Ceil Taylor Pure & Raw

I recently acquired an extensive Cecil Taylor recording, 2 Ts for a Lovely T.  You won't see this one in record stores.  In fact, you will not see it again.  This is raw, uncompromising avant garde indulgence.  I doubt that it will win a lot of stars on my Live365 site, but I am putting it up anyway.  Every now and then one must sacrifice for the sake of art.  I am playing 'Owele Standing (Small Bird)'.  William Parker is on bass, and Tony Oxley on drums. 

Cecil Taylor 4 pennies Updated

Right this moment eMusic is selling a wonderful 4-CD set of Cecil Taylor recordings for the Candid label: The Complete Nat Henthof sessions for less than six bucks.  

This box set contains material released as  

1. Air, 
2. Jumpin' Pumpkins,  
3. The World of Cecil Taylor,  
4. Cell Walk for Celeste, and 
5. New York City R&B, 
6. Mixed (tracks 1-3).

plus a wealth of outtakes.

I paid eMusic $5.84 for the whole thing in spite of the fact that I have three of the six original albums.  I just couldn't pass up all the extra material at that price of a single album.  If you don't have the albums, this is an incredible buy.  The box of CDs costs almost $50 at Amazon.  I don't expect the price will last, so if you are reading this blog as I post, go for it quick.  

I am playing 'Johnny Came Lately', one of the bonus tracks recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival 1957.  It is a showcase for Steve Lacy's soprano sax.  I am also playing 'Things Ain't What They Used to Be', and 'Air'.  Both are out takes, not available on the original albums. 

CD 1 & CD 2 [1-6]:
ARCHIE SHEPP tenor sax (on Air and Lazy Afternoon only)
CECIL TAYLOR piano
BUELL NEIDLINGER bass
DENNIS CHARLES drums
SUNNY MURRAY drums (replaces Charles on CD 1 [2-3] only
New York, October 12 & 13, 1960.

CD 2 [7-10] & CD 3 [1-4]:
Same personnel as above.
DENNIS CHARLES (drums) on all tracks.
CECIL TAYLOR plays celeste on CD 3 [1-3]
ARCHIE SHEPP out on CD 2 [9-10].
New York, January 9, 1961.

CD 3 [5-8] & CD 4 [1-4]:
CLARK TERRYRRY trumpet
ROSWELL RUDD trombone
STEVE LACY soprano sax
ARCHIE SHEPP tenor sax
CHARLES DAVIS baritone sax
CECIL TAYLOR piano
BUELL NEIDLINGER bass
BILLY HIGGINS drums.
New York, January 10, 1961.

BONUS TRACKS:

CD 4 [4-6]:
Ted Curson (tp on 6 only), Roswell Rudd (tb on 6 only),
Jimmy Lyons (as), Archie Shepp (ts),
Cecil Taylor (p), Henry Grimes (b),
Sunny Murray (d), Gil Evans (cond).
Englewood Cliffs, N.J., October 10, 1961.

CD 4 [7-9]:
Steve Lacy (sop), Cecil Taylor (p),
Buell Neidlinger (b), Dennis Charles (d).
Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, Rhode Island,
afternoon, July 6, 1957.

I found this information at http://www.jazzmessengers.com/all-cd-albums/CECIL-TAYLOR-SOLAR-RECORDS-THE-COMPLETE-NAT-HENTOFF-SESSIONS-100076.

 Update: I have added to the list of recordings where this material appeared earlier.  The cuts 'Bulbs', 'Pots', and 'Mixed' were released on an LP entitled Mixed along with several cuts without Cecil Taylor. 

I am playing 'Pots' and 'O.P.'

Jemeel Moondoc is Outta This World

One of the most satisfying things about jazz collecting is that I keep finding really brilliant jazz artists of whom I have never heard. Friday afternoon I chanced upon the entry for Jemeel Moondoc in the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. That was an afternoon well spent.

Moondoc was born in 1951 in Chicago, which makes him relatively young in the circle of jazz geniuses.  He is an avant garde sax player who developed as a protege of Cecil Taylor.  Moondoc has also recorded frequently with master bass player and composer William Parker.  My love for Parker's Midas touch has deepened steadily over the last two years or so.  Everything Parker comes near turns to jazz gold.

Moondoc's album Nostalgia in Times Square is one glittering example.   In addition to Moondoc on alto and Parker on bass, Bern Nix plays guitar, Rahn Burton piano and Dennis Charles is on drums.  Don't get me wrong: this is Moondoc's work.  There are four cuts on the album including the title piece (a cover of a Mingus tune) and three Moondoc compositions.  I think that the original pieces are all better than the Mingus cover.  Best of all, you can get the MP3 download from Amazon for a cool $3.56.  You'd be very, very lucky to pick it up at a yard sale for that. 

The album is very accessible jazz with an avant garde bite to it.  I have added "Flora" to my Live365 play list.  That is the best of the four cuts, but all of them are good.  "In Walked Monk" is a nice piece of homage, but I think that the last cut, "Dance of the Clowns" is both better and more Monkish.  This is superb jazz.  Take my word for it and download the album.  I'll be picking up some more Moondoc after payday.

Cecil Taylor, the Envelope, and the Abyss

According to legend, Cecil Taylor invented free jazz in 1957. I like that legend. That's the year I was born. Obviously the Creator was in one of his creative periods. Taylor is surely among the great figures in avant garde jazz. But his magnum opus was recorded a year earlier. Jazz Advance is simply brilliant, from the album title down to the last note. For some reason, I always think of Andrew Hill's magnificent Point of Departure in connection with Jazz Advance.

It opens with a Monk number, 'Bemsha Swing,' and I think you have on display a standard characteristic of modern jazz: a piano player, playing a Monk tune, and trying to sound like Monk. Taylor pulls it off. But he does so in the way that a prospector digs for gold.

I continue to think that the avant garde jazzmen did their best work when they kept at least a thread of connection to hard bop and post bop. Jazz Advance has Steve Lacy on Soprano Sax, Buell Neidlinger on bass, and Denis Charles on drums. You will find a lot of Lacy in my previous posts. Here is the above mentioned tune:

Cecil Taylor/Bemsha Swing/Jazz Advance

And here is a tune from a Taylor/Neidlinger album. It's a more traditional rendering of a standard that Taylor was obviously fond of. I'm not sure who played on this number, but Archie Shepp, Steve Lacy, Roswell Rudd, and Clark Terry are on the credits.

Cecil Taylor & Bud Neidlinger/Things Ain't What They Used to be/New York City R&B

Finally, here is pure Taylor free jazz, from his solo album For Olim. Steve Lacy once said that there are two kinds of jazz: offensive and defensive. Taylor always played for the offense. But there is a lot of yardage gained here.

Cecil Taylor/Question/For Olim

Well, there is some Cecil for you.