Cecil Taylor S+D

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'm hoping that cecil is the first eternal man

have been jamming that live in the black forest alb that's taken from a radio broadcast, amazing gig from the same era as IT IS IN THE BREWING LUMINOUS

JAZZ ADVANCE is a nice enough alb but it is not that far off monk or herbie nichols or even ellington, but cannot compare to most CT things that came after

Jazz Advance is, afaik, unlike any other Cecil Taylor records.

It's definitely more straightforward than everything he's best known for; the next step after Monk, basically. And if you like that side of him, you should check out his quartet with Archie Shepp, Buell Neidlinger and Denis Charles from the early '60s - albums to hear are Air, Cell Walk for Celeste, New York City R&B and The World of Cecil Taylor, all on the Candid label. They drift in and out of print, but they're findable.

amazing footage from youtube, can't think of another piano player who so dances around the keyboard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U01okZHnIQ&feature=related

tbh, i dont love nerfertiti like i do conquistador! or unit structures or looking ahead. i like air above buildings... a lot, and im warming up to 3 phasis... i think that may be all ive heard so far...

was all :-0 when I came across these paragraphs today in Up Above the World (1966) by Paul Bowles:

"Thorny finished his drink and held out his glass for more.

They listened while a plane flew over; when its roar had become only a reverberation passing farther down the valley, Thorny said, "Put on the new Cecil Taylor.""

Cecil Taylor wins the Kyoto prize.

Hope he doesn't blow it on coke, like (rumor has it) he did with his MacArthur grant money.

Hope he does

lol! Why the hell not.

?

In all seriousness, though, someone is peppering all Cecil's recent press with allegations of hard drug use. Looks odd, I have to say. Lot of nutters out there.

Ahhh - they should let the man be. He's created and played amazing music for so many years. His demons (or angels) are his to handle.

Damn right. It is his business how he spends his last bit of time on this rock and fuck gossip.

I don't care myself - I'm a huge fan. I actually think the idea of spending a massive grant on drugs is hilarious.

i think if you are 84 you should be allowed to use as many drugs as you want to, and supported by the state while doing so (but only while doing so)

Woke up this morning craving a Cecil Taylor Christmas LP

Ha, that would rule.

Cecil Taylor Class at Swing University, part of Jazz at Lincoln Center:
http://academy.jalc.org/swing-university-youngtaylor/
http://ticketing.jalc.org/auxpkg/detail.aspx?pkg=380&flex=N&nfs=N

I highly recommend anyone in the vicinity checking one or more of these classes out. I had the good fortune to hear Ben Young lecture about Cecil Taylor a number of years ago, and his insights continue to resonate with me.

you might have a problem with your eardrums

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTwnwbG9YLE

lol

"The defendant befriended Mr. Taylor and won his trust," Kenneth Thompson, the district attorney, said in a statement, "which later made it easier for him to allegedly swindle this vulnerable, elderly and great jazz musician."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/12/us-usa-crime-taylor-idUSKBN0GC1GA20140812

A Cecil Taylor press conference is not like other press conferences:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/nyregion/man-accused-of-stealing-prize-money-from-jazz-genius.html?ref=arts&_r=0

Asked about what receiving the award was like, Mr. Taylor said “it was a thrilling moment,” though he had also received a MacArthur fellowship and a Guggenheim fellowship, and then, suddenly, he was talking about playing a nine-foot Bösendorfer piano in the basement of — here a reporter’s notes got hazy, finishing with the quote, “I had fun.”

That photo of everyone staring at him in total confusion and annoyance is great

Looking good!

great photo

this makes me so sad, but cecil seems to be taking it in stride

Too short, but very affecting piece by an Australian filmmaker doing a documentary on Cecil:
https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2015/april/1427806800/amiel-courtin-wilson/cecil-taylor

AMAZING footage from Paris 1969 with Jimmy Lyons on alto sax, Sam Rivers on tenor sax, and Andrew Cyrille on drums:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4HUWyGTu1I

This was part of a full European tour put together by George Wein and the Newport Jazz Festival, billed as bringing the Festival to Europe - Miles Davis's 1969 band (with Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette) was also on the bill. When I interviewed Taylor back in February, he told me he was walking around backstage and overheard Miles telling his (Davis's) band, "Don't listen to him - he's bullshittin'."

The irony of course being that, when Miles' band played in a manner not completely dissimilar to this (for which, see the Rome '69 show), Miles would say to them, "Hey, how come you never play like that when I'm soloing?"

(I imagine they thought, "Goddammit, make up your mind!")

Here's some even more amazing footage from 1974 - including poetry, and Cecil playing bells and the strings of the piano:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkZw7vbcIvY