Cecil Taylor Music

seriously, if you can be patient, and wait out the intial derek bailey intro, you will find herein some of the most quizzical, interesting interaction between cecil taylor and any collaborator ever. when this session heats up it's almost unbeatable. admittedly, it'd be nice if the two played together longer, but it's totally worth it and gets my 5 stars for the interaction that takes place nontheless. trust me, this is concentrated genius. dont belive the haters, just get this. you wont be sorry.

The sound of this CD is as if music as we know it had ceased to exist, Taylor and Bailey set out to reinvent it, and it doesn't come out quite the way it did the first time. Odd and abstract, surprising and delightful.

The idea behind this concert from Cecil's extended stay in Berlin in 1988 seems like a good one -- the unique pairing of Cecil with Derek Bailey, the European free jazz guitarist -- but for me it's a disappointment. The first part of the concert ('Acoustic Guitar') finds Bailey in the spotlight, picking and strumming somewhat lazily and abstractly on his guitar and sounding as if the strings are wound too slack. Cecil emits some screeches and guttural noises in the background and recites the occasional poetic phrase, and then eventually plucks and scratches at the strings of his piano in the spirit of comaraderie, blurring the lines between his and Bailey's playing. But he really doesn't sit down in front of the keyboard until after Bailey plugs in for the second track ('Electric Guitar') at the half hour mark and even then it takes a while for things to warm up. The last 15 minutes give you an idea of the potential, but too late. This is a quiet and restrained Cecil Taylor effort, but I can't count myself among the fans of Derek Bailey, so I find it frustrating. I find this much more enjoyable if I just skip the first track, and the second has therefore grown on me with repeated listenings, but it's no gem in the CT discography. I still like the idea of Cecil playing with a guitarist, but maybe John McLaughlin or Pat Metheny (I'm thinking Song X here) in an adventuresome mood might work better. But this was the first time Cecil tried playing with a guitarist and he hasn't attempted it again since.

In July 1988, Cecil Taylor recorded ten (!) albums while performing live at a festival celebrating his music in Berlin. The discs, including the classics "Spots, Circles And Fantasy" with Han Bennink, "Remembrance" with Louis Moholo, "Leaf Palm Hand" with Tony Oxley, and this one, "Pleistozaen Mit Wasser" with Derek Bailey, are only available as imports on the FMP label. They may be a bit expensive, but for fans of avant-garde jazz and European improvised music, they are must purchases. Unlike the piano/drum duos listed above, "Pleistozaen Mit Wasser" is a piano/guitar duo, with Bailey playing acoustic guitar on the first track and electric on the second. The result is music that is less structured and rhythmic than the drummer duos, and more free-flowing and challenging, not only for Taylor and Bailey to play, but for us to listen to. It is clearly not for everyone, but those willing to give themselves over to Taylor's music will find pure joy.

The late 90's found Cecil Taylor under-recorded compared to the previous decade, but still actively playing, often in trio format with Dominic Duval (bass) and Jackson Krall (drums). Both of these guys could really tear it up, with Krall often going full-bore and full-volume on the skins, and Duval similarly aggressive. In '97, this trio hit the Village Vanguard in NYC and the Jazz Bakery in LA, and then in '98 they returned to NYC to play the Knitting Factory. Well-rehearsed, they then played the Iridium in NYC for a week in March 1998 with the addition of Harri Sjöström on soprano sax and the results of the final night captured on the two-disc (sold separately) concert "Qu'a: Live at the Iridium." Volume 1 features a 62-minute track, "Qu'a" while Volume 2 has "Qu'a Yuba" at 47 minutes.

Volume 1 is a solid outing with some adventurous playing and interesting interplay. Despite the potential of this band to rock-out, here the playing is more consistently medium tempo, with Taylor exploring his usual mirror chord themes and scalar inversions. Duval splits between plucking and bowing the bass strings, and Krall in particular is fairly restrained, opting for more percussive embellishments with a lot of soft cymbal crashes and shots, and repeated, brief staccato rolls on tom-toms and snare. Not that this is sedate music by any means, but it's not quite full-blown frenetic Cecil either. Sjöström is a novel addition to Taylor's music, with a "mouthy" tone on soprano (as opposed to Coltrane's nasal style, or Lacy's throaty sound) and plenty of free-range squawky flights and utterances.

The most interesting interplay starts around the 18-minute mark, ushered in by a repetition of bent notes by Duval's strings. Later, Sjöström and Duval get into a dialogue between soprano sax and bowed bass that sounds like a conversation between two insects -- Duval's bass buzzing like a cicada on a hot summer day and Sjöström swirling around in an alien tongue (makes you almost wonder if someone wasn't listening to George Crumb). There is a crescendo at around 30 minutes with subsequent ebbs and flows to round out the hour, and Sjöström alternately entering and leaving the fray -- he's seems just a bit of a sidenote rather than a solo force. Still, this is challenging and rewarding music, though I do prefer "Nailed" with Evan Parker on tenor and soprano from 1990 as the best latter-day quartet recording with CT and a horn player.

No liner notes in this Cadence recording, but there is a poem by CT in his own script that inscrutably refers to the title of the concert.

Amaize's selection of art songs covers a wide range of poets, among them Sappho, Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Robert Burns. Whatever he's singing, you know it comes from someplace very deep in his soul. A wonderful CD.

"Regalia" is one of five pairings between Cecil Taylor and a drummer taken from his epic residence in Berlin in the summer of 1988. In this case, the drummer is German free-jazz notable Paul Lovens and while the concert tends to get short-shrifted in reviews in comparison to the others, it's a pretty excellent outing that ranks among the best CT concerts. Lovens' drum kit is similar to Tony Oxley's (the drummer on the universally praised "Leaf Palm Hand," recorded a month later), containing a variety of woodblocks, mini-cymbals, and higher pitched tom-toms -- both drummers (in contrast to Bennink, Moholo, or Sommer) therefore come off more as full-palette percussionists rather than drummers per se. Compared to Oxley, who frequently rides the cymbals, keeping the rhythm (if you can call it that) in constant motion, but playing a complementary role in terms of initiative, Lovens' percussive attacks are less dense with more splashes and volleys but no snare or cymbal bashing, so that overall, he offers more of a unique voice and a bit more an actual interchange. There is in general more space in this duet compared to some of the others, though neither CT or Lovens are ever exactly quiet. Cecil's playing is fairly typical, ranging from softer-touch explorations in many places (though never resting or retreating) to punctuated attacks, and the inevitable forays into vigorous flattening of the ivories.

There are but two tracks on this 74 minute concert, "Snake Charm" and "Regalia," and the pace of the playing is fairly constant throughout, with minimal poetic recitation or much other dramatic fanfare. The two tracks are separated only by some faint vocalisms without the audience making a peep until the somewhat abrupt ending of track 2, when Lovens sets his sticks down and the audience finally erupts with applause, only to then quickly fade out. Cecil must have felt satisfied here and just stood up suddenly after the last note. While it's true that the Oxley duet "Leaf Palm Hand" is probably the best drum pairing from the Berlin '88 series, this one is definitely worth owning as well.

In July 1988, Cecil Taylor recorded ten (!) albums while performing live at a festival celebrating his music in Berlin. The discs include the classics "Pleistozaen Mit Wasser" with Derek Bailey, "Spots, Circles And Fantasy" with Han Bennink, "Remembrance" with Louis Moholo, "Leaf Palm Hand" with Tony Oxley, and this title, "Regalia" with percussionist Paul Lovens. These discs are only available as imports on the FMP label. They may be a bit expensive, but for fans of avant-garde jazz and European improvised music, they are must purchases. All of the discs feature extended compositions, and some are over an hour in length, so you do get a lot of music for the $21 price tag. While not as dynamic as the piano/drum duo on "Leaf Palm Hand," the piano/percussion duo on "Regalia" is wonderfully textured and full of delightfully subtle moments of musical, rhythmic exchange between Taylor and Lovens. These recordings represent an amazing achievement in the history of jazz.

