Six years after his death, I find myself listening to Cecil Taylor as much as I ever have. I was lucky enough to see him several times. The first time was one of the greatest concerts of my life: the Unit at Blues Alley in Washington DC in 1980, for two sets of incredibly dense and unrelenting energy. Cecil Taylor, Jimmy Lyons, William Parker, Rashid Bakr. Blues Alley was a fairly small club, with no stage, and our table (me and my brother and our bemused but patient girlfriends) was directly in front, right in front of Cecil. The piano was angled so we could see his fingers and the piano keys from the angle of his right shoulder. This was almost too much to bear; I get chills thinking about it even now.
Afterwards we were lucky enough to talk to both Cecil and Jimmy Lyons (and yes, this white fanboy got their autographs on my copy of Spring of Two Blue-J's). They were both gentlemen, if a bit reticent and wary (I mean, after all, they had just exploded the cosmos for two hours), but they put up with us for a few minutes. What would I say to him now? Thanks again, for blowing my mind all these years?
Here's a random list of various resources and writing about Cecil Taylor that I have found useful over the years. It's hard to write about music, and it's especially difficult to write about the titanic maelstrom and towering achievements of a giant like Taylor, so I really appreciate it when I come across writing that manages to capture some of his intensity and originality in print. This list is not meant to be exhaustive by any means; this is just some of my favorite writing about Taylor: useful places to explore.
My Muhal Richard Abrams listening this week focused on the amazing run of albums he released on Black Saint in the 1980s and '90s, which will culminate next week with two of his big band masterpieces... the groundwork for those masterpieces was laid especially with Blues Forever and Rejoicing with the Light, in that both albums are stylistically all over the place, spanning the entire history of jazz while shining light on more obscure, unexplored territories... his piano playing is masterful and assured on these, but as usual he often steps out of the way and lets his arrangements and band members do the talking... when I was younger, I was drawn to the more swinging pieces like "Bloodlines" and "Blues Forever," but now (in my dotage, er, as my more mature and seasoned self) I am attracted to the more abstract tone poem pieces like "Cluster for Many Worlds" and "Blessed Be the Heavens at 12"... well, it's all amazing...
Playlist 2024-02-26: