Category: Jazz
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Cecil Taylor at The Take 3 (a ’60s MEMOIR)
An insider account of Cecil Taylor’s early ’60s gig at The Take 3. Robert Levin explores the birth of Free Jazz with appearances by Coltrane, Coleman and Ayler.
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Joe Licari/Mark Shane: Swing It, Brother, Swing!!
What we have here are two gifted artists with a long professional association, subtly functioning as extensions of one another..
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A Note on Charlie Rhyner
An album that rewards repeated hearings, I would not hesitate to recommend “The First Second” as an exemplary, indeed quintessential, demonstration of contemporary jazz.
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Liner Note: Ahmed Abdul-Malik—New Jazz Imagination
Though he did achieve a measure of recognition during his lifetime, a proper acknowledgement of his unique vision and contribution eluded Malik. This recording is offered as a correction.
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Photos of Cecil Taylor and Robert Levin, 2015
Cecil Taylor & Robert Levin leaving Ornette Coleman’s funeral service, June 27, 2015.
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Liner Note: Liquid Krystall Displayed
It’s about sounds for me — colors, textures — not licks or notes.
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Liner Note: Marty Krystall’s Mojave: Gunsmoke
“I want to compose in the moment, spontaneously, and to come up with different sounds.”
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Liner Note: Buell Neidlinger with Steve Lacy Play Thelonious Monk
Leading the group is the legendary bassist Buell Neidlinger, a musician distinguished not only by the size of his talent but also by what one writer called “the sheer, bewildering diversity of his resume.”
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The War is Over: A Conversation About Jazz With Robert Levin
Adversity doesn’t defeat Cecil, it energizes and extends him. He makes creative fuel out of adversity.
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Photo From a Red Rodney Recording Session, 1957
L to R: Ira Gitler, unidentified, Red Rodney, Robert Levin, Ira Sullivan.
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Understanding the Sound of Chaos: Free Jazz Explained
Robert Levin clarifies what the transformative movement of Free Jazz was all about.
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Introducing Anthony Braxton (Interview)
Of Ornette, Braxton says, “I’ve always loved him, loved and respected his music. And after getting a chance to meet and to know him, I’m thoroughly in awe of him.”
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The Emergence of Jimmy Lyons (Interview)
“It took me a little while to get myself together in Cecil’s music, to stop thinking chord-wise and to think about linking idea to idea.”
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Introducing Booker Little (Interview)
“Sonny Rollins was living there too. He heard me listening to a Clifford Brown record. I was playing it over and over again, and I guess I was driving him mad.”
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Cecil Taylor: “This Music is the Face of a Drum” (Interview)
“What African culture has been about is the celebration of life, of joy and of creativity — the manifestations of which are to make one high.”
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Sunny Murray: Going outside (interview)
“Bobby, I never told you this, but for a while there were people trying to kill me.”