During his month-long residence in Berlin in the summer of '88, Cecil Taylor played and recorded six different piano-drum duets with Tony Oxley, Paul Lovens, Han Bennink, Gunter Sommer (x2), and, here on "Remembrance," Louis Moholo. Each of these dates is outstanding, and each differs from the next by the drummer's style and its effect on Cecil's playing.

Much has been made of Moholo's South African origins in describing this pairing, but don't get the wrong idea -- Moholo uses a conventional drum kit, relying mostly on straight-ahead snare and cymbals throughout this date. This first track, "Remembrance," opens without the usual Tayloresque ritual (CT dispenses with any chanting or poetry on this disc) and within seconds the two are well into things, with CT favoring his sprinting, two-handed, jack-hammer runs up and down the keyboard over the course of this concert. Moholo keeps pace, but doesn't compete for space, and often his accompaniment consists of relatively quiet, though complex and multi-layered, snare-cymbal rhythms. They both pause for air from time to time, and Moholo even gets out the brushes during some of these periods, allowing for CT to space out a bit. But much of the date has Cecil hammering away furiously with Moholo's propulsive snare-cymbal shots and breakers, and on the 20-minute track 2, "The Great Bear," things get pretty heated. There's a single minute-long encore, "Stone" that has Cecil playing some slow phrases and Moholo softly hitting a tom-tom so that it almost sounds like he's plucking on a bass string.

Overall, a pretty enjoyable date with just over an hour of music, and as usual for discs from the FMP Berlin '88 Boxed Set, excellently recorded and essential. If you're a Cecil fan, you should own all of these.

In July 1988, Cecil Taylor recorded ten (!) albums while performing live at a festival celebrating his music in Berlin. The discs, including the classics "Pleistozaen Mit Wasser" with Derek Bailey, "Leaf Palm Hand" with Tony Oxley, "Spots, Circles And Fantasy" with Han Bennink, and this one, "Remembrance" with Louis Moholo, are only available as imports on the FMP label. They may be a bit expensive, but for fans of avant-garde jazz and European improvised music, they are must purchases. While not quite as good as "Leaf Palm Hand" and "Spots, Circles And Fantasy," this is a fine duo session between Taylor and drummer Moholo. I enjoy the previous two albums more because Oxley and Bennink have a more assertive rhythmic style than Moholo that better compliments Cecil's percussive piano style. With that being said, the understanding between these two jazz giants is virtually telepathic, and thoroughly enjoyable. The disc features three extended compostions -- the 40 minute plus title track, "The Great Bear" and "Stone" -- so as with the other selections you are getting a lot of value for your money.

It's hard not to rate any of the six drum duets recorded during Cecil's extended gig in Berlin for the Total Music Meeting in 1988 with the full five stars. Each one offers something a little different and the playing and recording quality are consistently fantastic. On this disc, you certainly get the sense that CT and Gunter Sommer, on their first meeting here on Riobec (a few days before jumping over the wall to East Berlin for the PUUC concert on the In East Berlin 2CD set) were having some fun. And it's really Sommer who seems to be the humorist, bringing out some playfulness in CT.

