Cecil Taylor

This second installment from an electrifying concert should thrill Taylor fans and win a few converts. It defies odds that the pianist, after so many years, continues to astound with his totally original performances. This one is vintage Taylor, with the pianist in full throttle, winding and turning phrases with characteristic brilliance…

It is a well rehearsed story that some of the major innovators of modern jazz were, in the early 1960s, struggling to get recording contracts or gigs in America. This led players like Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler and Cecil Taylor to try their hand across the Atlantic. These players found a particularly warm reception in Scandinavia, and live recordings from any of these in Sweden or Denmark are well worth looking out for. This nicely packaged reissue captures Taylor’s performances at Copenhagen’s Café Montmartre, with three bonus tracks recorded at Stockholm’s Golden Circle. For fans of Taylor, the material (with the exception of the bonus tracks which have not been previously released) will be familiar from the Live! At the Café Montmartre and Nefertiti: the beautiful one has come. This set comes with a booklet with the sleeve notes from these previous releases, featuring Erik Weidermann’s insightful comments on the performances and the developments of Taylor’s playing.

Cecil Taylor - The Owner of the River Bank (2003) {Enja Records ENJ-9465 2 rec 2000}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 356 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 145 Mb
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© 2000, 2003 Enja Records | ENJ-9465 2
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Creative / Piano

The single piece by Cecil Taylor lasts an hour. It was recorded during the second of two concerts given to celebrate the first ten years of the Italian Instabile Orchestra. This was part of the Talos Festival in Ruvo di Puglia, in Southern Italy, on September 10, 2000. From the sounds of an orchestra warming up, to a subdued conclusion that rumbles deeply and insignificantly, Taylor’s piece takes his audience on a journey through scenery that changes gradually and often. Indistinct human voices can be heard along the way; so can the sounds of trumpet valves clacking, saxophone keys tapping, reed mouthpieces chattering, brass mouthpieces kissing, and tympani rolling along.

Cecil Taylor - The World Of Cecil Taylor (1960) {Candid CD9006 rel 1987}
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© 1960, 1987 Candid | CD 9006
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Creative / Piano

From the opening patterns of Denis Charles' drums on the title cut, the listener knows he/she is in for something special. One can only imagine what the reaction of the average jazz fan was in 1960 when this session was recorded. This is a wonderful document from early in Taylor's career, when he was midway between modernist approaches to standard material and his own radical experiments that would come to full fruition a few years hence. The quartet, rounded out by the youthful Archie Shepp (playing only on "Air" and "Lazy Afternoon") and bassist Buell Neidlinger, is already quite comfortable at pushing the boundaries of the period, giving an almost cursory reading of the themes before leaping into improvisation.

Recorded in 1993 during the Free Music Workshop in Berlin, this date features Cecil Taylor playing in a septet setting with a group of musicians who both point back toward some of the Cecil Taylor units of old and look ahead at the possibilities for a future ensemble employing numerous instruments, not only for color and variance, but also as force creators in Taylor's wave field. ~ AllMusic

Cecil Taylor Ensemble - Always a Pleasure (1993) {FMP CD 69 rel 1996}
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© 1996 Free Music Production | FMP CD 69
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative / Piano

Recorded in 1993 during the Free Music Workshop in Berlin, this date features Cecil Taylor playing in a septet setting with a group of musicians who both point back toward some of the Cecil Taylor units of old and look ahead at the possibilities for a future ensemble employing numerous instruments, not only for color and variance, but also as force creators in Taylor's wave field. Old Taylor stalwarts like bassist Sirone and drummer Rashid Baker are tossed into a mix that includes tenor titan Charles Gayle, cellist Tristan Honsiger, and soprano saxophonist Harri Sjöström, as well as French trumpet master Longineu Parsons.

Cecil Taylor - Poschiavo (2018) {Black Sun 15046-2}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Official Digital Download (qobuz.com) -> 205 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 129 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2018 Black Sun Music | 15046-2
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Classical / Solo Piano

In the life of every artist comes the time when toward the end of his existence he will create a monument to his ever-lasting artistic efforts. It is the Swan-Song for which he wishes to remain being known; for centuries, this has crossed the borderlines between cultures and arts. POSCHIAVO was recorded when Cecil Taylor was sixty-nine years old, very much at the height of his musical and poetic powers. Recorded in Europe on a fine Bösendorfer grand piano in perfect digital clarity, POSCHIAVO is an almost hour-long recital of a level of intensity that only Cecil Taylor's astonishing pianism could create. As he had created his own life and art, no influences can be detected in his playing. At the same time, no-one could truly absorb Cecil Taylor's style and performance as there is no-one who could play like Cecil Taylor.