* Jazz season returns to Taichung Oct 17, 2008
The trios members all boast long and accomplished resumes: Lake is a Guggenheim fellow; Workman has performed and recorded with John Coltrane and Art Blakey; and Cyrille has long been associated with free-jazz pioneer and pianist Cecil Taylor. The group will hold a jazz workshop at the Windsor Hotel (s) on Sunday at 1pm. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
This Week: Arts and entertainment picks Oct 13, 2008
Parker can get three melodic lines going simultaneously, and at the Baldwin grand Goodman is a combination of Cecil Taylor and Harpo Marx. Videos of Parker are at YouTube. (San Francisco Chronicle)
The 20th Edition Of Earshot Jazz Festival -"Seattle's most important annual jazz event" (Down Beat) - Runs October 17th to November 8th 2008 Jul 18, 2008
Pioneering avant-garde pianist and NEA Jazz Master Cecil Taylor in a solo concert at Seattles Town Hall. Saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and his quartet at the Triple Door. (Yahoo! Wire -- Entertainment News)
SFJazz festival: bassists to Big Easy Boogie Jun 27, 2008
They include Randy Newman, the sardonic songwriter, singer and pianist, playing solo at Davies Symphony Hall on Oct. 17; the chord-crashing iconoclast Cecil Taylor playing solo piano at Grace Cathedral on Oct. 24; bassist Charlie Haden's stirring Liberation Music Orchestra with pianist Carla Bley at Herbst Theatre on Nov. 2; the a cappella gospel singers Sweet Honey in the Rock at Davies on Oct. 4; and the smashing Cuban singer Issac Delgado and his monster dance orchestra at Bimbo's 365 Club on... (San Francisco Chronicle)
Sax man likes to go with the flow May 16, 2008
He credits several of his teachers, particularly guitarist Joe Morris, with opening his ears at that point to the great "out" players like Albert Ayler and Cecil Taylor, showing him that alternate routes were available and that his rebellion was nothing new. At the same time, Robbins was studying toward a philosophy degree at Tufts and getting into the likes of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. (Boston Globe)
Andrea Parkins Apr 10, 2008
Parkins' concert is another installment in a series called "Radical Riffs," which is the first time since the mid-'90s Three Rivers Arts Festival -- when Cecil Taylor and Anthony Braxton performed at Point State Park -- that any upscale Downtown arts organization (in this case, the Cultural Trust) has allotted dedicated funding for a regularly occurring series featuring experimental and free-improvised music. "Riffs" is the brainchild of local musician and poet Eden McNutt, who programs it in... (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Sound and vision Mar 19, 2008
"It was only when I got to college that I realised how narrow I was. I was listening to Xenakis, Ligeti, Penderecki and other avant garde composers. It was pointed out to me how similar their music was to things going on in free jazz or Cecil Taylor or Sonic Youth.". It was a journey of discovery that has led via Oasis to Radiohead and Bj. (Guardian Unlimited)
More of this story Mar 1, 2008
That led me to the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Cecil Taylor, and through that I also became interested simultaneously in more traditional jazz and also contemporary classical music too, because those people were exploring some of the same territory. So to leap from John Coltrane to John Cage is not that big a leap really. (Los Angeles Downtown News, CA)
Quirky and jazzy, she's just out there being herself Feb 23, 2008
She may write hummable refrains, but she says, "I don't play piano like a pop pianist." She studied composition at the New England Conservatory of Music, and her listening habits include "weird jazz" she eagerly cites as an inspiration, like the hard-edge rhythm of Cecil Taylor, Alice Coltrane, and Abdullah Ibrahim. She also mentions her love of the impressionistic and undulating work of Debussy and Ravel. (Boston Globe)
Jazz and the gift of gab Feb 15, 2008
Also on tap are Cecil Taylor, Joshua Redman, Maceo Parker and Nancy King. The Bad Plus plays the Crystal Ballroom at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16. (Albany Democrat-Herald, OR)
Drummer's birthday show displays jazz guitarist's gifts Jan 30, 2008
Medeski ranged from Keith Jarrett delicacy to Cecil Taylor fire. And Moses sat back, supporting them all, stepping out for two brief solos with the freshness of a child at play. (Boston Globe)
No Boundries Jan 27, 2008
The rift arose in the late 1950s when a few musicians, mainly Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor, began creating songs lacking the traditional skeleton on which all previous jazz or pop tunes were erected: a repeating chord progression. Like the Abstract Expressionist painters had done before them, these musicians insisted that there was more than one way to get the job done. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Groove Yard: Rockridge shop sustains LP life even after MP3 success Jan 20, 2008
