Cecil Taylor

[davidmanson]

This is part of an article that I wrote for a local publication after rehearsing and performing with Cecil Taylor for three weeks at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. It's a bit "academic" in style, but you might enjoy parts of it. -

The free jazz of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s is now being reconsidered, re-examined, and re-thought for inspiration and direction in the works of composer/performers such as John Zorn, Ken Vandermark, Dave Douglas, Matthew Shipp among others. During these free and experimental periods, process and exploration merged into an outpouring of work. Categories such as “jazz” and “new classical” did not comfortably apply to much of this music. During this era of exploration, strong voices emerged. Some have remained faithful to creative music through the years and are finding younger audiences who truly appreciate their life’s work. Cecil Taylor was one of the first to pull jazz into the “free thing” zone (Jazz Advance – Transitions, 1955) and luckily he continues to share his innovative vision of sound and music with us today.

Cecil’s music can be thick and complex, clustered, angular, percussive, and at times almost overwhelming to listeners. For the initiated, his music flows from a source deep within the soul. His contribution to music includes performances and recordings with Steve Lacy, John Coltrane, Dennis Charles, Sunny Murray, Jimmy Lyons, Andrew Cyrille, Archie Shepp, Roswell Rudd, Mary Lou Williams, Eric Dolphy, Bill Dixon, Tristan Honsinger, Tony Oxley, Han Bennick, Derek Bailey and many others. His Unit Structures (Blue Note, 1966) is considered a landmark recording in modern music for its compositional strength and improvisational beauty. He has survived the wrath of critics over the years and has emerged victorious as a unique voice of our times.

It was my great pleasure to work this past summer with Cecil at a three week residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, an arts colony in New Symrna Beach, Florida. On the first day of the residency, rather than an obligatory self-introduction, Cecil asked us to simply “improvise an introduction to the group” on our instruments. Later he asked us to move about the room, dance and spontaneously create poetry in addition to performing on our instruments, helping break down the ingrained practitioner concept of music that permeates Western thought.

At 71, Cecil has more energy than people half of his age and seems to swing between the Dionysion and Apollonian poles. One day he is reserved and concerned with health and exercise, the next he is smoking, drinking, and talkative. When he is not performing, he entertains all with observations about central jazz figures (including scathing anecdotes about Wynton Marsalis) as well as high society in New York. He is a bit of a rascal on one hand, yet also quite sincere and down-to-earth at the same time. In the proximity of Cecil, you definitely feel the presence of a strong creative force.

Practically every day I played across the piano from Cecil while working on his new compositions written for the residency stay. His music was difficult to comprehend at first since the ensemble was attempting to translate it into traditional notation. Cecil actually works from a shorthand notation system of his own as many composers do. After one of the group’s members deciphered the system, he acted as translator and we collectively met and discussed the shaping and evolution of Cecil’s music for the upcoming performance. Cecil could have specifically directed us through this process, but he patiently allowed us to discover his music ourselves.

Cecil’s music is often described by critics as European-influenced and lacking tonal organization, but nothing is further from the truth. Cecil’s music is kinetic and deeply personal. Its rhythmic drive and pulse is derived from his physical approach to playing the piano. It may be difficult for one to hear a distinct pulse, but that is only a matter of perspective. We feel pulse, (in a rudimentary way), as an alteration of steps – left, right, left, right - as in marching. As bipeds who move from place to place, we are programmed daily to feel this binary pulse. It is inevitable that we feel tempo this way, but how might we interpret pulse if we were centipedes with a hundred feet? Cecil’s rhythms are based on the physical activity of playing the piano. With his fingers, he creates patterned pulses that underlie his performance.

Cecil’s current music is quite tonal, not atonal. While playing he often hums a central pitch as his sweeps through complex patterns in his left and right hands. These patterns are based on set distances between notes called intervals. For example, on a central or axis pitch of “F” he might create a sweeping pattern of the following intervals: Perfect 4th, Major 2nd, tritone, and minor 2nd. These patterns may be mirror images of each other moving upward and downward on the piano from the axis pitch. With this approach tonality gradually bends and moves in a gentle manner as intervallic patterns shift and adjust. The tonal result may be likened to the “stained glass” effect of modern classical composer Oliver Messian combined with the “sheets of sound” of John Coltrane, but that would be incomplete. His rhythmic approach might also be compared to that of a master tabla performer, but that also falls short of explaining his work. If you hear Cecil’s music as being static, (as some people have complained), then focus on these ideas and you will hear more direction in his playing.

