Cecil Taylor Music

Man, hard to believe when this album was recorded. True, compared to Taylor's own work earlier releases foreshadowed this and the definitive classic _Unit Structures_ was only four years away. But no contemporary was anywhere close to what Cecil Taylor was doing at this time. Taylor is as much an extension of the modernist composers like Bartok, Stravinsky, Cowell, and the Viennese School, as he was of Ellington and Monk, and he has been a leader of avant-jazz virtually since day one. Even when people were first getting into free-jazz, picking up momentum in the musical culture, Taylor's music was still considered way out there. Anyway. _Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come_ is incredible, as breathtaking in twenty-first century context as it must have been fifty years ago. Recorded in Copenhagen, Taylor appears in trio format with Sunny Murray (drums) and Jimmy Lyons (alto saxophone). They play Taylor's original compositions except for a fiery version of Haggart and Burke's "What's New" as a launch pad for improvisation. The combination of psychic interplay, dazzling composition, ultra-jazziness, and perfect dissonances was perfect for these men on this day. The huge "D Trad That's What" proves you can have the sickest jazziness in music that is atonal as hell. The first two pieces "Trance" and "Call" make for one of the most intense first 20 minutes of jazz ever. Lyons uses the sax quite idiomatically but with chromatic contours and Murray understands the heavily _percussive_ nature of Taylor's music, and his clearly minded towards interplay vis-à-vis another percussion instrument. The inimitable Taylor is jaw-dropping as always. As a reissue, the package is nice but more liner notes would have been appreciated. It seems there are hidden bonus tracks on each disc as well, featuring fairly poor recordings of high free-jazz. There is input from Lyons and Murray but mostly they are Taylor going crazy. Pretty awesome!

...you MUST own these two discs. I really enjoy all of his other recordings, but this one is perfect. I've listened to this maybe 500 times; each time it's fresh and interesting. Lyons and Murray, who play brilliantly here, are all Cecil needs; any other players would have gotten in the way. This recording and Charles Gayle's "Touchin' on Train" are the only music I listen to regularly. Those are my picks if I was stranded on a desert island.

As the other reviews state, this is some brilliant music. However, the premium price for these discs does not reflect what the packaging offers. As the AMG would say, somewhat disdainfully, this is a "straight re-issue" of the two-LP set on Freedom available in the 70s. While that edition added to the 1964 single Fantasy "Montmarte" LP, Revenant's minimalist package has no notes beyond the wrap-around J-card on the outside of the case. The Fantasy LP had a striking color photo of CT; the Freedom had some nice artwork. For $32, I would like an essay or at least a couple of photos of the players.

This astonishing album marked another great leap forward by Cecil Taylor in his musical evolution. This live date was recorded by Taylor with an eary trio consisting of Jimmy Lyons on alto and Sunny Murray on Drums. All three players were reaching forward. Lyons alto lines are steeped in the bebop tradition, influenced by the cerebral approach of some of the cool school players, and yet they wander free of their bop boundaries...more and more as the session goes on. Murray is in the midst of discovering his signature drum style...fast but without traditional time keeping feature. And Taylor is a marvel, even with the out of tune piano. His works is steadily outgrowing it's roots in Monk and Ellington. Even in his approach to the standard What's New, the work approaches the more frenetic phrasing of his mature work.

This is a fascinating album to fill in the pieces of Taylor's career, but it is a revelation in it's own right. There are paths in this music that Taylor never followed, but that could be worked by other musicians. Any great innovator leaves side braches in development that spark music from those who follow. Taylor's early career is full of this sort of thing. Perhaps some enterprising musicians will travel through Taylor's unexplored territory.

Cecil Taylor is one of the great jazz pianists, and all creative improvisors need to deal with his music. This session from 1963 features some great music (the out-of-tune piano and the recording quality don't detract much from my enjoyment of it). Cecil's compositions and the group's playing are great.

This is actually a fairly conservative record, and it puzzles me why other people find this music so difficult. The group's rendition of "What's New" follows the standard form and chord changes. I can tap my foot to almost all of the record, and some of it swings quite outright. Most of Cecil's chord voicings are standard, and he also plays quite a few roots on the head and in Jimmy Lyons' first chorus. I'll never understand why people think this stuff is strange.

