Cecil Taylor - Unit Structures (1966)

Apologies for the diminishing amount of posts in the past few months. Summer was distracting, to say the least, but now 'Caine and I will be more on top of things. I'm going to stop writing (320) at the top of every post, I think it's getting a little redundant. Everything is in 320 unless marked otherwise.

I'd like to end the hiatus with a Cecil Taylor Blue Note release. I had the pleasure of seeing the free jazz legend at Seattle's Earshot in 2008. He came out in long rainbow socks, holding a large bundle of loose leaf paper. I had heard that Cecil would open up performances with his poetry, but it looked like he had enough paper to last the whole night. I swear one of his poems was him just screaming vowels and different volumes. Art, man. His solo piano playing was wild, atonal, and all over the place. But through his violent smashing chords was a master's control of the instrument and a very real sense of musicality. Check out this section from All The Notes below to maybe...better understand the man and his theories. "Sound has color. I have 6 different colors...which most human beings cannot perceive. But animals can perceive..." Real talk. Only Cecil tells it like it is. (By the way, bassist Henry Grimes has been featured on Shhh before on a few Albert Ayler releases.)

Tracklist:

1. Steps
2. Enter, Evening (Soft Line Structure)
3. Enter, Evening (Alt. Take)
4. Unit Structure/As Of A Now/Section
5. Tales (8 Whisps)

Personnel:

Eddie Gale Stevens, Jr., trumpet
Jimmy Lyons, alto sax
Ken McIntyre, alto sax, oboe, and bass clarinet
Cecil Taylor, piano and bells
Henry Grimes, bass
Alan Silva, bass
Andrew Cyrille, drums

Produced by Alfred Lion
All compositions written by Cecil Taylor
Produced for release by Michael Cuscuna
Recorded at the Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on May 19, 1966
Recording Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder
Digital Transfers by: Ron McMaster

Blue Note Records
CDP 7 84237 2

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