*** Cecil Taylor ***

[romualdo]

yep, everything digital - booklet & music (available from Feb 15)

has anyone downloaded yet?

[mhatta]

Wow.  I downloaded and heard it now.  This is something else, powerful stuff, possibly the best historical release of 2022 (yeah, we are still in Feb...).

[mjazzg]

is this on Bandcamp?  I can't seem to find a download link anywhere - but that's probably me being a bit dim

[jazztrain]

35 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

is this on Bandcamp?  I can't seem to find a download link anywhere - but that's probably me being a bit dim

Look here:  https://oblivionrecords2.bandcamp.com/album/the-complete-legendary-live-return-concert-at-the-town-hall-nyc-november-4-1973

[romualdo]

6 minutes ago, jazztrain said:

Look here:  https://oblivionrecords2.bandcamp.com/album/the-complete-legendary-live-return-concert-at-the-town-hall-nyc-november-4-1973

many thanks for the link, especially one that isn't just MP3 files - AIFF for me so I can burn to CDr & play on a decent HiFi, not a computer

Unfortunately I can't play FLAC files

[mjazzg]

39 minutes ago, jazztrain said:

Look here:  https://oblivionrecords2.bandcamp.com/album/the-complete-legendary-live-return-concert-at-the-town-hall-nyc-november-4-1973

Thank you. My BC search didn't find it for some reason

[Joe]

FWIW, this can be purchased on Amazon for a mere 2.97 USD. I prefer to transact via Bandcamp (thanks for that link!) myself, but if you are on a budget...

[mjazzg]

Somewhat bizarrely the three tracks appear to be priced at $1 each if purchased separately on Bandcamp.

I only purchased Autumn/Parade as I have the original LP.

[clifford_thornton]

I bought the whole thing even though I have the LP. I'm fine paying a bit more for a project like this if it helps keep things going -- kicked in $10 on Bandcamp. The lengthy piece sounds great so far.

[RiRiIII]

Fantastic release indeed.

[ep1str0phy]

Prompted (in recursive fashion) by Clifford's Instagram post, I thought I'd swing by to see what the prevailing opinion on this was/is. IMO, this is one of the most extraordinary historical jazz releases of recent memory. 

The long track ("Autumn/Parade") could very well be the best thing on the program - which is saying something, considering how superlative the original Spring of Two Blue-J's is.

This music is just exceptionally refined. When I last spoke to Andrew Cyrille about this, he mentioned that the core trio (Cecil/Lyons/Cyrille) played together a lot, even though documentation was (and remains) relatively scarce. The quartet with Sam Rivers had a bit of the same dynamism and ideational density, but by '73, the band had been working together for so long that the music manifested in a different way.

The roles are so clearly defined on this new release - with Sirone slotting very elegantly into the mix - and much of the music is starkly gestural where you would expect it to be "merely" energetic. If there was any doubt that Cecil's music was motivic at its core, this release would put any uncertainties to rest. The level of communication here, with all four wheels of the car playing independently but in consort, is just completely off the chain. Seriously - this music should be on the Voyager spacecraft. 

[JSngry]

I have this, but have not yet really dug into it. Yet.

Largely because I'm just now fully disengaging myself (as a matter of necessity rather than desire)from this one:

As much as I love Sirone...the triangulation here is damn near godly.

[ep1str0phy]

Akisakila is the paradigm for a certain type of collective improvisation, and the trio sounds unbelievable on it. My principal gripe is that it's recorded so terribly. Yes, all three instruments are fully audible - and I'd rather have a lo-fidelity masterpiece than crystal clear mediocrity - but the recording imbalances the energy a little too far toward the drums.

In my very biased opinion, Andrew was what made this music click - but he was a horizontal improviser at heart, with an uncanny understanding of how melodic line translates to percussion. Akisakila is kind of an energy recording - still amazing, but the mix feels like a bit of a "lie" to me. 

"Autumn/Parade" better corroborates my understanding of what makes this music click than Akisakila does. "Prototypical Free Jazz" requires that the drummer instigate shifts in momentum, and middling/average free improvisation basically festoons a capable drummer with melodic and harmonic filigree. In the classic CT units, the piano is dictating the ideational energy, and so the drummer doesn't really have to play at any given moment. Cecil is the head of the snake - in Steph Curry fashion, so to speak - and so the drummer is free to operate as either a rhythmic driver or a surrogate melodist. It so happens that Andrew was and is, like, the all time best at operating in that liminal space. The Return Concert is an exceptional document of this. 

