Barry Guy
Barry Guy is an innovative bass player and composer whose creative diversity in the fields of jazz improvisation, chamber and orchestral performance and solo recitals is the outcome both of an unusually varied training and a zest for experimentation, underpinned by a dedication to the double bass and the ideal of musical communication. He is founder and Artistic Director of the London Jazz Composers Orchestra and the BGNO (Barry Guy New Orchestra) for which he has written several extended works. His concert works for chamber orchestras, chamber groups and soloists have been widely performed and his skillful and inventive writing has resulted in an exceptional series of compositions.
Barry Guy is an innovative bass player and composer whose creative diversity in the fields of jazz improvisation, chamber and orchestral performance and solo recitals is the outcome both of an unusually varied training and a zest for experimentation, underpinned by a dedication to the double bass and the ideal of musical communication. He is founder and Artistic Director of the London Jazz Composers Orchestra and the BGNO (Barry Guy New Orchestra) for which he has written several extended works. His concert works for chamber orchestras, chamber groups and soloists have been widely performed and his skillful and inventive writing has resulted in an exceptional series of compositions.
Member of: Iskra 1903
Mining The Seam - The Rest Of The Spotlite Sessions
Alto Saxophone – Trevor WattsBass – Barry GuyDrums – John StevensRecorded at Riverside Studios, London, May 1977. Previously unissued.
Frogs (Ep)
7" picture disc for Barry Guy's 70th birthday. Interspecies personnel: Laubfrosch (Hyla Arborea) - acoustic sounds; Wasserfrosch (Rana Esculenta) - acoustic sounds; Barry Guy - acoustic sounds. Recorded May 30th, 2011 by Maya Homburger in Oberstammheim, Switzerland; Edited and mastered by Mikael Werliin at Studio Oodion Göteborg; Photos by Maya Homburger; Graphic design by Lasse Marhaug; Produced by Mats Gustafsson. Limited edition of 300 (numbered).
No Fear
Recorded in May of 1977 and released a year later on Spotlite, No Fear is one of drummer John Stevens' excellent jazzier sessions. Backed by his regular acolytes Trevor Watts and Barry Guy, the leader of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble revels in the hot free jazz licks he and the saxophonist came up with. His playing is superbly detailed by the recording, the interplay between his hi-hat cymbals and snare drum being particularly impressive in this jazz context. Watts pours a lot of soul into his …
Mad Dogs On The Loose
CD#1 1. Maya Homburger • Hans Koch • Herb Robertson • Raymond Strid [08:42] 2. Johannes Bauer • Barry Guy • Paul Lytton [13:49] 3. Johannes Bauer • Barry Guy • Paul Lytton [04:11] 4. Agustí Fernández • Trevor Watts • Evan Parker [19:16] 5. Mats Gustafsson • Hans Koch • Per-Åke Holmlander [05:41] 6. Mats Gustafsson • Hans Koch • Per-Åke Holmlander [03:43] 7. Mats Gustafsson • Hans Koch • Per-Åke Holmlander [03:16] CD#2 1. Johannes Bauer solo [09:40] 2. Agustí Fernández • Raymond Strid [14:24] 3.…
Tensegrity
"Here the 14 members of British bassist Barry Guy’s Blue Shroud Band, gathered in Krakow to perform the bassist’s orchestral Blue Shroud, were recorded in Small Formations. The set features 26 tracks where band members from 10 countries demonstrate their skills. Some improvisations are unexpected, as when four reed players stack up so many timbres that are alternately shrill, subterranean, harsh and gentle, that it appears critical mass is reached. Then they’re joined by serpent-player Michael G…
Blue Shroud
After his great compositions for the London Jazz Composers Orchestra and the Barry Guy New Orchestra, Barry Guy has written a large scale work for a new international ensemble. Guy's work The Blue Shroud is an hommage to the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso. It is for the people of the Spanish town, who were victims of the Nazi German air force bombardment during the Spanish Civil War. Guy also wants us to remember the occasion in 2003, when the Guernica-tapestry at the UN Security Council was…
Supersession
Recorded at a concert in London, September 1984, this supersession brings AMM stalwarts Keith Rowe and Eddie Prevost together with saxophonist Evan Parker and bassist Barry Guy for an amazingly diverse and cohesive long improvisation.
