Keith Bailey has an interesting music career of a trajectory from a drummer in R&B bands in the early 1960s through to a composer of choral and orchestral pieces in this later and current period.

He began as a drummer in R&B / Progressive bands in the early 1960s (whilst still at high-school), culminating in the music with the Joint, then to the Graham Bond Initiation, then to the first Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express.

In the 1970s he morphed into a Brit Jazz drummer in the London / Euro jazz circuit, performing with many of the jazz luminaries of that time including Keith Tippet , Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath and Quintet , Marc Charig Trio, Arman Ratip, Mike Osborne Quintet, Dave Defries Quintet, and the Greater London Arts Council Young Musicians award winning band, Joy, and many others, culminating in his own band, Prana, first as a duo with Harrison Smith, and then with Chris McGregor, Harrison Smith, Dave Defries, Nick Evans, J.J. Avenel, and Kent Carter .

Although he is largely a ‘self-taught’ composer, in the early-mid 1970s, he began to study music, harmony/counterpoint, composition, music history, etc., whilst attended Morley College in London, and was fortunate to study with Hugh Wood for several years.

Around 1976 he established Fiery World Music in London as a representative for performing ‘spiritual music’ as a protective, managerial shield for such. In 1977 he was contacted to be prepared to move to New York in 1980 to manifest and direct what has become an international spiritual/esoteric Order. This he did, whilst subsequently concentrating more on music composition.

In 1980 Keith emigrated to the USA and to NYC.  He continued performing as a drummer with various local NY bands, but eventually set out on his own as a solo performer on what he called “Temple Percussion,” a massive array of percussion instruments, largely oriental and Asian.  He continued studies in music composition privately with Niels Vigeland at the Manhattan School of Music which culminated in a Fellowship award to the “June in Buffalo” series in 1986, at SUNY Buffalo, where he was fortunate to study with Morton Feldman for a brief period.

In the 1990s Keith travelled ‘up and down the land’ of the USA, performing on Temple Percussion and giving lectures on music and its deeper esoteric/spiritual significances.  In the later 1990s he formed the choral group, The Gandharvas, in NYC, which received acclaim for its performances of Monteverdi, the Bach Motets, and lots other music.

Keith has since continued composing many orchestral and choral pieces.  His “Revelation of the Vision” was performed in NYC by the “One World Symphony Orchestra” in 2007. His focus on choral music has been to write lyrical music for singers, whilst taking liberties with orchestral music. A summary of his compositions is to be found in this site.

In 2019 he remastered the late 1960s recordings of the Joint, soon to be released on an album of that name.

In 2023, he remastered the album, Joy (from 1976) in cooperation with Cadillac Records.  This album received the prestigious award for “best re-released jazz album of the year” from Presto Music, plus many “hot” reviews in the press.

He has recently (2024-2025) been producing studio recordings of his choral music in San Diego, and is receiving performances of the same. Keith has also been assembling albums of his works, some orchestral and some choral since the 2000’s. More info about this is summarised in this site.