Though Sommer's a more straight-ahead drummer than say Tony Oxley or Paul Lovens, he's got a pretty broad palette and range of textures. Within the first minute, it's Sommer that let's loose with a "Weeeee!!" as if to say "here we go!", and at other points, he makes full use of his drum-kit miscellani for a wide range of effects with CT responding in kind... On the first track (Riobec 1) at the 10-minute mark, Sommer's beating out a 4-note chime on the dangling organ pipes; at 16, CT's melodic playing and a yell herald forth Sommer's car horn blasting; then at 19 the organ pipes return with CT striking cluster chords to match. By the end, both of the guys are vocalizing on top of their playing to conclude the first half-hour of music. Aside from these percussive excursions, much of Sommer's drumming seems to entail actually keeping time (not exactly typical in the CT discography), whether he's riding a cymball, rolling on the snare, or beating the toms with an almost tribal urgency (though he frequently changes from one device to another). And CT seems to be more of the follower here -- echoing Sommer's rhythmic beats with punctuated staccato cluster attacks or 10-finger chord trills that have a shimmering effect. At the 7-minute mark on track 3 (Riobec 3), the audience intrudes with some applause and CT goes into some full-bore vocalisms and some actual phrases (poorly miked unfortunately) with Sommer gently working his cymbals and tubular bells -- something about Sommer seems to bring out the poet in CT (he does much the same on their East Berlin meeting). Again, the overall sense is a kind of joy and camaraderie -- on the final track, the most quiet and spacious number (Riobec 4), Sommer actually laughs aloud a few times and at the very end of the 74 minute concert CT's vocalese has a kind of mischief to it. Another great one from the Berlin series and certainly worth hearing.

In July 1988, Cecil Taylor recorded ten (!) albums while performing live at a festival celebrating his music in Berlin. The discs include the classics "Pleistozaen Mit Wasser" with Derek Bailey, "Spots, Circles And Fantasy" with Han Bennink, "Remembrance" with Louis Moholo, "Leaf Palm Hand" with Tony Oxley, and this title, "Riobec" with drummer Gunter Sommer. These discs are only available as imports on the FMP label. They may be a bit expensive, but for fans of avant-garde jazz and European improvised music, they are must purchases. All of the discs feature extended compositions, and some are over an hour in length, so you do get a lot of music for the $21 price tag. While I do not find "Riobec" as enjoyable as "Leaf Palm Hand" or "Spots, Circles And Fantasy," Taylor is truly at home in the drummer duo setting, and his collaboration with Sommer is excellent. These recordings represent an amazing achievement in the history of jazz.

This record has made me rethink my stance as an Atheist. Some pianists have
tried holding a candle to this for over 30 years. They hold it fine, posed
with a match, but can't hold the burn. The HOT wax is dripping all over a
performance here that nearly swallows the wick <(OMG, that's re: genders*
pref. ala Freud's slip). But, hold on...When this hit the jazz world, ears
opened to 20 yrs. of CT leading up to Silent Tongues. They were shown the
new continent he created by cleaving mountains of improvisations past. It
may not HAVE been solo, the compliant keys had to conform to their destiny.
He almost broke a pedal off the poor thing! IF that's a 92 key Bosendorfer
like I saw him play 2 yrs. later, I pity the poor tuner in Switzerland. I
defy the idea C.T. really has just 10 digits. *check out his poetry, also!

I'm a fan of Taylor's frantic style, but I think it's important to rate items based on what people who aren't aware of the artist might perceive of the work if they had to buy it, so for fans of his or Ornette Coleman's work, I say "5 stars", but understand this: most people who are into smooth jazz or even most traditional jazz would be completely turned off by this record. Taylor is a jazz-head's musician.

It's a powerful record, full of his trademark speed, delightful playfulness, and technical virtuosity, but there are more accesible records of his. Pay close attention the albums that will be re-released...there's some gems in there.

For existing fans only or avant garde heads. To everyone else, it will sound like someone pounding on a piano. You've been warned.

I was turned on (if you will), to Cecil Taylor by the late, great Jazz pianist Don Pullen. Not by direct verbal communication but by the music and the inspiration. "New Beginnings" and "Ode To Life" by Pullen compelled me to seek out this recording by Cecil Taylor.

Taylor literally pounds the ivories as if melody and harmony are silent tongues driven to the recesses of the soundboard and he is seeking redemption by compelling them forth.

The pounding I speak of is beautiful, more beautiful than a drum solo because of the wide ranging notes. Extensive use of the pedal to curtail notes and frequent runs of block glissando are trademarks.

This is a live recording at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1974 and it is a clean, vibrant, resonating recording. This is great party music for it will start intelligent conversations by the raw emotive power and verve.