There is a certain “working out” or development in Cecil’s playing – not unlike the German Romantic composers of the 19th century works. Like a spider building a web, a sort of connectivity occurs in the music. Cecil reacts to motifs like a spider feeling the vibration of a fly in the web. He weaves thick patterns of sound that often leave little room for any other performer. This is a major challenge when working with Cecil and only a few successfully meet it. Jimmy Lyons, Tristan Honsinger, Denis Charles, Tony Oxley, William Parker, and Han Bennick come to mind as musical partners strong enough to meet this challenge.

Cecil’s amazing technique as a pianist allows him to react to spaces and create form in performance as was evident in a performance at Rollins College this past summer. After an inspiring performance by the Sam Rivers Trio, Cecil began a solo performance. His first work was familiar to me as I had heard it during his practice time at the ACA (yet another reminder that Cecil’s work is not totally free improvisation). When the piece ended, Cecil launched into poetry and movement. Something gave way in Cecil during that exercise and became free. This was immediately evident as he began his second work. As he played, several people in the audience slowly turned around and began looking up at the ceiling and corners of the concert hall while he played. Somehow Cecil was creating pedal points that seemed to hang in specific areas of the room. Cecil’s third work also had this same spatial element not unlike the late Renaissance polychoral church music of the Gabrielis from 16th century Venice. You will not hear this aspect of Cecil’s music in recordings. Perhaps the limitations of microphone placement and the stereo field simply can not capture it.

On the last day of the residency, I stopped by his cabin at the arts colony and caught him cleaning and mopping the wooden floors. The son of a restaurateur, this childhood chore still brings him order in the midst of a frenzied schedule. Cecil and I had lunch and chatted for about five hours. He talked of playing club music in Harlem with broken keys on the piano and being perched six feet high with the piano bench an inch from the edge of the stage. He mentioned his first piano lesson at age five and how his mother instructed him that he “was to be a lawyer, doctor or dentist” and how the piano was to be “only an avocation”. He described the experience of hearing the “wonderful sound of Albert Ayler” for the first time as he washed dishes in a Harlem restaurant. For a very short time, Cecil even had a band with members that included Albert Ayler, Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane! Cecil still laments the passing of Jimmy Lyons, a brilliant saxophonist who practically dedicated his career to Cecil’s music.

Cecil is an iconoclast who has spent a lifetime hearing a sound within, pursuing it and bring it forth. He doesn’t need to validate its existence or expend energy defending it. Critics and fans alike agree that what he does is spirited, unique, and genuine. His live performances are to be cherished.

A short list of recommended recordings of Cecil Taylor

Jazz Advance (1955, Blue Note CD reissue 84462 2): Steve Lacy, Buell Neidlinger, Dennis Charles

Coltrane Time (1958, Blue Note CD reissue 84461): John Coltrane, Kenny Dorham and Louis Hayes

Unit Structures (1966, Blue Note CD 84237): Unit

Conquistador (1966, Blue Note CDP 784260-2): Unit

Silent Tongues (1974, Freedom CD 41005): solo recording at the 1974 Montreux Jazz Festival.

Garden (1981, Hat Art 1993/94): solo recital

For Olim (1986, Soul Note 1150): solo recital

The Hearth (1988, FMP CD11): Tristan Honsinger, cello; Evan Parker

In Fluorescence (1989, A&M CD 5286): William Parker and Gregg Bendian

David Manson is a composer, trombonist, leader of avant-jazz groups Fluid Motion and SHIM. He is also director of the EMIT series of experimental music in Florida (www.emitseries.org).

[Guest Mnytime]

There is a Pt. 1 & 2 on seperate CDs but both are close to impossible to find without paying at least an arm for each.

[John L]

A very nice and insightful article. Thanks for posting it.

John

[davidmanson]

The reissue #'s are:

hatArt CD 6050 Cecil Taylor: GARDEN I

hatArt CD 6051 Cecil Taylor: GARDEN II

I am not sure of their availability.

[Guest Mnytime]

Interesting reading. Though Sunny Murray describes a different way that Cecil and he meet Ayler. It's during their stay in Copenhagen at the Montmartre I believe. According to Murray, Albert asked if he could sit in and Cecil said no but Murray told him to just start playing once the band had already started and not to mind Cecil.

I know there is an article somewhere on this subject.

Edited May 27, 2003 by Mnytime

[Guest Mnytime]

Here is the Sunny Murray interview

http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine...ews/murray.html

David

Have you seen this?

http://users.lmi.net/~mgheart/thesis/title.html

Edited May 27, 2003 by Mnytime

[davidmanson]

It is difficult to know. It is certainly possible that Sunny Murray's version is more accurate. Cecil did say that he first heard Albert Ayler while washing dishes in Harlem. Perhaps it was poetic license on his part. He can be dramatic that way.

