"Urgent, Dynamic Chains of Impulses:" Cecil Taylor's Early Drummers

I love the tension that arises from the contrast of Denis Charles's straight-ahead, solid-as-a-rock swing with Cecil Taylor's manic Ellingtonianisms, all florid soloing, block chord comping, and drummer-like jumping all over the place rhythmically. For a great example, check out the performance of "Johnny Come Lately" on the At Newport album. As interesting and compelling as Cecil's early music is (and it is all almost infinitely fascinating and rewarding), it's clear that he needed a different drummer to fully realize his vision... and Sunny Murray more than fit the bill. As Ekkehard Jost puts it: "He is probably the first drummer in jazz who was able--while largely negating metre--to develop urgent, dynamic chains of impulses, and in this way gave Taylor's music the support it needed" (Jost, Free Jazz, Universal Edition, 1974, p. 72). Next stops Into the Hot and the Café Montmartre!