This is an interesting live concert, recorded during the Workshop Freie Musik in Berlin in 1986 and featuring Cecil with a larger ensemble including Thurman Baker (marimba, percussion), William Parker (bass), Steve McCall (drums), Earl McIntyre (trombone), Peter Brotzman (tenor sax, taragato), and Frank Wright (tenor sax). Actually though, most of the playing is by the quartet (CT, Baker, Parker, and McCall) as they begin track 1 (entitled, "B Ee Ba Nganga Ban'a Eee!") feeling each other out in explorative fashion before the horns join in at minute 23. First the horns play some notated phrases, then McIntyre solos, and then one of the tenors (surely Brotzman?) tears it up with some fiery playing. But it's cut short by the intrusion of audience applause at minute 33 and thereafter things get spaced out, with Cecil soloing a bit before turning to vocalisms, the horns emitting slow wails or punctuated outbursts, and then group vocalisms to conclude the piece (track 1 is 48 minutes long). Track 2 ("Olu Iwa [Lord of Character]") has the horns sitting out altogether, with the quartet returning to what they'd started in the first third of track 1. First, some explorative playing with Parker bowing his bass, but by minute 6 the quartet heats up into blistering, thunderous interplay that doesn't let up until the last 4 minutes of the 27 minute track. Cecil does exercise some restraint when Baker hits the marimba, allowing for some sharing of the "melody."

And so, an interesting record. Looking at the personnel, I always thought of this as a larger ensemble date, but really the contribution of the horn players is pretty meager, and with Brotzman there, you kind of wish he'd been given more of the limelight -- I mean, we're only talking 5 minutes each of earnest solo space by McIntyre and Brotzman in the middle of track 1. On the other hand, the quartet music is sizzling with the pairing of CT and Baker harkening back to "Looking Ahead!" (with Earl Griffith on vibraharp), but now with CT at the peak of his improvisatorial powers. Still, this date lacks some cohesion for me -- I find myself either wishing Brotzman had a chance to play like the wild-man that he is, or that the horns were left out completely.

Winged Serpents Sliding Quadrants) is the first time that Cecil has recorded with a large group since the 60's and as such is a very important release. Add to that the fact that this disc contains some of Taylor's most inspired work and this is a must have CD for avant-garde jazz fans.

The ensemble consists of 7 horns and rhythm section with two drummers. The pieces concentrate on wild group improvisation, but as usual with Taylor, this is not "free" improvisation as in Coltrane's Ascension. Rather, the music is carefully structured around melodic cells, and scales derived from the blues and synthetic sources.

Taht is an all out collective imrpovisation based on a short riff that reminds me of something that Mingus might have composed. I agree with Michael Richmond that the opening of Cun - Un - Un - Un - An wears out it's welcome quickly. I've never been a great fan of Taylor's experiments with spoken word music. but the rest of the cut is quite good.

The stand out for me on this album is Womb Waters. The work starts out very much like other Taylor pieces, with a small cell repeated over and over in the horns in a free time, leading to some pretty frenetic collective blowing. But it ends with an honest to God ballad based on the opening melody. Here Taylor gets almost Ellingtonian, with well defined chord changes and a soulful melody intoned in the horns. And the tightness of structure in this piece is evidenced throughout. It is a marvelous work, one of Taylor's best pieces on disc since Enter Evening from Unit Structures.

Overall, this is a major disc by Taylor, one that should be aquired by every fan. The ensemble is expert and the musical selections are some of the best of Taylor's career. Highly recommended to fans of this progressive artist.

In the vast discography of jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, "Winged Serpents (Sliding Quadrants)" is a rare look at this unique composer/improviser's music in a large group setting. Recorded in 1984, this session features an extended frontline of two trumpets (Enrico Rava and Tomasz Stanko), two tenor saxes (Frank Wright and John Tchicai), alto sax (Cecil Taylor Unit regular Jimmy Lyons), baritone sax (Gunter Hampel) and bassoon (Karen Borca). Joining those seven and Taylor in the rhythm section are William Parker on bass, and two drummers -- Rashid Bakr and Andre Martinez. With all of these musicians, it comes as no surprise that this disc is characterized by boisterous collective improvisation, and rich, full, intricate horn textures. The opening of the first track "Taht" has always reminded me of John Coltrane's "Ascension" and it builds to similar lofty heights. "Womb Waters" covers the same exploratory territory and features some ecstatic horn collaborations. The bells and chants in the first part of "Cun-Un" have always left me a bit cold, but the brief, warped funk groove at the song's conclusion is always fun. The title track concludes the disc and it is the album's most complex and rewarding tune. A final note, this CD is remarkably well recorded, with each of the horns captured in their own distinct space with clear, bright, crisp clarity -- a necessity considering Taylor's dense musical style. Fans of Taylor's music should not overlook the "Winged Serpent."

