The European free improvisation scene has produced a handful
of genuine iconoclasts. While that term tends to get thrown around a lot,
especially when talking about free jazz and free improvisation, the greatest of
the European free improvisers truly reoriented music permanently. They managed
to break free from the bonds of the jazz tradition that ran through the music
of their American contemporaries and create something wholly European. Peter
Brötzmann, Han Bennink, and Alexander von Schlippenbach from Germany and Evan
Parker and Derek Bailey from the UK stand as possibly the most recognized of
the titanic iconoclasts of European improvisation. These five are not only
representative of the scene as a whole in terms of their musical advancements
but in their countries of origin. Germany and Britain have served as the binary
stars around which European improvisation has orbited for the last 45 years.
Yet this does a disservice to the other countries that have
produced great, innovative players who haven’t reached the level of recognition
as their German and British peers. While BYG Actuel primarily released records
by expatriate American musicians, it wasn’t totally blind to the advancements
occurring in its own country. Michel Puig, Jacques Coursil, and the
ever-present Claude Delcloo all led albums for the label, but these artists
(with the exception of Coursil) are eclipsed by the mysterious Acting Trio,
whose self-titled album was the fourteenth that Actuel put out.
