Maintaining their individual approaches, UK guitarist Derek Bailey and Japanese drummer Sabu Toyozumi hooked up for this distinctive free music recital in 1989. Part of a Japanese tour by Euro Improv pioneer Bailey and first generation Nipponese free jazzer Toyozumi, the two who create bulky, biting and bracing sounds here, also shared a history of collaboration with Anthony Braxton.

Harsh and jagged guitar string clangs continuously echo alongside the drummer's pressurized clanks, which evolve to sweeps and rattles as tempos shift upwards. Toyozumi also nimbly turns to pats and brush swishes that isolate Bailey's lean single notes. At points the drummer also lays back enough so that interludes of story-telling and unforced swing sneak out from among the guitarist's mostly abrasive expositions. These asides are limited, as are single-string emphasis that show up most clearly on "Fukuoka IMAI-House".

More frequently Bailey seems to consciously shy away from any hints of gentleness. Especially when interchanges speed up to allegro and presto tempos he ups the tension with hard and thick strums to match Toyozumi's robust rolls and ruffs. The final sequence of "Relux or Not Talking" has him abandoning his previous rhythm guitar-like frails to amplify a room-shaking string drone until vibrating guitar flange concludes the piece.

Every reverberation from either side, whether from the guitarist's slurring fingering and concentrated twangs or the drummer's hammering blows and cymbal hisses is advanced or met with unique or calculated acknowledgement throughout. This underlines the universality of free improv, the malleability of the players involved, and jubilation that this meeting has been preserved.