Jazz Articles about Sam Rivers

About Sam Rivers

Radio & Podcasts

From the Loft Scene to the Latest Blippy Synth Jazz... and more!

by Jon Greenbaum
October 25, 2026

Music from the last century: The New York Art Quartet, Jayne Cortez & The Firespitters, Sam Rivers, The Dave Holland Quintet and a new archival release from a live Sunny Murray, Arthur Doyle and Rasul Siddik date. Plus a dozen intense new releases! Playlist Jayne Cortez & The Firespitters “I See Chano Pozo" from There It Is (Bola Press) 00:00 Oli Kuster / Dee Byrne / Xavier Kaeser “Renewal" from Wayfinding (Efpi Records) 07:31 Tomsits Quartet “Dhrupad" from ...

Book Review

Energy Center: A History Of Studio Rivbea

by John Sharpe
October 18, 2026

Energy Center: A History Of Studio Rivbea Ed Hazell 324 Pages ISBN: 978-5-415-02882-5 NoBusiness Records 2026 Multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers helped reshape New York's jazz landscape not only through his music but by creating Studio Rivbea, an independent space for rehearsal, education and performance that gave adventurous musicians room to develop and play on their own terms. In Energy Center, Ed Hazell chronicles the pioneering Lower East Side venue, from its founding in 1973 ...

Album Review

Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts

Read "Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala

by Giuseppe Segala
October 12, 2026

Questa pubblicazione documenta per la prima volta nella sua interezza un momento fondamentale e di grande intensità artistica della vicenda ricchissima di Cecil Taylor. Siamo nel 1969, anno di grazia per la musica e il fermento creativo, sociale, interattivo delle arti. Anno che Bob Gluck ha opportunamente focalizzato come punto di partenza per straordinarie avventure musicali, descritte nel suo testo Miles Davis il Quintetto Perduto e altre rivoluzioni (Quodlibet Editore, 2020). Nel novembre di quell'anno, Taylor si trovò ...

Album Review

Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts

Read "Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
May 12, 2026

Another insanely good Record Store Day release from Elemental Music, Fragments, The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts, is available as a limited-edition, 180-gram, 3-LP gatefold set or as your standard 2-CD version, but truth be told and told plainly, any version will serve one well. Talk about rumble in the jungle. Fragments, The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts pushes at you like a gang fight on the 49-minute “Fragments of a Dedication to Duke Ellington Evening Set Version." ...

Album Review

Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts

Read "Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
May 2, 2026

Hosting a recording by Cecil Taylor represents a new departure for producer Zev Feldman. He is candid about the challenge: “Words fail me to describe the great genius of Cecil Taylor and I could never do him justice, but luckily we have Phil Freeman's erudite words." Freeman contributes a substantial essay to the release. Even after fifty years, Taylor's music remains dense, unrelenting, forceful, and challenging. Time has not diminished its impact. The glorious vivacity is undimmed.

Album Review

Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts

Read "Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts" reviewed by Joshua Weiner

by Joshua Weiner
April 26, 2026

"On one level you can look at him as one of the grandfathers of the free jazz tradition," says pianist Matthew Shipp of Cecil Taylor in the generous booklet included with Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts, a three-LP set released by Elemental Music for Record Store Day 2026 (CD and digital releases will also follow). “But on the other hand...(h)e was very insistent that he came out of a certain tradition, and he talked about Ellington, Monk, and ...

Album Review

Cecil Taylor Unit: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts

Read "Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 18, 2026

Cecil Taylor, a pioneer of free jazz, pared down his Cecil Taylor Unit ensemble for a trip through Europe to partake in a 15-date tour in late 1969, in support of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Miles Davis Quintet. This foray was billed as the Newport Jazz Festival In Europe. Taylor's Unit of the day--Taylor on piano, Sam Rivers on reeds, Jimmy Lyons on alto sax and Andrew Cyrille in the drummer's chair--sounded nothing like the elegance and swing ...