To speak about notation as the only way that you can guarantee structure of course is already very suspect.

There's an institution here called the National Sound Archive, and there's a character who works there, Paul Wilson. He takes a very special interest in the history of the music and advised Martin Davidson of the existence of these tapes.

So in the sense that we were all dealing with that freer approach, yes, it was certainly one of the first contacts, perhaps the first contact, when Peter came that summer. So it's a very pivotal moment that is documented there.

If I think about the way I was drawn into the music, it was much more by recordings than by live performances.

You know, the whole philosophy of ad hoc combinations has its strengths and its weaknesses.

Of course when people are as talented as Jim O'Rourke or Gene Coleman, pretty soon you know that they're going to be part of the bigger scene anyway.

I've never been one that thinks that the function of an instrument is to approach the purity of voice or the structure of a beautifully sung line.