Wow, I just had my first (and second) taste of Derek Bailey. The man can't be serious? "Favorite guitarist of all time" - you can't be serious?

You're both having us on, aren't you?

I didn't say Derek was my "favourite guitarist of all time" - that was SS's opinion. I merely said that Derek is an example of a jazz musician who either gets hated or revered - polarises opinion, in fact. Derek was an accomplished guitarist who chose a musical route that went beyond what many musicians - even avant-garde jazz musicians - would tolerate. I've listened to Derek Bailey several times, sometimes striving to make sense of what he was at, sometimes just letting the sound flow. I didn't make any sense of it, but I thought I should give the man a listen. It does one good to open one's ears now and then... :-)

So if the rhetorical question, "What is jazz?" is asked, there's a wide musical spectrum from Bunk Johnson to Derek Bailey - and all sorts of opinions and answers to that question.