Like another reviewer mentions, I have found nonjazz fans who like this performance. Many people like Cecil best in the solo piano setting, and there is no better place to start than here.

One thing very valuable is the last encore where he plays (in a song form) many of the themes he used in the performance.

Brilliant

I own about 50 CDs of Taylor, so I know what am talking about: This is one of my favorites, beside the (even better) piano solo record "Air Above Mountains" and the two - very different - trio records "In Florescence" ( with William Parker and Gregg Bendian) and "Looking (Berlin Version)" ( with William Parker and Tony Oxley: "The Feel Trio").

Unlike the trio records, the two piano solo albums are more easily accessible. They open up a complex world of beauty. Hard to explain because there is nothing that would compare to them. They are clear, rich, intense, dynamic, serious, intelligent and warm.

You need to like jazz music or modern classical music to appreciate them. If you do: They will be with you for a long, long time.

This record has made me rethink my stance as an Atheist. Some pianists have
tried holding a candle to this for over 30 years. They hold it fine, posed
with a match, but can't hold the burn. The HOT wax is dripping all over a
performance here that nearly swallows the wick <(OMG, that's re: genders*
pref. ala Freud's slip). But, hold on...When this hit the jazz world, ears
opened to 20 yrs. of CT leading up to Silent Tongues. They were shown the
new continent he created by cleaving mountains of improvisations past. It
may not HAVE been solo, the compliant keys had to conform to their destiny.
He almost broke a pedal off the poor thing! IF that's a 92 key Bosendorfer
like I saw him play 2 yrs. later, I pity the poor tuner in Switzerland. I
defy the idea C.T. really has just 10 digits. *check out his poetry, also!

I'm a fan of Taylor's frantic style, but I think it's important to rate items based on what people who aren't aware of the artist might perceive of the work if they had to buy it, so for fans of his or Ornette Coleman's work, I say "5 stars", but understand this: most people who are into smooth jazz or even most traditional jazz would be completely turned off by this record. Taylor is a jazz-head's musician.

It's a powerful record, full of his trademark speed, delightful playfulness, and technical virtuosity, but there are more accesible records of his. Pay close attention the albums that will be re-released...there's some gems in there.

For existing fans only or avant garde heads. To everyone else, it will sound like someone pounding on a piano. You've been warned.

I was turned on (if you will), to Cecil Taylor by the late, great Jazz pianist Don Pullen. Not by direct verbal communication but by the music and the inspiration. "New Beginnings" and "Ode To Life" by Pullen compelled me to seek out this recording by Cecil Taylor.

Taylor literally pounds the ivories as if melody and harmony are silent tongues driven to the recesses of the soundboard and he is seeking redemption by compelling them forth.

The pounding I speak of is beautiful, more beautiful than a drum solo because of the wide ranging notes. Extensive use of the pedal to curtail notes and frequent runs of block glissando are trademarks.

This is a live recording at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1974 and it is a clean, vibrant, resonating recording. This is great party music for it will start intelligent conversations by the raw emotive power and verve.

Like another reviewer mentions, I have found nonjazz fans who like this performance. Many people like Cecil best in the solo piano setting, and there is no better place to start than here.

One thing very valuable is the last encore where he plays (in a song form) many of the themes he used in the performance.

Brilliant

I own about 50 CDs of Taylor, so I know what am talking about: This is one of my favorites, beside the (even better) piano solo record "Air Above Mountains" and the two - very different - trio records "In Florescence" ( with William Parker and Gregg Bendian) and "Looking (Berlin Version)" ( with William Parker and Tony Oxley: "The Feel Trio").

Unlike the trio records, the two piano solo albums are more easily accessible. They open up a complex world of beauty. Hard to explain because there is nothing that would compare to them. They are clear, rich, intense, dynamic, serious, intelligent and warm.

You need to like jazz music or modern classical music to appreciate them. If you do: They will be with you for a long, long time.