Just a quick note from someone who was AT this performance, to put other reviews in perspective. First, Bill Dixon played on ONE of Cecil Taylor's records: Conquistador. He has performed and recorded with many musicians, not all of whom are his students. (William Parker and Jimmy Garrison come to mind)...
As for those who pine for "loud and fast" playing, do some homework: Taylor has been quiet in the past (Garden vols 1 & 2) and Oxley is KNOWN for quietness! As for Dixon's "indifference to line and form": lines become circles, which become spheres, etc. And form is a verb.And dialogue isn't the only form of communication: sound is another realm entirely!
While I wouldn't label this a "Landmark" (the music doesn't NEED my endorsement as a listener OR as a student of Dixon), I wouldn't dismiss it by citing complaints (expectations) I'd heard second hand--I would listen instead to the MUSIC iteself, and hope to come to terms with some of the INTENT within.

Sometimes I think the audience for this music is as conservative in their tastes and expectations as the audience for, say, the current Rolling Stones tour. Those who complain that Cecil Taylor isn't playing "fast and loud" on this disc are no different than those at a Stones concert who would complain that they didn't play "Satisfaction."

This particular concert was widely criticized by those who prefer to approach Free Jazz and Free Improvisation as genres with sharply defined boundaries; and by those who seem to have a personal vendetta against Bill Dixon. Despite what the 1-star review may imply, neither Dixon's ego nor his "cult of admiring students" are audible on this disc.

The music on this disc is as challenging to the sensibilities of those familiar with Cecil Taylor's music as it is to those unfamiliar with it. I would not presume to know what Taylor or Dixon or Oxley are "supposed" to do, and they defy expectations at every turn. Cecil uses tension and space in a way he's never displayed on record before (except possibly on "Student Studies"); Dixon's use of delay and reverb is simultaneously frightening and engaging; Oxley, for his part, still plays overtly WITH Taylor at times ("catching" things and repeating some of Taylor's phrases), a long-outdated approach frustratingly still siezed-upon by multitudes of "free-improv" musicians. However, it should be noted that Oxley does spend a fair amount of time working against the grain. Dixon's refusal to play what has already been firmly established as standard trumpet vocabulary produces incredibly vibrant music, filled with a great deal of tension. I guarantee you have never heard these sounds come out of a trumpet before. It's not an easy listen, but nothing this rewarding ever is.

I highly recommend this disc for those who are tired of the standard-issue "Free Jazz" and "Free Improvisation" phrasing and approach. Reading the criticisms of this concert, I was reminded of something Nat Hentoff once said:

"Critics are sometimes extraordinarily obtuse. They claim to want to hear new things, but new things bother them because they can't categorize them."

I skipped this year at the Victoriaville festival, but have heard plenty of feedback about this concert--all of it very negative, often angry. Sometimes controversial concerts at Victo are actually the most interesting ones--the John Butcher/Axel Dorner/Xavier Charles gig the previous year for instance instantly polarized audiences. But listening to this gig on disc, I'm sorry to say that the folks I talked to were right: this is a disaster. Bill Dixon was on some of Taylor's albums in the 1960s but since then has retreated into his own little world, surrounding himself with a cult of admiring students. (One jazz magazine editor I know recently received multiple unsolicited glowing review submissions of Dixon's 6-CD meisterwerk _Odyssey_....all from Dixon's students.) Dixon has a healthy ego, & as the _JazzTimes_ reported, Dixon took the opportunity of the press conference to conduct a "seething rant" about not being invited to play in Canada in previous years.

