Abstract Rhythm in Time DigitalART with Birdland, Neuburg 2011 by Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley .bandcamp.com/music/ by Alan Silva
By the time of his first substantive engagement with European improvisors, Cecil Taylor was 59. He had consolidated his approach into the most radical piano concept of the twentieth century, music so personal that it was sometimes hermetic, so disciplined it felt like a principle, so wild it proposed quantum potential. When he worked in a group – or as he preferred to call it, a unit – he was an uncompromising collaborator; anyone playing with him had to put up or shut up or just get left in the wake. Work with CT was not taken lightly. "The most consistently rewarding of this year's Taylors is 'Incarnation,' his latest for FMP.... Taylor is reunited with Andrew Cyrille, still the drummer who best understands how much propulsion he needs and when. On "Focus," the punishing opener, they pick up right where they left off. Once he gets his bearings, Franky Douglas, a Curaçao guitarist based in Amsterdam, uses his whammy bar for spaceship landings that are more Sun Ra than Cecil Taylor, also daring a hint of funk now and then. But the one who pushes the gathering into overdrive is cellist Tristan Honsinger, who goes after Taylor from the opening bar." --Francis Davis, Village Voice "With the turn of the Millennium American pianist Cecil Taylor halted his recording activity almost entirely, but continued to play concerts for another decade or so, many of which were recorded. That last decade of his musical activity is almost completely defined by the performances in a duo setting with the British percussionist Tony Oxley, with whom Taylor had a long-standing collaboration since the 1980s when his activities moved to Europe, some of which were released in the years that followed. We're incredibly proud to present the second-ever "Archive Edition," featuring previously unreleased material from the FMP vaults, with a Cecil Taylor performance from 1996! The core of this live recording is a smashing duet with Sunny Murray, bookended by extensive vocalizing from a cast of characters that includes Dominic Duval, Tristan Honsinger, and Jackson Krall. Given Taylor's recent passing -- it's June 2018 as we write this -- there is some small comfort in being able to discover yet more music from this American genius. We hope you enjoy. This set (along with '2T's For A Lovely T') is the holy grail of Cecil Taylor recordings,I think...I was wondering how long it would be until Destination Out put this set up on BC and,at last,it's here! Expensive? Depends upon your value system (for me,this is beyond monetary issues)...anyway,feel free to stream it here from my collection.Take your time and savour this difficult but monumental achievement...I think it requires time and effort but your ears and spirit will be rewarded. At the beginning Cecil Taylor places one single note from which all the others flow. One could also speak of an atom in which at the core the entire work is contained. Everything following would only then be splitting the atom. Practically from a standing start, the striking opening gains dynamics, tempo in a few tones. And already we are in the middle of Taylor¹s cosmos. With chords, clusters, cascades, with phrases, fragments, pieces, with approaches, hints, allusions, with splits, branches, citations; with the melodious and the abstract. Occasionally thrown out, occasionally cautiously modulated. Occasionally lightning fast, then slow again, leisurely. Occasionally loud and physical, then quiet and sensitive. Also with rhythmical changes, that, however, are all subject to a higher rhythm. Just as the diverging, fraying cosmos forms an entirety in the end, compact, sound in itself, not closed off, but rather open to further... more Cecil Taylor performance from Master Class: Cecil Taylor - Poetry and Performance NYU in 2004
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