The merits of this reissue have been well documented. To say that these autumn 1962 recordings capture Cecil Taylor in flux is to overstate the academic and to understate their vitality and immediacy. The melodies here are sensual and disjunct, invoking Ellington and Monk as the harmonies embrace and reject modality with every gesture. Such concerns, magnified and codified as they would become in Taylor’s later years, have simultaneously thwarted and encouraged analysis, depending on the imagination and historical knowledge of the scholar.
One aspect of the 1962 recordings that remains underrepresented is the work of Jimmy Lyons. Nowhere in his own all too meager discography is his work on this seminal date surpassed, and the torrent of ideas pouring from him, not to mention the fluidity and grace with which they are executed, is awe-inspiring almost forty-five years later. “Call” provides a perfect showcase for his take on “freebop” long before the fact, as he darts and weaves around and through Taylor’s jagged but delightfully sentimental harmonic constructions, calmly negotiating lightning-fast shifts in mood, attack and, most impressively, register. Tiny whiplash scale fragments, slides and sudden rushes to unbearably full silences speak to stunning technique subservient only to an overflow of inventiveness. The second disc’s longer compositions allow for some of the exploratory developments that have come to be associated with Taylor and those who follow him, and Lyons’ innovative spirit never flags.
Do I need to say that I am in no way denying Sunny Murray’s contributions—his expansion of swing, his impeccable sense of timbre and placement? There have been many players to imitate Taylor and very few to really compliment him. Jimmy Lyons and Sunny Murray engaged formal complexity without the benefits of hindsight, and these concert recordings become more enjoyable, sound more achingly intimate, each time I listen.
~ Marc Medwin
Posted by derek on February 18, 2007 3:41 PMI never could figure the praise that's heaped on these sessions. I find them rambling and unfocused, not to mention badly recorded. I'd rather get hit over the head by the sturm & drang of "Student Studies." Nefertiti is more like the CT equivalent of Bill Evans' heralded Village Vanguard sessions, and we all know how lame that stuff is. ;)
Posted by: djll at February 21, 2007 8:43 AMGaaah, the last time you took us on a Bill Evans trip, remember what happened Tom?
But you know what? Put a ketchup (or horseradish) loaded water pistol at my head and ask me to choose, and I'll take Student Studies any day too. The opening of SS completely blows me away, every time.
well, first off, in this recording i can hear the revelation of sunny's freed drumming concept. there's something about the freshness of it that rings true for the music, then and now. i hear a group finding liberation and the effect on the musicians is tangible. they're still figuring it out, but there's a spark.
the recording quality, the out of tune piano . . . these are signs of struggle and nefertiti is a document of the musicial and social struggle of cecil's music. some of us relate to this because some of us are still dealing with it. i'd rather hear struggle in music than some glib statement, but that's just me.
if nefertiti is "rambling and unfocused", i can assume you find "the great concert" to be an atrocity against humanity. i don't!
ww
Posted by: weasel walter at February 21, 2007 9:39 AMI'll take this Cecil record over any of his other 60's output. I agree with Weasel - this was truly a band searching for direction but there's that definite SPARK.
Fuck the recording quality for once and listen to the music. If this wasn't music of liberation [then and now], then I don't know what is...
heck, most of the '60s cecil stuff is fabulous to my ears (i was never big on 'conquistador' though - the composition and performances always struck me as a bit dull . . . maybe i need to revisit it 10 years on) the output is extremely varied from album to album however. these recordings are puzzle pieces. if you like the whole puzzle it's easy to see how the individual parts fit into it. they work as well historically as they do now musically.
unit structures, student studies, into the hot, the great concert, nefertiti . . . and the great bootlegs from the period all work for me.
ww
Posted by: weasel walter at February 21, 2007 4:56 PMUnit Structures is the 60s Cecil disc that doesn't work for me. He works best at length (an album side is usually the minimum he needs to really work up steam), and those shortish tracks never become as earth-shattering as they could if the band had, say, 15 minutes to explore each theme.
Posted by: pdf at February 21, 2007 5:27 PMWeasel: No, I don't find The Great Concert to be an atrocity, etc. But compared to Akisakila it's a piece of shit.
pdf: I used to prefer Conquistador to Unit Structures, until I ran into those Bill Dixonistas here on Bags; now, perforce, I think it sucks, largely because of his rambling, poorly-recorded, unfocussed contributions.
/slash/burn
Posted by: djll at February 21, 2007 7:01 PMI agree with WW. They're all great, with the exception of Conquistador.
Posted by: walto at February 21, 2007 8:18 PMDjll's really spoiling for a scrap here: not content with a passing finger at Bill Evans, he's trying to open up that old Dixon wound again and tip a bucket of sea salt in.. What's your beef against Conquistador? Dixon sounds fine to me - I have to listen to it again but "unfocused" isn't a word I'd use to describe it. And as far as the recording quality goes, phooey (or as Bellenger would say pffff): is that REALLY so important to you Tom? What about all those dreadful Saturn recordings? The music is so good I'm sure you wouldn't want to be without them. Anyway, I like all the CT stuff and I was daft to rise to Tom's this-or-that bait. And, Phil, if you get your ears around a bit of set theory (I sketched out a little lesson for you in the latest issue of PT), you'll find Unit Structures opens up like a book. Cecil Taylor knows his theory inside out, and you can hear it in action.
Posted by: Dan Warburton at February 22, 2007 9:07 AMunit structures isn't some raging free jazz record - that clearly was not the intent. it's a very coloristic chamber music record and it succeeds at what it attempts to do.
ww
Posted by: weasel walter at February 22, 2007 9:22 AMAww, Dan, you're no fun anymore. I'm going to have to expel you from my ad-hoc threadbusters/monkeywrench gang.
Posted by: djll at February 22, 2007 10:21 AM"Student Studies" is the one I play loud on those days when it seems to me that young people are full of sh*t.
"Akisakila" is the one I play louder on those days when it seems to me that the world at large is of full of sh*t.
"Nailed" is the one I play loudest on those days when it seems to me that there are too many improvisers full of sh*t.
Posted by: Graham L. Rogers at February 22, 2007 10:53 AMGreat album. Its historical importance makes up for its poor sound. This is where Cecil fully casts off into uncharted waters.
I agree that Student Studies is pretty memorable as well, particularly that middle piece.
In terms of Blue Notes, I much prefer Conquistador to Unit Structures.
Posted by: Brendan Cluston at February 22, 2007 11:06 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................