Cecil Taylor S+D

''"hehehe.. i wish i had the money (well, i do)"
! i love this !''

well. that's the situation I'm in. I'd be happy to buy a 5 disc set (50 quid say) but since that isn't avaialble.

the promoters should tell us _now_ whether they're going to do what FMP did and issue them all as singles later anyway -- i figure the artists are above this game show retail business, so hopefully we'll find out the label are as like minded real soon

the i.t. boom, the cd boom, so many improv/azz releases in the last 8 years, have all been a little off-putting -- as were the FMP trio singles like ".. blazons"

i wish there were more CT holy house and totzil/mummers spoken-music albums (and less w.s.burroughs albums)

anyone able to justify 100 quid for the ten album ct/oxley/parker dates ?? (limited edition -- screw that, i've seen 4 or 5 limited editions of the hat/hut items now, except garden, which is deserving too) -- i don't find w.parker very interesting on celebrated/looking fmps

(oh, and i think one too many salty swift pt 2 (5 on disc one) is the best learning curve entry point for ct units)

I have to admit I don't love Cecil Taylor. In theory I do, he's an incredible technician. As far as what he plays, though, I think there are moments of brilliance, but it seems very European to me...no space...I have no idea what you'd call it.

He's one of those people I need to check out more thoroughly, like Braxton, so the above suggestions are very useful. Anyone care to offer an analysis of what he does that might help me appreciate it more, I'm sure I must be missing some key here...

well what he does has no central key heh...atonal jazz me thinks. for more: go to val vilmer's book on the subject (not too technical but it has a bit of it for sure).

fer chrissakes! he's european!!! come on...he's european and american and african etc etc...its a world music project in his hands.

x-post: sirone=> http://www.mindspring.com/~scala/sirone.htm

I really like 'artistry'.

Don't have all the FMPs but I'd say you should get one without a percussionist next. The one with parker and hosinger was really satisfying.

Wow, stence, that is very exciting. I will be there.

I own the 2 Ts For A Lovely T box. It's probably overpriced (especially when exchange rates - which were a lot better when I purchased it than they are now - and shipping to the US are factored in), but I've listened to it a lot, so I feel like I got my money's worth.

Did Cecil come out in his pajamas and bless the piano before he started playing? He did something like that both times I've seen him.

Yeah what was he writing?

http://www.sofamusic.no/musicians/tony_oxley.jpg

I thought the bassplayer would've been much better with a real standup. Even during his arco parts there didn't seem to be as many overtones as would be produced with a larger resonating body (altho some of the arco stuff kinda nicely sounded like the late Jimmy Lyons' sax stuff!).

Dunno what he was writing. I was hoping he'd recite a poem but no dice.

Lately I've been listening to Student Studies a lot.

http://www.kaufman-center.org/tc/mch0607/cj_101206.php

Cecil, Braxton, Parker and Oxley at the RFH last night:

Oh.
My.
Fucking.
God.

All other music please retire now.

Jazz Advance is a great entry point.

That sounds like an incredible show. (William Parker, I assume?)

Are they doing or did they do a record together?

I hope the concert was recorded, and if not, that they do make a record (yes, it was William P - with his immense bass, you understand why they call themselves the Feel Trio).

could someone describe CT's "jazz advance" lp for me, and perhaps mull it's merits as a starting point?

"Conquistador" is pretty classic, though admittedly the only one I've heard.

Springtime is Cecil Taylor time

So little interest in out stuff on ILM that when a new post pops up on a thread like this one I automatically half assume the subject has died.

could someone describe CT's "jazz advance" lp for me, and perhaps mull it's merits as a starting point?

Jazz Advance is, afaik, unlike any other Cecil Taylor records. blues-based jazz and not a "out there" record. it was years ago, but i tried a few others (silent tongues, cecil taylor unit) and JA is the only one i actually enjoy; probably on account of the relative straightforwardness of the music

i like a lot of "out" music, but I find Cecil (or at least most of the Cecil I've heard) to be kind of overwhelming. That's the idea, I know (or at least part of the idea) ... But it's not something I reach for very often. I certainly appreciate what he's doing. Would love to see him live, actually. The clips I've seen are kind of mind-boggling.