He also talked about one of his first gigs in Harlem playing a piano with missing keys perched inches from the edge of a stage. He spoke of his mother quite a bit as well. He is an interesting person, but he can drift into a sort of stage persona when you talk with him. Perhaps its a defense mechanism. So many people have been hostile toward him over the decades. When he does that, it is certainly interesting and entertaining, but I enjoyed his conversations more when he was just being "real".

Anyway - I am not a professional writer. I just wanted to give my impressions on Cecil's music at that point in time. So many jazz dilettantes truly HATE this guy. He really works hard. He practices for hours. He has a very personal approach to his music that is unique and genuine. That's my take at least.

[Guest Mnytime]

Don't get me wrong I am one of Cecil's biggest fans. Outside of the Garden recordings I have everything else he has recorded and many private tapes as well. Actually I have two unusual links to Cecil's recordings.

Also, I wasn't trying to be negative about your writing. Just wanted to point out a different version of how Cecil met Ayler.

In regards to his Mother I seem to recall an interview Cecil gave where he says his mother really pushed him to play the piano and get into music. Will have to look to see if I still have that link.

Maybe you can answer this question since I have not been able to find anyone else so far that can. Why does Cecil have a problem with Steve Lacy and Buell Neidlinger?

Edited May 27, 2003 by Mnytime

[davidmanson]

No problem - I really don't claim to be a writer although I have a tremendous amount of respect for those folks who listen and write well about music. As a Organissimo reader gracefully (privately) pointed out, I even mispelled Han Bennink's name in this posting.

Cecil never mentioned Steve Lacy and Buell Neidlinger in any conversations that I had with him. He had some sharp comments about Wynton (pronounced with a Germanic V). This was back in the summer of 2000.

Cecil certainly doesn't leave much space for other musicians in performance. Anyone working with him has to accept that and "jump (in) or die" to paraphrase from another modern master.

[davidmanson]

P.S. - the thesis excerpt (thesis ) is very interesting. I will take some time to read through it.

[Guest Mnytime]

There is a Cecil Taylor interview where he really slams both Steve Lacy and Buell Neidlinger. I will have to hunt it down. I don't know about Neidlinger but everything I haver ever read Lacy say about Cecil has been nothing but praise. So I can't figure out what Lacy did to make Cecil so upset with him to the point he mocks his playing and music in the interview. Neidlinger he calls a big baby for whatever reason.

You might also check out these two boards. The second is more avant/free oriented.

http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/index.php?s=

http://www.jazzcornertalk.com/speakeasy/index.php?s=

[paul secor]

I was present at an open forum (1966?) in which Cecil talked about his music and answered questions from the audience. I remember that there was a bit of a confrontation there, with Buell Neidlinger making a statement from the audience to the effect that LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) controlled the new jazz scene in New York, and Cecil responding with something to the effect of - he doesn't control me!

I don't know if this is the confrontation that David Gitin refers to, or if he was privy a less public confrontation.

It's pointless to speculate as to the whys and wherefores of Cecil's feelings and statements. That said - to make a pointless speculation - It is interesting that Buell released a couple of rehearsal tracks from his days with Cecil's group on two of his early K2B2 records. I recall an interview (don't have it handy) where he said that he released them to see if he had the right to. That could have added some fuel to any negative feelings that were already there.

Edited June 1, 2003 by paul secor

[Guest Mnytime]

Here is the interview that Cecil insults Lacy & Neidlinger. Took me a while to remember where it was:

http://www.jazzweekly.com/interviews/taylor.htm

Paul

Here is an panel discussion that Cecil was part of that got a bit heated between him and another musician and her wife I believe.

http://www.the-spa.com/mw/

[7/4]

Instead of starting a new thread, I think I'll continue this one.

Cecil Taylor - It Is In The Brewing Luminous (Hatology)

Wow, what an intense disk!

[John B]

Instead of starting a new thread, I think I'll continue this one.

Cecil Taylor - It Is In The Brewing Luminous (Hatology)

Wow, what an intense disk!

intense, and very beautiful. One of my favorite of the non-solo Cecils that I have heard.

[DTMX]

A very informative and interesting article. I'd also like to point out that David Manson released one of the best recordings of 2002, Fluid Motion with trumpeter Jonathan Powell and the Sam Rivers Trio.