Edited February 17, 2022 by ep1str0phy

[JSngry]

Hmmm... that's the damndest "one mind" trio I've heard, it's all one idea (literally) played by three instruments of the same mind.

Then again, I've always felt that a trio was the purest route to realizing wholeness. Call me pathetically retro that way, like Willie Nelson, my heroes have always been trios.

[romualdo]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

I have this, but have not yet really dug into it. Yet.

Largely because I'm just now fully disengaging myself (as a matter of necessity rather than desire)from this one:

As much as I love Sirone...the triangulation here is damn near godly.

the most recent Japanese (Octave Lab) CD release has managed to get the whole of Akisakila onto one disc ie 82mins, but it's still separated into parts I & II

All previous CD releases were double disc

[ep1str0phy]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Hmmm... that's the damndest "one mind" trio I've heard, it's all one idea (literally) played by three instruments of the same mind.

Then again, I've always felt that a trio was the purest route to realizing wholeness. Call me pathetically retro that way, like Willie Nelson, my heroes have always been trios.

In a practical sense, I wouldn't doubt that that trio operated democratically. From my understanding, notation aside, Cecil gave little to no instruction regarding what the other instrumentalists were to play.

I also don't think there there was any conscious subsumption into Cecil's concept on the part of Cyrille, Lyons, etc. It was a perfectly synergistic trio built out of consistent practice, intuitive musicality, and a little bit of unteachable genius.

That being said, I think you could have assembled a different trio that put in exactly the same amount of work and not achieved a similar level of success. It's like these three guys were built for this particular music, and a big part of that is the way that Andrew is willing and able to play around (and not just under or on top of) Cecil.

Big confession, but I vastly prefer this grouping to the Nefertiti trio. Sunny Murray was basically the first person to indisputably solve a really difficult problem (i.e., the role of free drums in a jazz-inflected context), but I think it's arguable from the peanut gallery that he didn't have the comprehensive technical ability to take that concept to its logical conclusion - that was down to guys like Cyrille, Oxley, Moholo, and others. All due respect to Sunny, of course - this thesis just feels supported by the recorded evidence. 

[JSngry]

The real bebop is whats left after the raw song goes away.

[medjuck]

When I first start dating my wife in 1976 I took her to see Steve Reich and then the  Cecil Taylor trio on the same day.   She fell asleep during the 2nd concert.     Somehow we're still  married.  

[randyhersom]

I have the lp but bought the whole thing.  The PDF notes remind me that I saw the red type insert in my LP copy, but have never seen Indent II.  Did it ever exist?  If not, can Chuck Nessa make it so?

Edited February 24, 2022 by randyhersom

[clifford_thornton]

On 2/17/2022 at 9:45 PM, JSngry said:

The real bebop is whats left after the raw song goes away.

yep. Always felt that way about Lyons/Taylor/Murray though some might disagree.

@ep1str0phy -- are you listening to Akisakila on LP or CD? For what it's worth, the original Trio 2LP set sounds great to me. I was floored by the quality of the sound upon a recent revisit. And I think the sound on this digital release of the Town Hall concert is a bit fuller than what was on the Unit Core vinyl -- bass is more audible, etc.. 

Indent II and the large ensemble were never released on LP. Shame.

[colinmce]

Fundacja Słuchaj is releasing a 42 minute solo recorded for Polish radio in 1968:

https://sluchaj.bandcamp.com/album/respiration

[Holy Ghost]

Any pre-1970 Cecil is a treat in my book. 

[Jason Bivins]

_{Apologies if I missed this somewhere in the thread, but for those who purchase digitally the entire Two Ts for a Lovely T box is available on Amazon for 15 clams.}

Edited June 11, 2022 by Jason Bivins

[colinmce]

Just noticed the 1965 Newport set is now on Spotify (and other services, I assume). Details are here:

https://www.wolfgangs.com/music/cecil-taylor-quintet/audio/20020001-51297.html?tid=4844092

[JSngry]

34 minutes ago, colinmce said:

Just noticed the 1965 Newport set is now on Spotify (and other services, I assume). Details are here:

https://www.wolfgangs.com/music/cecil-taylor-quintet/audio/20020001-51297.html?tid=4844092

Cecil Taylor - piano; Bill Barron - tenor sax; Jimmy Lyons - alto sax; Henry Grimes - bass; Andrew Cyrille - drums

 

This is a most worthy set.