classical music, and has an MA in Jazz Performance from Leeds College of Music. John now spends his time between his teaching position at the University of Liverpool and touring as tenor Russel Watson's guitarist of choice.
Inbetween this busy schedule, he has found time to record for his own label Outhøuse Records, and it is with this his third album, Oneiric Sounds the guitarist has found the ideal setting for his own, very personal musical vision with a recording that deserves to be widely heard.
An ambitious work that draws from both jazz and classical music, Oneiric Sounds, features two remarkable improvisers in Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen and saxophonist, Julian Argüelles, playing two original suites by Bailey that fit seamlessly together.
To take on such a project requires a dedication that at times appears daunting, as John explains, "Yeah it was certainly a challenge pulling it all together. It took about three years to get it finished. That's obviously not solid working but peoples schedules only allowed a really specific couple of time gaps to get it done. We recorded it at Low Four Studios in Salford. It took us about seven days in total to record and mixing and mastering on and off took up the rest of the time. Like all the albums I've done I was fairly emotionally exhausted by the end!"
It must be said that all the hard work has most definitely paid off, bringing together two original suites together with a jazz quintet, and two world class improvisers is no mean feat, and Bailey can expect to be justifiably proud of the resulting album. "It was a big thing to undertake and it really took it out of me!", confessed John. " I love the music side of things but almost everything else is just difficult, time consuming, labour intensive and frustrating" . Laughing he adds, "Not to play down my enjoyment of it but its kind of like listening to the couple at the end of the television programme,Grand Designs, talking about the house they've just built which crushed their spirit and finances. Its not quite that bad really, but I tend not to dwell on projects I've done once they're complete. Almost as soon as it was finished I was working on the next thing and I haven't revisited the album very many times at all. I only have to go and listen to Allan Holdsworth, Mahler or any other of my 'heroes' to realise how much work I've got to do."
Inbetween this busy schedule, he has found time to record for his own label Outhøuse Records, and it is with this his third album, Oneiric Sounds the guitarist has found the ideal setting for his own, very personal musical vision with a recording that deserves to be widely heard.
An ambitious work that draws from both jazz and classical music, Oneiric Sounds, features two remarkable improvisers in Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen and saxophonist, Julian Argüelles, playing two original suites by Bailey that fit seamlessly together.
To take on such a project requires a dedication that at times appears daunting, as John explains, "Yeah it was certainly a challenge pulling it all together. It took about three years to get it finished. That's obviously not solid working but peoples schedules only allowed a really specific couple of time gaps to get it done. We recorded it at Low Four Studios in Salford. It took us about seven days in total to record and mixing and mastering on and off took up the rest of the time. Like all the albums I've done I was fairly emotionally exhausted by the end!"
It must be said that all the hard work has most definitely paid off, bringing together two original suites together with a jazz quintet, and two world class improvisers is no mean feat, and Bailey can expect to be justifiably proud of the resulting album. "It was a big thing to undertake and it really took it out of me!", confessed John. " I love the music side of things but almost everything else is just difficult, time consuming, labour intensive and frustrating" . Laughing he adds, "Not to play down my enjoyment of it but its kind of like listening to the couple at the end of the television programme,Grand Designs, talking about the house they've just built which crushed their spirit and finances. Its not quite that bad really, but I tend not to dwell on projects I've done once they're complete. Almost as soon as it was finished I was working on the next thing and I haven't revisited the album very many times at all. I only have to go and listen to Allan Holdsworth, Mahler or any other of my 'heroes' to realise how much work I've got to do."
Talking of heroes, our conversation turns to the principle soloists featured throughout the album, Arild Andersen and Julian Argüelles, "I've always listened to both players for as long as I can remember" recalls the guitarist. "I'm a big ECM fan and that's been my main staple for jazz and contemporary music for as long as I can remember. There is an incredible musical quality to both players primarily. The music I wrote was quite specific in terms of how I wanted it to be executed and interpreted and I knew that they'd catch on to my vision pretty quickly. I guess it is their experience that I was really after." Continuing, John says "I hadn't written any of the music prior to asking Arild and Julian to be involved. I was thinking about people who id really like to work with who would push me in terms of improvising and composition and these two musicians sprung to mind. To be honest, to get both players for a full six days each would have taken me well over budget so doing the album in two halves was just a necessary thing. Im working on something that will take another couple of years to put together but I'll be able to get both players on the same project at the same time I hope."
