Last fall I wrote about Microgroove, the first book from gallerist and occasional Reader contributor John Corbett in 21 years. Now, just six months later, he’s back with another new book, though it’s much smaller, both in page count and in it physical dimensions. A Listener’s Guide to Free Improvisation (University of Chicago Press) is designed and organized like a beginner’s field guide, and at a mere four inches across, the 172-page volume can easily fit into the back pocket of your jeans. On the back cover there’s a blurb from Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche that says, “I wish I had this book twenty-five years ago!” I could say the same thing—I would’ve loved to have had such guidance back in 1987, when I had my first real encounter with free improvisation at a concert by guitarist Derek Bailey at Links Hall. The Brit was one of the most important progenitors of the discipline, but his performance left me confused and lost. I didn’t get it.
One of my favorite passages explains the role of the listener at a free improvisation concert. That role is usually pretty minor, but I enjoyed his description of a particular fan who frequently attended the weekly series of jazz and improvised music that Corbett programmed at the Empty Bottle in the 90s and early 00s. He refers to the listener as “the Clicker,” after his habit of chiming in with a penetrating sound produced by “clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth,” which he’d unleash when he felt a given piece had concluded—whether it had or not. Corbett writes, “I found it dictatorial. The Clicker alone would decide when the music was done.”
