Cecil Taylor Trio
The Artists Collective
Hartford, CT
21 October 2006
aud master recorded by carville
Sonic Studios DSM-6S/M > Edirol R-09 Flash recorder (24 bit/48 kHz)
resampled and normalized with Audacity (16 bit/44.1 kHz)

set 1 54:55

set 2 34:30

Cecil Taylor - piano
Henry Grimes - bass
Pheeroan AkLaff - drums

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Cecil Taylor Shares His World
Pianist's Trio Mesmerizes Crowd
October 23, 2006
By CHUCK OBUCHOWSKI, SPECIAL TO THE COURANT

Cecil Taylor appears lost in his own world once he places his fingers upon a keyboard. He builds dramatic, constantly shifting sonic structures that explore the piano's orchestral possibilities in ways few others have dared to attempt.

On Saturday, at the Artists Collective in Hartford, Taylor sat with his back to the musicians performing with him, never once making eye contact as they played. Yet the trio engaged in highly focused, highly creative interaction during two uninterrupted sets of Taylor's compositions.

These seeming contradictions are typical of this uncompromising artist, who has developed a unique body of work over the past 50 years, often in the face of public indifference and misunderstanding.

The Taylor who took the stage Saturday seems to have made peace with the struggles of his past. Not usually given to addressing his audience, he dedicated the evening's music to Artists Collective founders Dollie McLean and her recently deceased husband Jackie "and to all the people who understand this music and respect our culture." Then he read a short poem and introduced his colleagues, bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Pheeroan akLaff.

The performance also included more placid, pastoral segments than one normally expects from his trios. Grimes' frequent use of a bow and akLaff's reliance on brushes certainly contributed to the greater emphasis on soft textures.

The pianist apparently steered them in that direction, as demonstrated by his willingness to allow more space between notes, to the point of sounding almost minimalist on occasion. In fact, he closed the first set with a brief solo more reminiscent of Eric Satie's impressionism than any jazz style. And yet it was classic Cecil Taylor, delivered in a context that only he could generate. It also happened to be the most achingly beautiful passage that this listener has experienced at a Taylor concert over the past 20 years.

Not to suggest that Taylor has mellowed tremendously with age. He still proved to be capable of conjuring up a musical maelstrom whenever the mood struck, and his compatriots were happy to oblige him. AkLaff, a longtime percussion instructor at Wesleyan University, has the power and stamina to match Taylor's "88 tuned drums." He made intriguing use of gongs, cymbals and drumsticks to broaden the music's dynamic range.

Grimes, a prolific performer and recording sideman from the late 1950s through the mid-60s, had worked with Taylor on some of the pianist's most acclaimed recording sessions of that era - before disappearing from the jazz scene for nearly 40 years. His triumphant return to playing, which began three years ago, has reached fruition now that he's been reunited with another relentlessly creative improviser of his generation.

Taylor, at 77, demonstrated the energy and strength of a person half his age. That being the case, it's not surprising that he dressed in athletic attire for this concert: sweat pants, a tank T-shirt and crew socks (without shoes). The flailing dreadlocks of recent years were gone, but not his complete immersion in ever-expanding musical realms. From the raging ebb and flow of "The Silver Earth" to the graceful mystery of "Sisyphus," Taylor mesmerized his audience with sounds that early mentor Duke Ellington might have labeled "beyond category." Taylor performed the latter piece at a recent memorial service for pianist John Hicks, who died on May 10.