AMM is an important British free improvisation group, founded in London, England in 1965. AMM have never been well-known, but have been, in their own way, hugely influential on several generations of adventurous musicians. AMM has been called "legendary" [1] (http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/1124) and "groundbreaking." [2] (http://www.mdos.at/recorddetail.php?id=5062&md3c=2b7bf87acf7d74a9d5e46bf1d21b0b23) Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the taste of the musicians involved, and not in any particular style. ... Greater London and the Regions of England. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... 1965 was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... A legend (Latin, legenda, things to be read) is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. ...

AMM was initially composed of Keith Rowe on guitar, Lou Gare on saxophone and Eddie Prevost on drums. Rowe and Gare were members of Mike Westbrook's band; Prevost and Gare were also in a hard bop jazz quintet. The three men shared a common interest in exploring music beyond the boundaries of conventional jazz, as part of a larger movement that helped spawn European free jazz and free improvisation. Keith Rowe is a British free improvisation guitarist. ... The classical guitar typically has 3 nylon and 3 nickel-wound strings. ... Saxophones of different sizes play in different registers. ... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... Hard bop is an extension of bebop (bop) music which incorporates influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano playing. ... Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... A quintet is a formation containing exactly five members. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... Free jazz, or avant-garde jazz, is a movement of jazz music characterized by diminished dependence on formal constraints. ... Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the taste of the musicians involved, and not in any particular style. ...

Members of the group have come and gone over the years, but Rowe and Prevost have usually been present for most recordings and performances; the latter has been the only constant in the nearly four decades of AMM music.

No AMM performance was ever planned; each was unique and spontaneous. The musicians tended to avoid any conventional melody, harmony or rhythm, and further sought an ensemble sound that often obscured any individual's role. It was, and remains, sometimes difficult to discern which musical instrument is making which specific sound on an AMM recording, due in part to liberal use of various extended techniques. Prevost has written, "The player could, at times, share a timeless immersion in a world of sound, while simultaneously being free to pursue their individual paths. It was not uncommon for the musician to wonder who or what was producing a particular sound, stop playing, and discover it was he himself who had been responsible." [3] (http://www.matchlessrecordings.com/leaving_history.html) }} Wiktionary has a definition of: Melody In music, a melody is a series of linear events or a succession, not a simultaneity as in a chord. ... This article is about musical harmony. ... Rhythm (Greek ρυθμός = tempo) is the variation of the duration of sounds or other events over time. ... A musical instrument is a device that has been constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... Extended technique is a term used to describe unconventional, unorthodox or improper techniques of playing musical instruments. ...

AMM released their first recording, AMMMusic 1966, on Electra Records U.K. in 1966. With this release, there were some initial similarities to free jazz, due in part to Gare's saxophone. One critic has written, however, that the resemblance was rather slight, writing, "the overall sound of the group, even in 1966, was so different, so idiosyncratic, that it's not at all surprising that both new jazz and contemporary classical audiences were baffled, if not horrified." [4] (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDSUB040406152209571317&sql=A60q3g4ettvjz) 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Free jazz, or avant-garde jazz, is a movement of jazz music characterized by diminished dependence on formal constraints. ... Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ...

The next AMM material to see release were the important The Crypt sessions from June 12, 1968. Even less conventional and further "out" than earlier material, one critic has written "An eerie sensation inevitably accompanies each listen to the raw streams of electric noise channeled on AMM’s second album and early masterpiece, The Crypt. To ears informed by the twenty-first century, it’s the uncanny feeling of listening to three-and-a-half decades of experimental music history as delivered in a chillingly prescient sort of reverse premonition... It’s a little unnerving that the only records that seem to accurately describe the brave new soundworld harnessed on The Crypt came into being well after its creation." [5] (http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=334)

The Crypt sessions have been issued multiple times; twice in the 1980s as a double LP, and it is now available (with extra material, billed as "The Complete Sessions") on a double CD from Matchless Recordings. The Crypt continues to inspire adventurous listeners; in the liner notes to the 1992 double CD, Prevost writes, "Despite being (arguably) the most ‘difficult’ material on Matchless, The Crypt has been a mainstay for the label. It obviously pays not to underestimate the audience. Its continued success has enabled us to release other works. So we felt committed, obliged almost, to keep it available... this music has proved itself not to be ephemeral." [6] (http://www.matchlessrecordings.com/sleeve_notes/mrcd05.html)

Composer Cornelius Cardew joined AMM in 1966, performing on piano and cello. He worked with AMM intermittently until his death in 1981. Composer Christian Wolff performed with AMM in 1968. Cornelius Cardew (May 7, 1936–December 13, 1981) born in Winchcombe, Gloucester, was an English avant-garde composer, and founder (with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons) of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... This article is about the modern musical instrument. ... A cropped image to show the relative size of a cello to a human (Uncropped Version) The cello (also violoncello or cello) is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Christian Wolff (born March 8, 1934) is an American composer of experimental classical music. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ...

Rowe left AMM for a period in the early 1970s, and AMM was for a time a duo of Prevost and Gare. This was arguably AMM's most jazz-like era, though Prevost has stated the music was "decidedly non-jazz." [7] (http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/reviews/000458.html) 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ...

Rowe rejoined in the mid-1970s, and shortly thereafter, Gare departed, leaving a Rowe-Prevost duo for a period before pianist John Tilbury--previously an occasional AMM collaborator--joined about 1980. This edition of AMM have perhaps had more in common with minimalism; one critic has noted, however, that this trio have still managed "after more than 35 years as a functioning unit, to avoid routines and ruts while retaining an unmistakable 'AMM-nes' is astonishing." [8] (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDSUB040406152209571317&sql=Aex5uaknk0m3k) This article is about the modern musical instrument. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... This article is about minimalism in art and design. ...

2005 saw the release of an AMM double CD, Apogee, shared with another of the electronic improvisational ensembles that emerged during the 1960s: Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV). The first CD is a studio recording in a joint session in England on April 30th 2004 featuring MEV's Alvin Curran, Richard Teitelbaum and Frederic Rzewski with Prevost-Rowe-Tilbury. This is the first occasion that the two ensembles have performed together, but not the first time they have shared a split release - each outfit filled a side of the LP Live Electronic Music Improvised, released on a US label in 1968 (AMM's side features excerpts from The Crypt sessions; MEV's side is an excerpt from their magnum opus "Spacecraft."). The second CD consists of the performances that each group gave at a festival held in London on May 1, 2004. Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV) is a live acoustic/electronic improvisational group formed in Rome in the late sixties by Alvin Curran, Richard Teitelbaum and Frederic Rzewski. ... Composer Alvin Curran (born 13 December 1938 in Providence, Rhode Island) is the co_founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, of Musica Elettronica Viva, and a former student of Elliott Carter. ... Richard Teitelbaum (May 19, 1939 in New York, NY) is a composer, keyboardist, and improvisor. ... Frederic Rzewski (born April 13, 1938) is an American composer. ... Greater London and the Regions of England. ...

External links

• Official Site: http://www.matchlessrecordings.com/
• History and discography: [9] (http://www.shef.ac.uk/misc/rec/ps/efi/mamm.html)