The album is comprised of two distinctly different suites, one for Arild and one for Julian, but are not presented as two separate identities or compositions but are juxtaposed together so seamlessly that the listener could be forgiven for thinking it was one long suite for two soloists. Is asked John if it was a conscious decision from the outset to programme the music this way, or something that suggested itself post production? "The music follows a theme and has a unity to it" he replies. "The obvious thing is that all the written music came out of my mind during a specific section of my life. There will be thread to my own personal timeline which is audible in anything that I wrote during this period. All the music takes influence from the artist Albrecht Durer and director Andrei Tarkovsky. There is also a thread between these two peoples works. I've tried to loop that thread through my own music to try and get as close to what they were doing as possible. There are actually four improvised pieces on the album where I gave very little instruction other than showing a couple of different images from Tarkovsky's films and some paintings of Durer's. The general atmosphere of these images are enouth to inform the music I think."
Elaborating, John adds, "The word 'Oneiric' means dream like. When I was conceiving the album I had no really strong angle from which I was working. The more I thought about the music, the more I slipped into a dream world where meanings, intent and strange thread of dialogue which was rooted in perception came together. I found myself trying to transcribe the architecture of my dream world, mostly waking dreams and unusual experiential things. I should mention here with absolute honesty that I discovered relationships between Tarkovsky and Durer after I had come to both of the people independently of one another and found that Tarkovsky actually referenced Durer in one or two of his films. I feel that this album is, for me, the soundtrack that accompanies that relationship and their relationship to me.
The album is comprised of two distinctly different suites, one for Arild and one for Julian, but are not presented as two separate identities or compositions but are juxtaposed together so seamlessly that the listener could be forgiven for thinking it was one long suite for two soloists. Is asked John if it was a conscious decision from the outset to programme the music this way, or something that suggested itself post production? "The music follows a theme and has a unity to it" he replies. "The obvious thing is that all the written music came out of my mind during a specific section of my life. There will be thread to my own personal timeline which is audible in anything that I wrote during this period. All the music takes influence from the artist Albrecht Durer and director Andrei Tarkovsky. There is also a thread between these two peoples works. I've tried to loop that thread through my own music to try and get as close to what they were doing as possible. There are actually four improvised pieces on the album where I gave very little instruction other than showing a couple of different images from Tarkovsky's films and some paintings of Durer's. The general atmosphere of these images are enouth to inform the music I think."
Elaborating, John adds, "The word 'Oneiric' means dream like. When I was conceiving the album I had no really strong angle from which I was working. The more I thought about the music, the more I slipped into a dream world where meanings, intent and strange thread of dialogue which was rooted in perception came together. I found myself trying to transcribe the architecture of my dream world, mostly waking dreams and unusual experiential things. I should mention here with absolute honesty that I discovered relationships between Tarkovsky and Durer after I had come to both of the people independently of one another and found that Tarkovsky actually referenced Durer in one or two of his films. I feel that this album is, for me, the soundtrack that accompanies that relationship and their relationship to me.
Click on the album cover to read our review
"The first track on the album is entitled 'The Large Turf', and this is the name of an Albrecht Durer painting which features simple weeds. The piece is important because it looks at the beauty of wimple things. No flowers, no trees, nothing traditionally associated with beauty. The character of the subject is transformed into something humble, beautiful and interesting. I began to look at everything in my environment like this. Everything became very different and the world I once knew was transformed into a fascinating new experience. Instead of music relating to the beautiful or the grotesque things in life became associated with everything. Everything with its own character and everything equal. Tarkovsky played with some of these natural ideas in his own Oneiric style which refers to broken timelines, memories and dreamlike visions. It makes me consider my own conciousness and awareness of the world around. The album is sort of like the soundtrack to my waking life."
So what next for Oneiric Sounds are there plans to perform the music live? After some consideration John replies, "Given the the sheer expense of getting everyone together to do this live I don't think there will be any live performances. I'm not too bothered about this really. I'm happy to have just made an album which was pretty close to what I had in my head. I've got a few other things going on musically which sort of restrain my diary, so booking anything like this is would be very difficult. I do, however, schedule permitting, perform fairly regularly with my quartet around the North West."
For more information visit www.johnbaileymusic.co.uk
So what next for Oneiric Sounds are there plans to perform the music live? After some consideration John replies, "Given the the sheer expense of getting everyone together to do this live I don't think there will be any live performances. I'm not too bothered about this really. I'm happy to have just made an album which was pretty close to what I had in my head. I've got a few other things going on musically which sort of restrain my diary, so booking anything like this is would be very difficult. I do, however, schedule permitting, perform fairly regularly with my quartet around the North West."
For more information visit www.johnbaileymusic.co.uk
