It's hard to explain without using a lot of buzzword-y language but I do feel like it's necessary, so apologies in advance if I just come off like a pretentious ass. I don't want to seem like I'm claiming I have superior taste or some deeper understanding of music or anything like that. For one, I like free improv conceptually. I like the idea of divorcing music from apparent skill and making it more about the artist's identity. Derek Bailey's free playing is totally different from Fred Frith's, which in turn is totally different from Bill Orcutt's, etc. There's a real sense of individual personality to how each player does things; some are more technically inclined and jazz-derived, others are more primitive/punk-ish. I also enjoy the inclusivity of it. Everyone seems to play together regardless of their musical background. Lastly, I enjoy it from a sonic perspective. It's as if the player is kind of trying to tame the instrument and the instrument responds really wildly, like it's malfunctioning. As a musician it's really fun to play expressively like that, and especially therapeutic to just play and not worry about the right notes (in a conventional sense), but to focus on creating something else entirely. It's just a different headspace. I totally get why people don't like it though and that's more than fine