Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Cecil Taylor

• 1T (Beautiful Young'n)00:52
• 2Astar06:09
• 3Ensaslayi07:55
• 4I (Sister Young'n)02:29
• 5Corn in Sun + T (Moon)06:17
• 6The Stele Stolen and Broken Is Reclaimed09:23
• 7N + R (Love Is Friends)04:04
• 8Rocks Sub Amba10:18
• Total Runtime47:27

Info for Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!

In the late 1950’s and early 60’s pianist Cecil Taylor along with saxophonists Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane blazed revolutionary paths through the jazz landscape that forever transformed our perception of the music. Journalist Val Wilmer described Taylor’s play as “88 tuned drums”, and the Guardian called him an “…Art Tatum with contemporary-classical leanings”. For those who think Cecil Taylor’s music too ‘far out’ or who have never experienced his play, this 1980 MPS solo recording will turn your heads and change your minds! The German jazz guru Joachim Ernst Berendt enthused about the recording, “You will hear it all: blues licks and bop phrases…Tatum runs and Bud Powell…even a Boogie-woogie…” he states that, “Taylor is a master of form. The first side (1-5) of the record runs like a suite. Everything is connected.” Taylor’s poetic titles are indicative of the music’s lyricism and depth. An accessible inroad into the fantastic musical terrain of a jazz giant!

„Cecil Taylor has long been a favorite of many top jazz critics while confounding some jazz fans with his often dissonant attack on piano. Yet this 1980 solo piano studio session may be one of his hidden gems, a suite of eight originals that give a better indication of his vast musical knowledge and ability to blend many styles within a single composition. Taylor is very accessible in each of these compositions, drawing from 20th century classical influences in addition to blending bop, avant-garde, brief snippets of boogie and more, creating dramatic pieces that could only be his own. This is easily one of Cecil Taylor's most rewarding record dates, a virtuoso effort that ought to be a starting point for new jazz fans unfamiliar with his work. This 2012 Promising Music reissue remixed the tapes to bring out better sound, while original producer Joachim Ernst Berendt's liner notes are complemented with essays by pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and notes by reissue label owner Consul Bodo Jacoby.“ (Ken Dryden, AMG)

Cecil Taylor, piano

Recorded September 14, 1980 at the MPS-Studio in Villingen/Black Forest, Germany
Engineered by H. G. Brunner-Schwer
Produced by Joachim Ernst Berendt

Digitally remastered

Cecil Taylor
Soon after he first emerged in the mid-'50s, pianist Cecil Taylor was the most advanced improviser in jazz; five decades later he is still the most radical. Although in his early days he used some standards as vehicles for improvisation, since the early '60s Taylor has stuck exclusively to originals. To simplify describing his style, one could say that Taylor's intense atonal percussive approach involves playing the piano as if it were a set of drums. He generally emphasizes dense clusters of sound played with remarkable technique and endurance, often during marathon performances. Suffice it to say that Cecil Taylor's music is not for everyone.

Taylor started piano lessons from the age of six, and attended the New York College of Music and the New England Conservatory. Taylor's early influences included Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck, but from the start he sounded original. Early gigs included work with groups led by Johnny Hodges and Hot Lips Page, but, after forming his quartet in the mid-'50s (which originally included Steve Lacy on soprano, bassist Buell Neidlinger, and drummer Dennis Charles), Taylor was never a sideman again. The group played at the Five Spot Cafe in 1956 for six weeks and performed at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival (which was recorded by Verve), but, despite occasional records, work was scarce. In 1960, Taylor recorded extensively for Candid under Neidlinger's name (by then the quartet featured Archie Shepp on tenor) and the following year he sometimes substituted in the play The Connection. By 1962, Taylor's quartet featured his longtime associate Jimmy Lyons on alto and drummer Sunny Murray. He spent six months in Europe (Albert Ayler worked with Taylor's group for a time although no recordings resulted) but upon his return to the U.S., Taylor did not work again for almost a year. Even with the rise of free jazz, his music was considered too advanced. In 1964, Taylor was one of the founders of the Jazz Composer's Guild and, in 1968, he was featured on a record by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra. In the mid-'60s, Taylor recorded two very advanced sets for Blue Note but it was generally a lean decade.

Things greatly improved starting in the 1970s. Taylor taught for a time at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Antioch College, and Glassboro State College, he recorded more frequently with his Unit, and European tours became common. After being awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1973, the pianist's financial difficulties were eased a bit; he even performed at the White House (during Jimmy Carter's administration) in 1979. A piano duet concert with Mary Lou Williams was a fiasco but a collaboration with drummer Max Roach was quite successful. Taylor started incorporating some of his eccentric poetry into his performances and, unlike most musicians, he has not mellowed with age. The death of Jimmy Lyons in 1986 was a major blow, but Cecil Taylor has remained quite active up until the present day, never compromising his musical vision. His forbidding music is still decades ahead of its time. (Scott Yanow)

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