" He eventually became the West Coast distributor for several labels, including Black Saint, Hat Hut, India Navigation, Unit Core, with artists like Cecil Taylor, David Murray, Don Pullen, Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton and dozens more - most of them brilliant U.S. artists who couldn't get record deals back home. And he sold to dozens of stores in the West Coast and later nationwide. When CDs began to become the dominant music format in the late '80s, Ballard found himself stuck with a warehouse... (San Francisco Chronicle)
Soul singer Lee Genesis Jan 5, 2008
Glad we missed: Taj Mahal's "Lovin' in My Baby's Eyes." "That's kind of a weird song, it's out there. People would be surprised I have it. But I've sung with Cecil Taylor, so I'm liable to listen to everything.". Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company. (Boston Globe)
King of the keys made jazz a pleasure Dec 26, 2007
Even those whose playing flirted with virtuosity, such as Keith Jarrett or Cecil Taylor, seldom dazzled as Peterson did. In short, Peterson had the misfortune of being a musical moderate at a time when all the big noise was being made by radicals and rebels. (Globe and Mail)
Bang on a Can All-Stars come to Purchase College Oct 15, 2007
In 15 years together, The Bang on a Can All-Stars have collaborated with a list of musical avatars that includes Philip Glass, Reich, Ornette Coleman, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Cecil Taylor, DJ Spooky and Brian Eno. The group has also commissioned more than 100 works. (Stamford Advocate)
50 Years Of Jazz Sep 16, 2007
" The crowd was racially mixed from the start and grew even more diverse over the years. But the music at Monterey didn't reflect the changes sweeping the jazz world in the mid-1960s and '70s. The nonprofit festival, which has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into jazz education, became so successful that it sold out before the lineup was announced. The crowd came to party, whoever was playing. Daring artists such as Cecil Taylor and Rahsaan Roland Kirk were largely missing, and Lyons... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Jazz in the City Sep 14, 2007
Naming Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Bud Powell, Cecil Taylor, Bill Evans and Cedar Walton as just some of his idols, it's his ability to switch gears musically that has brought Mr. Wofford such diverse opportunities. "I've done a lot of vocal accompaniment over the years, for example, with Irene Kral, a marvelous singer, and June Christie, who I used to travel with," he says. (South Brunswick Post, NJ)
Nightlife: Satoko Fujii Sep 14, 2007
From atonal cubist structures a la Cecil Taylor to spacious, almost romantic melodic improvisations with profoundly tranquil centers reminiscent of Bley and Bill Evans, her piano playing is a constant source of surprise, and her rambunctious orchestral arrangements push boundaries that few contemporaries dare violate. To get herself to the place where she could investigate the freedom of jazz, Fujii had to give up piano altogether at one point. (San Francisco Chronicle)
New Life Church of God celebrates 75 years Aug 25, 2007
The former Greenville Church of God moved to its present location in 1969, pastored by Rev. Cecil Taylor. Under the leadership of Rev. Bevon Smith, the name was changed to New Life Church of God. (Greenville Delta Democrat Times, MS)
Obituary: Max Roach Aug 18, 2007
Roach outgrew the conventions of bebop to the extent that younger innovators such as Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor played duets with him. He played his last concert with Taylor at Colombia University in 2000. (Guardian Unlimited -- World)
Max Roach, 83; created rhythmic foundation of bebop, expanded role of drums Aug 17, 2007
It was a mark of Mr. Roach's range that he also performed with R&B singer Louis Jordan, Dixieland trumpeter Henry (Red) Allen, avant-garde players such as Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor, and the rapper Fab 5 Freddy. "You have to pursue, pursue, pursue," Mr. Roach said in a 1998 interview with The (London) Observer newspaper. (Boston Globe)
Drummer Max Roach dies at 83 Aug 17, 2007
Concerned about relating musically only with his students, he turned to the New York avant-garde and recorded with Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor and Archie Shepp. In 1970, he created the all-percussion band M'Boom that he would keep active for more than two decades. (Variety)
Max Roach, a founder of modern jazz, dies at 83 Aug 17, 2007
He dueted with uncompromising avant-gardists like the pianist Cecil Taylor and the saxophonist Anthony Braxton. He performed unaccompanied. (International Herald Tribune)
Lubomyr Melnyk: KMH Aug 15, 2007
Imagine Reich's "Piano Phase" as jacked up by Cecil Taylor (or if you're more classically inclined, Franz Liszt) and you have an idea of the melding of meditation and bewilderment. Advertisement. (City Pages)