"Eddie Prévost is not only a highly articulate percussionist but also a stimulating writer, writing for example his occasional contributions to The Write Place or his examnation and critical reactions to The Ganelin Trio in Wire 7. This CD release from Prévos…
Chapter one: 1970 -72
Much needed reissue of Emanem 4301, a classic concert and studio performances from '70-'72 by the innovative trio of Paul Rutherford (trombone, piano) Derek Bailey (guitar) and Barry Guy (double bass), which was a much expanded reissue of the early and legendary Incus LP of the same name. "What a feast! A three-CD set (totaling more than 190 minutes) compiled from six concerts featuring three of the leading British free-jazz improvisers of the 20th century: trombonist Paul Rutherford, guitarist …
Live At Maya Recordings Festival
Bomb! 500 copies. After twenty one recordings there may not be too much more to say about the superlative English threesome of saxophonist Evan Parker, bassist Barry Guy and drummer Paul Lytton. Some 30 years on since their debut Tracks (Incus, 1983), they converse in a language entirely of their own making, which relies on a staggering density of ideas, chops to burn and a preternatural responsiveness. Live At Maya Recordings Festival, captured at Winterthur, Switzerland in 2011 forms another t…
Five Fizzles For Samuel Beckett
"Is there a better all-around bassist with a bow than Barry Guy? That query may scream sycophantic hyperbole, but in taking stock of the British improviser's discography it's an interrogative that can't help but manifest repeatedly.
On Guy's end the distinction of best isn't even a peripheral consideration or goal. He's placed his instrument in near-countless contexts, bringing to it a perfect sense of pitch and dynamics. Five Fizzles for Samuel Beckett is right in line with that sterling…
South on the Northern
Two concerts from an eight-year gap in the published recordings of the Iskra 1903 trio of Paul Rutherford (trombone), Philipp Wachsmann (violin & electronics) and Barry Guy (bass & electronics), masterful improvisation blending acoustics and electronics.
Lava
"Lava is a wonderfully apt title for this duet between Liudas Mockunas on soprano, tenor and bass saxophones and Barry Guy on bass. The music was recorded live at Kaunas Artists House Concert Hall in Lithuania on the 2nd of April, 2011, and released in a limited edition run of 300 vinyl LP's. Lava is the appropriate name for this music as it flows slowly and inexorably forward. Guy is a rock solid bassist who is a stalwart on the avant jazz and classical scene in Europe, and his skills ar…
One four and two twos
John Stevens, batterie et voix. Paul Rutherford, trombone et euphonium. Evan Parker, saxophones ténor et soprano. Barry Guy, contrebasse et électroniques. Londres, août 1978. Un quartet initialement sorti en vinyl chez View en 1980 et en CD chez Konnex en 1994. En bonus, Paul Rutherford, trombone et électroniques et Barry Guy, contrebasse à Milan en 1979. John Stevens, batterie et voix et Evan Parker, saxophone soprano à Londres en 1992. Free et historique!
Goldsmiths
A previously unissued 1972 concert by the original version of Iskra 1903 - Paul Rutherford (trombone), Derek Bailey (guitar) and Barry Guy (double bass) - extraordinary performances, plus 2 short extracts from another concert. "Iskra 1903 was one of my favourite groups. I cannot remember hearing a performance that I did not enjoy, although inevitably some were better than others. The previously unissued concert on this CD was arguably one of their best.I first heard this recording about ten year…
Portraits
Portraits is a sprawling, ambitious work composed by bassist Barry Guy that brings together musicians from across the British jazz/improv spectrum, from free music luminaries Evan Parker, Paul Rutherford, and Phil Wachsmann to somewhat more jazz-based players such as Paul Dunmall and Trevor Watts. The album contains seven main "portraits," each distinct from the next, which are tailored to spotlight the various soloists as well as the different smaller working units contained within the larger 1…
Chapter Two 1981-83
PAUL RUTHERFORD (trombone, euphonium & electronics), PHILIPP WACHSMANN (violin & electronics), and BARRY GUY (double bass & electronics). The first time some early recordings of this trio have been issued. The bulk of the music in this set comes from a late 1983 tour of England - 4 concerts in 6 days - during which this trio used more electronics than before or since. The music in each concert moved in a different direction, so it all had to be included. There are also two slightly earlier perfo…
Buzz soundtrack
One of my Iskra's favourite album " The slow motion unfolding of these pieces isolates the beautiful sounds embedded in even their most cantankerous outbursts. The luminosity of Rutherford's long tones, Guy's glissandos and Bailey's pedal-enveloped chords are undiminished despite a marginal mono recording. At times, the music is almost too inviting and too accessible, given Iskra 1903's revolutionary aura. Buzz Soundtrack will force enthusiasts who thought they knew this trio inside out to liste…
Frankfurt 1991
Outside of Peter Brotzmann and Derek Bailey, I am not certain there are many players, European or otherwise, that maintain such sustained reverence from their peers as Paul Rutherford. And deservedly so, since I know of very few musicians as uncompromising as the British trombonist.While the trombone has languished in mediocrity over the past three decades, with the exception of a select number, on American shores, the European improvisers who call the trombone their home have continued its forw…