Company
Derek Bailey established the Company week/festival in 1977 and, despite all the odds, several changes of venue and the occasional annual hiccup, the unpredictability of its financial success (or otherwise) it is still going, strong and ever-surprising, in the early '90s. Bailey's idea was to bring together musicians with a shared interest in improvisation, and the label they laboured under (jazz or not: Bailey would rather avoid the name) was irrelevant. He will assemble a collection of musicians and see what happens, the musicians themselves forming and dissolving playing units as the week goes on. Potentially a recipe for disaster, the results are never less than intriguing, and frequently splendid. Music from many of the sessions has been recorded and some has been issued on Bailey's Incus label.