Cecil Taylor

Cecil Taylor - 3 Phasis (1978) {New World Records NW 303-2 rel 1996}
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© 1978, 1996 New World Records / Recorded Anthology Of American Music | NW 303-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative / Piano

3 Phasis is the companion disc to the Cecil Taylor Unit, both set down over four miraculous days in April 1978. It too is a testament to the perfectionism and unpredictability that are hallmarks of Taylor’'s music. As always, he is the instigator and barometer of the torrents of energy channeled through his able and sympathetic collaborators. This is music of a fierce and uncompromising beauty which sweeps all before it.

Cecil Taylor - Looking (Berlin Version) Corona (1989) {FMP CD31 rel 1991}
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© 1991 Free Music Production | FMP CD 31
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative / Piano

Recorded a couple of days after the similarly titled solo piano performance also released on FMP, Looking (Berlin Version) Corona is a fine quintet concert, notable for the relatively unusual (for Taylor) instrumental grouping employed. In addition to longtime associates Tony Oxley and William Parker, he added a violinist and a cellist (Harold Kimmig and Muneer Abdul Fatah, respectively), forming with Parker a kind of string trio plunked down between the two massive musical forces of nature playing piano and drums. This hornless ensemble creates a very attractive openness of sound, leaving the players a large amount of apparent sonic space in which to improvise freely. Kimmig takes advantage of this early on with some inspired soloing, bringing to mind another violinist briefly affiliated with Taylor, Leroy Jenkins.

Art Ensemble of Chicago with Cecil Taylor - Thelonious Sphere Monk (1991) [MP3] {DIW-846}
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© 1991 DIW / Disk Union Japan | DIW-846
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative

Here, a grand convergence of sound sorcerors. From the American Midwest comes The Art Ensemble Of Chicago (trumpeter Lester Bowie, saxophonists Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell, bassist Malachi Favors Maghostut, and percussionist Famoudou Don Moye), representing the pan-idiomatic forces and open mysteries nurturing the Jazz avant garde -and so much more- into the here and now. From the American Northeast comes guest Cecil Taylor, grandmaster of the acoustic piano and a principal purveyor of that very avant garde for a good half-century going strong. The result, this early 1990 tribute to/extension of the legacies established by the legendary Thelonious Monk, is a towering achievement.

Cecil Taylor was a powerful and unforgettable music force—a fearless visionary and one of the greatest musicians of the past century. His visceral and intense performances influenced generations of musicians, artists, poets, filmmakers and creative minds of every description. This CD features six heartfelt tributes performed by the group Winged Serpents, which consists of six of the most original pianists and musical thinkers working today. Each touched by Cecil’s magic in different ways, they perform improvised tributes to this legendary genius who created a new music that transcended all genres.