American pianist Cecil Taylor (1929-2018) is widely regarded as one of the greatest free jazz pioneers of African American music. Albums like Jazz Advance (1956) and the two records he made for Blue Note in the 1960s are still a good starting point for an introduction to Taylor’s wonderful music. Mandatory costs also for those who want to touch the core of free jazz, although the studio work remains and there is something to be said for the often overwhelmingly energetic genre, especially live on stage.
Almost monthly, Taylor’s discography on streaming services such as Spotify is expanded with new live recordings, but really inescapable registrations were not among them. Until now: The concert that the Cecil Taylor Unit gave in New York’s Town Hall in November 1973 has recently been completed released in full under the title The Complete, Legendary Live Return Concert at the Town Hall NYC, November 4, 1973 † And integral means: with Autumn/Parade, the only song Taylor had played before the intermission, and that lasted a whopping 88 minutes. The album was released a year later (in a small edition) of the concert Spring of Two Blue-Js appeared. That LP turned out to contain only the second set of the concert. Autumn/Parade had remained in the closet with Fred Seibert, the man who recorded it at the time, for almost fifty years.
Stream
Last year, the pandemic gave Seibert time to delve into his tape archive, rediscovering his 1973 concert recording. At the time, the entire recording had only been cut up on a double LP. Later, the 88 minutes would have been too long even for a compact disc. But in digital form it can now be done without any problems, Seibert thought, who resuscitated his own label Oblivion Records for it. The complete concert is now available to stream and download for $7 on Bandcamp.
And yes, it is even more beautiful and intense than hoped. Once you start, you can’t go back, for 88 minutes Taylor hammers on the keys in a compelling daze, together with alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, double bassist Sirone (alias Norris Jones) and drummer Andrew Cyrille. Of the foursome, only 82-year-old Cyrille is now alive.
Where his band members occasionally take a break, Taylor continues tirelessly. Often it seems as if not two, but three or four hands are racing over the 88 keys. Is it a coincidence that the piece lasts exactly 88 minutes? What was Taylor’s plan for taking the stage anyway? Why does Autumn/Parade 88 minutes and not 48 or 188? All questions that came to my mind when listening to the music. I have heard the piece in its entirety four times now and consider it one of my most cherished listening experiences ever.
Listen in, I’d say.
0 minutes
Taylor quickly puts down a few figures that are picked up by Lyons. These motifs are then turned inside out and examined harmoniously and melodically from all sides. Taylor distinguishes himself from many other free jazz musicians because he always showed his classical training. Like no other he was able to integrate classical piano techniques into jazz improvisations, which gave him his own sound.
7 minutes
The quartet has been racing at a high level for some time now. Will Lyons, Sirone and Cyrille know how much time they have left? Does the public know that?
16 minutes 40 seconds
Lyons pauses, giving Taylor the opportunity to switch to another register for a moment. One of his followers, Canadian pianist and composer Kris Davis, has determined that no one physically played the piano like Taylor. And you can hear that well here.
24 minutes
Could have been a cut here. After countless notes that jump and fly around like miniature birds, Taylor pauses and lets a dark chord roll in with his left hand. But that snap, needed to flip the LP, had definitely broken the spell.
40 minutes 46 seconds
Applause. For minutes Taylor and Lyons played cat and mouse. The pianist can’t get enough of the alto sax, while the rhythm section (unfortunately hidden far behind in the mix) can hardly keep up. Then Lyons gives up and disappears from view for 9 minutes. We are almost half way. Lyons will take a longer break of 15 minutes after just over an hour of playing time. Agreed to meet? Possibly, Taylor doesn’t seem to miss him. It rattles on nicely.
61 minutes
While the flowery piano motifs keep changing color cleverly and at lightning speed and Lyons takes a break, the words of British writer and photographer Valerie Wilmer come into play in her classic book of jazz portraits. As Serious As Your Life (1977) recalled. Cecil Taylor makes his 88 piano keys work ‘like 88 tuned drums’, Wilmer said. That’s right: Taylor’s playing is hard and percussive. But it is also elegant, playful and sometimes even tender.
77 minutes
Jimmy Lyons joins in again with his alto sax. Time for the final, which is slowly approaching. Would the public know that it is still 10 minutes until the coffee break? It is 1973, Taylor has had lean years, in which he has hardly played live. Jazz has changed at a rapid pace. Many pianists have started playing electric. Taylor doesn’t. Why not, you can hear here.
87 minutes
Slowly the volume decreases, as if a blanket is being placed over the composition. Jimmy Lyons gives up and Cecil Taylor himself has now also pulled everything out of his game. The piano concludes with a few gently struck high notes, after which applause breaks out. We clap along with the headphones on.
Cecil Taylor Unit
Jazz
The Complete, Legendary, Live Return Concert at the Town Hall NYC, November 4, 1973
Oblivion Records
eyewitness
In the highly recommended podcast Jazz Unitedpresented by Nate Chinen, longtime jazz critic of The New York Times, an eyewitness to Cecil Taylor’s performance in Town Hall speaks. John Newcott, then 20, remembers a room full of hipsters who had been looking forward to the concert for a long time. It was an event, a performance in which the contribution of every musician counted equally. The dynamic work of the rhythm section can be heard moderately in the now published registration. Newcott cannot recall this being the case in the room at the time.