I’ve been bumping “calling it the eighth” lately.

i don't think Love is for Sale is my favorite album of his but it's *definitely* my favorite of his album covers

Recently spent a day at the Met museum with my headphones on, selecting music to pair with each group of painting and I chose Air Above Mountains for the Cezannes. Pretty clear resonance imo with their interest in 'underlying architecture' and constructing forms out of individual units. Wondering if Cecil Taylor has ever spoken about any direct influence from visual art or architecture

Wondering if Cecil Taylor has ever spoken about any direct influence from visual art or architecture

Yeah, he was a huge admirer of architect Santiago Calatrava's bridges and other structures; he talked about it many times.

He was a big art and architecture lover. Dantiago Calatrava gets a shoutout early on in the documentary “All The Notes”.

lol unperson beat me to it!

Nice, i should check out that doc.

If there's a print interview online where he talks about it that you know of please lmk!

Yeah, he was a huge admirer of architect Santiago Calatrava's bridges and other structures; he talked about it many times.

I didn't know that, but it actually makes a lot of sense.

freely available on youtube
it's the opening shot lol

you can check this out if you're looking for a print source rather than video:

http://www.furious.com/perfect/ceciltaylor.html

both Miles and Cecil were poshboys compared to Monk who was an autodidact born into struggle and struggled even when he was famous, and there is a fair bit of needle between Monk and Miles. Probably not all down to class resentment but more pride and the clashing out of control egos. But no surprise that Cecil was an urbane intellectual type, given his background. Not that it made life any easier being black in the US at the time.

But no surprise that Cecil was an urbane intellectual type, given his background. Not that it made life any easier being black in the US at the time.

Yeah, I deal with this a little bit in the book, the fact (often unremarked-upon by critics) that Taylor was absolutely a scion of the early 20th century Black upper middle class, if not the Black aristocracy of the era; he says in an interview I quoted that his father had the only brick house on their block, and his (Cecil's) name appeared in the society columns of local newspapers when he was a kid — the family seems to have come through the Great Depression entirely unscathed, and some relatives on his father's side lived in a gigantic manor house near Boston (part of the reason he wound up at New England Conservatory, I think).

I just realized despite the fact I love him so much I have no idea about Taylor’s background. Looking forward to the book, etc.

most of what i know is from the A.B. Spellman book, which i highly recommend!

https://press.umich.edu/Books/F/Four-Jazz-Lives2

thanks budo jeru! i think his intro in the doc was more interesting, if only because he took me by surprise when he referred to bridges as a time-based form

stumbled onto this a while ago and most of what i know about him is from here:
https://unitstructures.commons.gc.cuny.edu/abstracts/

no problem. i don't get asked every day if i can recommend a print source for Cecil Taylor's thoughts on Calatrava, but when it does happen i'm ready

haha, does the Institute of Jazz Studies need a reference librarian?

Yeah, thanks for that link budo jeru.

of tangential interest: this blog posted an audio recording of an interview with chantal d'arcy from 1963, who started Shandar records in Paris in the early '70s with encouragement from CT, and also issued recordings by Taylor, as well as Sun Ra, Terry Riley, Pran Nath, and others:

https://blogthehum.com/2017/04/02/a-rare-wonderful-and-insightful-interview-with-chantal-darcy-founder-of-shandar-records-from-may-23-1973/

I just got around to reading last month’s issue of Downbeat and saw the excerpt from unperson’s book. Crazy that he didn’t have a will.

There's so much more to that whole sad saga in the actual book. I had to cut it down by a lot to fit what I could into the issue, but I had a long phone call with a surviving relative (a cousin or a niece, I was never 100% clear on their actual relationship) who told me all kinds of wild shit. And then when I talked to people who worked with him at the end of his life (his court-appointed guardian, the guys from the Whitney Museum) and mentioned her, they were like, "Oh, Vanessa..."

unperson, what's the best way to order the book at the moment?

Amazon in the US, direct from the publisher in Europe. (They ship worldwide with DHL, though. Expensive but quick.)