Free+improvisation

A monumental 85-minute organ improvisation for the music for the film-documentary "Congo Safari" by Marcel Isy-Schwart.

Strange as it sounds, this is a somewhat typical date by avant-garde master Cecil Taylor. Recorded live at a Minneapolis concert, the performance consists of three improvisations (two of which are quite lengthy) that have Taylor in mostly thunderous form, leavened by a few brief lyrical moments. Bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jackson Krall do their best to keep up with Taylor but there is no doubt who the leader is. Taylor's remarkable technique and endurance are in evidence, as is his ability to build on the most abstract ideas and somehow have it all make musical sense…

Pianist and composer Paul Bley has been making records now for more than 50 years. His solo recordings encompass a great deal of his generous catalog. Bley has studied so many different aspects of jazz, and improvisational music both American and European, that these recordings always offer a revealing, no-holds-barred glimpse of where he's at as a musician at any given time. About Time, released on the Montreal label Justin Time, contains just two pieces: the 33-plus-minute title track and the Sonny Rollins tune "Pent-Up House," which lasts another ten. They reveal the entire range of Bley's considerable gifts as a pianist and improviser.