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Cecil Taylor: Mixed to Unit Structures Revisited
by Chris May
This story has been revisited before, in the context of an Albert Ayler review, but good stories bear repeating, particularly when they are instructive ones. So here it is again... During a May 2021 interview with All About Jazz, the reed player Shabaka Hutchings was asked to name six albums which had made a more than usually deep impression on him. One of those Hutchings chose was Cecil Taylor's Silent Tongues: Live At Montreux '74 (Freedom, 1975). “This ...
Continue ReadingCecil Taylor: Mixed to Unit Structures Revisited
by Giuseppe Segala
La pubblicazione di Mixed To Unit Structures, nella meritevole collana Revisited Series della Ezz-thetics, sotto-etichetta della svizzera Hat Hut, riunisce due date di registrazione importanti nella vicenda di Cecil Taylor, distribuite tra l'ottobre 1961 e il maggio 1966. La prima, composta dai tre brani “Pots," “Bulbs" e “Mixed," era stata pubblicata dall'etichetta Impulse! nel disco Into the Hot, a nome di Gil Evans. I successivi quattro pezzi costituivano il disco Unit Structures, siglato originariamente da Blue Note. ...
Continue ReadingCecil Taylor: Mixed To Unit Structures Revisited
by Mark Corroto
A listener could make it their life's work to absorb and appreciate the music the music of Cecil Taylor. One could possibly approach it as a scholar and musician through notation and transcription—not the recommended approach. Such a task would be similar to the process of systematizing a DNA sequence. Taylor's music, and pardon this analogy, might be best grasped as one might attend to the oxymoronic genre noise music. If you are still reading, allow an explanation. ...
Continue ReadingAlbert Ayler: Albert Ayler 1965: Spirits Rejoice & Bells Revisited
by Mark Corroto
Being that 2020 is more than half a century since Albert Ayler (1936-70) recorded this music, the best way to approach might be through what the Zen Buddhists call Shoshin. Roughly translated as “beginner's mind," or the ability to experience things as if for the first time. Since we cannot transport ourselves back to 1965, taking a posture of readiness and being open to experience the revelatory nature of this music might be the best plan of attack.
Continue ReadingBlack Sage (for Henry Grimes)
by Gordon Marshall
I have seen the stage lights playthe sly sagacity of Henry's smile:the lightning on his lips, decadesdark with spattered starlight coming back to his eyes.To win words from that smilethat opens like a jackknifedrawing blood from parchment spurting the sanguine melodythe black sage spun like spiderin fury wrapping Ayler's axe--it is a dream, unless the song ...
Continue ReadingHenry Grimes - Rashied Ali: Spirits Aloft
by AAJ Italy Staff
Rashied Ali, al secolo Robert Patterson, è scomparso a settantasei anni il 12 agosto 2009. Il live qui documentato, doverosamente dedicatogli, risale a sei mesi prima. Lo aprono e chiudono due brevi poemi recitati da Henry Grimes, che ne è l'autore (suoi anche i disegni, squisitamente naïfs, in interno di copertina). Lo stesso Grimes, subito nel primo episodio strumentale, “Rapid Transit," si fa ascoltare al violino, su cui sfoggia un approccio tanto poco accademico (un po' à la Ornette, per ...
Continue ReadingHenry Grimes at The Stone: Alive at 75
by Gordon Marshall
Henry Grimes, Newman Taylor Baker, Lee Mixashawn Rozie and Connie CrothersThe StoneEast VillageNew York, NY John Zorn honored the great Henry Grimes, bassist and violinist, with “a month of 75th birthdays" this November, consisting of a curatorship of his venue, The Stone, together with his wife, Margaret. A long weekend spent in New York City gave me a window on this important event, which marks a benchmark in the extraordinary and miraculous resurrection of the ...
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