But the real problem is that he can't play for toffee: through the disc all he manages is gassy exhalations, passed through an echo device. Taylor & Oxley could easily have simply ignored him & played loud & fast; instead, they actually try to work with Dixon. This is surely the slowest & quietest Taylor on record. That has some curiosity value, but frankly this is a dialogue of the deaf, on which the best thing is the one-minute Taylor solo at the end (which doubtless didn't do much to soothe an irate crowd, who were kept waiting an hour past starting time & who were given a concert that, not counting applause, came out to about 47 minutes' of music for what was one of the most expensive tickets at the festival). There's something peculiarly infantile about Dixon's flatulent sound, his indifference to line or form, & his inability to participate in musical dialogue.

Victo presumably has released this disc purely due to the cachet of the names of the performers. It is nonetheless a far from distinguished addition to the discographies of all three of the principals. Avoid.

First, the most excellent news. This CD has been recently (circa June 2006) reissued by hatOLOGY and is available. As always, if you have trouble finding a copy, drop me an email and I will make suggestions.
Secondly, I agree with Mr. Pierre below. This is a classic Taylor quartet date (the drum chair is being filled by Rashid
Bakr who was just beginning his second stint in Taylor's band). Cecil and the band are very much in full force here playing with strength, heart, soul and mind.
I also want to second Mr. Pierre on his remarks about Cecil Taylor's being in absolute control of his music. Anybody who doubts that Cecil Taylor has a very well developed methodology behind his music should read the liner notes to his recent CD collaboration with the Italian Instabile Orchestra. The members of the IIO (all of whom are great musicians) came away with enormous respect for that methodology.
The issue Mr. Pierre raises brings me to the title of my review which is a partial quote from Cecil Taylor (Art Lange provides the full quote in his excellent notes). Music like this is demanding not because it is random or too intellectual but because most of us do not have a way to approach it. Our usual musical reference points (e.g.,"it sounds kind of bluesy" or "I can hear a little of McCoy in his left hand") just don't apply with a musician like Cecil Taylor.
One suggestion that I can make is to focus on the playing of Jimmy Lyons on this disc. Listen to what he is doing and then listen to how everyone responds to him and vice versa. And this brings me to where I disagree a little with Mr. Pierre. I love Lyons' playing and always have. He is a member of that interesting group of players who grew up with bebop truths but found their way leading into free jazz. Jackie McLean found a very different way to solve this same musical puzzle. Both of them came up with very individual styles that I, for one, find very striking.
Another way to approach this CD is to simply let it wash over you. Don't try to make sense of it, let that emerge however it does. I took my (infinitely patient) wife Sherri to a David S.Ware quartet concert about six years ago. In the full powerful presence of Ware, Shipp, Parker and Brown, she finally understood what I heard in this kind of music. The point being that she now no longer tries to figure out what the heck the musicians are doing. She simply enjoys it.
Obviously, this is not music for everyone. But I strongly feel it is music that everyone should try out. When it hits you, it will do so like a revelation.
Cecil is true jazz icon. There are few who can equal his record of achievements. hatOLOGY has done us a great favor by rereleasing this. Their printings are usually only in the few thousands. Get yours while you can.

It's too bad this one is out of print -- it's a pretty awesome date by CT, Jimmy Lyons on alto, William Parker on bass, and Rashid Bakr on drums playing live in Germany in 1981. Originally released on LP in abridged form, this HatHut CD has the complete concert spread across 2 tracks, "Calling it the 8th" at 57 minutes, and "Calling it the 9th" at 11 minutes.

For me, this is the best latter-day recording featuring Jimmy Lyons to own -- in part because he's given ample solo space and the recording is pretty crisp -- but also because he sits out quite a bit too, leaving CT alone with the rhythm section. This is, incidentally, the first recording that paired CT with William Parker -- something that would continue for years to come. Simply put, after some initially drumming and chants to kick things off, Cecil is on fire for the rest of the concert -- he's playing dense, fast, and feverish pretty much throughout and so the energy of the band is consistently high. The addition of the second track, "Calling it the 9th" is interesting -- kind of a summary of track 1 in miniature that once again shows that CT isn't just banging the keys randomly -- the music is notated and laid out and can in fact be repeated. I really don't love Jimmy Lyons, but even so this concert, like the Monmartre dates from two decades earlier, deserves 5 stars.