Andrew Hill: Change Jul 25, 2007
While his introverted persona was overshadowed in an era of iconoclasts like Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane, and Albert Ayler, time has justified his greatness. Even after his passing from lung cancer this spring at the age of 69, the copious, searching music he recorded for Blue Note continues to stream forth. (City Pages)
The 'angular momentum' of Cecil Taylor May 30, 2007
After more than half a century spent at the vanguard of modern jazz, it would be hard to imagine any simple way to sum up the music of pianist Cecil Taylor ... Cecil Taylor performs solo piano and poetry at 8 p.m. on Friday at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto (416-366-7723). (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
The Spot For Jazz May 13, 2007
" Among the other jazz stars who have availed themselves of the exquisite sound and ambience are Diana Krall, Oscar Peterson, Bill Frisell, Chucho Valds, John Zorn, Poncho Sanchez, Marian McPartland, Bud Shank, Woody Allen, Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, Pat Metheny, McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Elvin Jones, John Scofield, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Cecil Taylor ... the list goes on. Some of those artists are capable of filling 3,000-seat halls, yet they still come to Yoshi's. "This... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Andrew Hill, 75; innovative jazz pianist, composer Apr 22, 2007
Initially, critical response positioned him as a successor to Thelonious Monk and, to some extent, Cecil Taylor. But Hill was always his own man, in search of an original perspective. (Los Angeles Times)
A meeting of minds at a musical crossroads Apr 13, 2007
All of my favorite players -- whether it's Gary Burton , or Miles Davis, or Cecil Taylor -- create a storytelling feeling and structure; there's a sense of development that stretches over extended paragraphs. They embody that sense of taking ideas to extended conclusions. (Boston Globe)
In search of jazz with 'maximum creative risk' Mar 21, 2007
Though the musical movement that Iyer and friends are fomenting has yet to receive a catchy name, their melding of avant-garde musical sensibilities with a sense of historical responsibility brings to mind the "creative music" movement of the late 1960s and 1970s that produced brilliant eccentrics such as Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Cecil Taylor, one of Iyer's great influences. The difference is that those elder figures, reflecting the artistic and cultural politics of their time,... (Boston Globe -- Living)
Cecil Taylor: Aha 3/ John Zorn: Masada Mar 14, 2007
Bands: Cecil Taylor, Henry Grimes, Pheeroan akLaff ... Pianist Cecil Taylor, who has every right to wrap himself in the lion-in-winter mantle after a half-century of traversing improvisational music's more foreboding outcroppings, showed no sign of slowing down at this perf -- one of the first by his new AHA 3 grouping. (Variety)
Turning up the heat at jazz museum Mar 14, 2007
Where once the organization was considered openly hostile to the avant-garde, this season finds Jazz at Lincoln Center prominently featuring a performance by pianist Cecil Taylor. Likewise, since those early complaints about ignoring white jazz musicians, the Orchestra's "book" has been broadened to include works by such notable Caucasians as Benny Goodman, Eddie Sauter and Woody Herman. (Globe and Mail)
On this night, I talked while Bill Evans listened Feb 11, 2007
Movies Restaurants Food Calendar Music Theater/Arts TV Books Celebrity news Games. In my early teens, I had an unusual hobby. (Boston Globe)
Whitney Balliett was a jazz critic master Feb 6, 2007
Though he wrote with enthusiasm of such innovators as Charles Mingus , Ornette Coleman , and Cecil Taylor , Balliett never warmed to the giants of postwar jazz: Charlie Parker , John Coltrane , Miles Davis. So be it. (Boston Globe)
Whitney Balliett Feb 5, 2007
He saluted and admired the self-conscious greats, Armstrong and Ellington above all, loved stars (he wrote keenly about Sinatra and Tony Bennett), and appreciated innovators (he wrote early and well about Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman). But his heart and his soul were with the artisan-poets of jazz, the late-night pianists and unsung singers, the long line of jazzmen and women who piece out their lives in the shadows and shoals of show business and keep alive the music s lyric heart. (New Yorker)
Composer Lee Hyla successfully combines the energy of rock with the complexity of classical music Jan 14, 2007
Then at age 18 he experienced a one-two punch from which he has never really recovered: the explosive free jazz of Cecil Taylor and the complexly probing Cello Sonata of Elliott Carter ... But despite its challenging language, it comes off not with the tweediness of an academic exercise but with the power and insistence of a lapel-grabbing Cecil Taylor solo. (Boston Globe -- Living)