For the past few years it has been very difficult to locate Candid jazz CDs, the label that critic Nat Hentoff created over forty years ago. This was a real shame because some classic recordings, including Booker Little's "Out Front" and Max Roach's "We Insist!: Freedom Now Suite," were on this label. I am happy to report that it was not because all of the albums were being deleted, but because they were (slowly) being remastered. Now some of the seminal early recordings of iconoclastic pianist Cecil Taylor are resurfacing, like "Jumpin' Punkins" and now "The World of Cecil Taylor." It is my opinion that Taylor's currently unavailable (at least domestically) "New York City R&B" and "World of C.T." are two of the great new jazz recordings of the early 60s. "World," recorded over two successive days in October 1960, is basically a trio date, with Buell Neidlinger on bass and Dennis Charles on drums, and Archie Shepp joining on tenor sax for two tracks, "Air" and the standard "Lazy Afternoon." This disc is one of Shepp's first recorded performances and the saxman apparently had trouble with Taylor's music -- I recall the now out of print Mosaic set of this material collecting some 15 plus outtakes of "Air." But the master takes are truly masterful, and I am delighted that with this CD available once again, we can all return to "The World of Cecil Taylor."

This is not my favorite Taylor album...by a long shot. Tzotzil-Mummers-Tzotzil is an extended studio piece with one of Taylor's typical long extended group freak-outs surrounded by some pretty self-indulgent "poetry"...really more spoken word soundscapes.

The music during the group sessions is quite good...good enough for four stars actually. But it isn't indispensible Cecil Taylor. For that I'd get the Blue Note albums of the 60s, or the Cecil Taylor Unit work of the early 80's when Ronald Shannon Jackson was the drummer. And the spoken word soundscapes wear out their welcome quite fast really. The way that the CD is tracked, it is impossible to skip over these sections so I find that, if I'm in the mood for Taylor, I choose other albums to listen to over this one.

Although nothing here is as shocking as Albert Ayler's forays into structure/less jazz improvisation--nor as revolutionary as Ornette Coleman's hard-charging free-bop assault; Cecil Taylor introduces a comparatively difficult to manipulate instrument to free jazz; the piano. His fingers sound like they are that of a millipede on some of these tracks because I honestly cannot distinguish notes at times. Instead everything is clustered in spasmic leaps. The great part about this seeming indulgence, however, is that there is a well-studied classicism here. Strings pop up and fade away. Best of all, in true Blue Note fashion, it is a live recording with all of the great explosive energy of 60's freak out jazz. I would recommend this for progressive enthusiasts of any music who are looking for a change from brass-based free jazz, with a touch of classical, or even avant rock tendencies. That is not to say this CD is cosmic. Quite the opposite actually--this is rooted in the hard sounds of jazz and amidst all of its beauty, it is also menacing at times. Solid for sure. I would recommend Ornette Coleman's live at the Golden Circle or any of the Ayler 'Spirit' series if unrestrained energy is what you are looking for. If you prefer the mathematician approach of Thelonious Monk and wonder what he would have attempted if pumped full of endorphins and 60's counterculture; start with Unit Structures.

Cecil Taylor is one of those pianists that is so stubborn and consumed with himself that he just can't make good music much like when Coltrane went off the deep end, but only Taylor was hanging out in the deep end way before Coltrane got there. "Unit Structures" is another example of everything that is wrong with Cecil Taylor's music: non-musical, self-indulgent noise pollution.

There should be no misunderstanding - Cecil Taylor meant it when he called this album "Unit Structures". That these structures are experimental in nature does not make them less "structured". By respecting his audience, Taylor is not content with repeating old structures (12, 16, 32 bars). He experiments with different elements of structure - the structure of instrumentation, of the melodic development, of the dynamics. You will notice how on each piece the instrumental structure changes - piano and drums, a bass joins, the drums drop out and a second bass joins, etc. The two takes of "enter evening" prove that the musicians were provided with a basic melodic line which is the starting point and the point of departure for their collective experiments.
We should be thankful for artists such as Taylor who respect us enough to attempt to find something new for us, who believe that we deserve a broadening of the musical spectrum.
For the edventureous experiments, for the many beautiful moments, and for the communicative energies - this is a definite 5 star album worth having and listening to.

What a racket. Give this a miss. Like being dragged through a hedge backwards.

is this guy putting us on? all his albums sound the same and the reviews do as well-if your not hip enough or intellectual enough than you can't understand this deep moving experience. stick to music you enjoy, not what your supposed to "understand"-this music is for the few people recording it, not those who want music than can experience and feel something from.