Search - Cecil Taylor :: CT: Quartet

CT quartet masterpiece

Joe Pierre | Los Angeles, CA United States | 05/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's going to be a little hard to find this review (not to mention the CD itself), since the album is listed under "CT: The Quartet" and even on the CD itself Evan Parker gets top billing. An odd thing, given that this was clearly a Cecil Taylor date -- actually the middle concert from the 3-day "Total Taylor" festival in Germany in 1990, sandwiched between a solo concert (Double Holy House) and an 11-piece sax-heavy ensemble performance (Melancholy).



CT: The Quartet consists of CT, Evan Parker (tenor and soprano sax), Barry Guy (bass), and Tony Oxley (drums), and "Nailed" consists of two extended numbers, quite simply titled "First" and "Last" at 52 and 25 minutes respectively. Aside from their order, the two numbers are mainly differentiated by Parker sticking to tenor on "First" and soprano on "Last."



"First" has a typically casual start, with Parker's tenor exploring different short phrases over Cecil's rumbling at the lower register and sparse embellishments by Oxley. Soon enough though, things come to a boil, with Parker going spastic, Cecil pushing the pace and throwing in his requisite thundering chords, and the rhythm section holding it all together. Parker steps back from time to time, leaving for plenty of trio work (my preferred setting for CT) sounding at times like CT's Feel Trio. As usual for this era of CT's work, there are times when the music gets a little spread out and relaxed, but overall this date is a high-energy bash with non-stop free-jazz machinations.



"Last" starts with about 3 minutes of explorative warm-up with CT at the piano, but then he and the rhythym section get into a dense and raucous interplay, with Oxley's cymbals providing the perfect accompaniment to Cecil's playing, and Barry Guy going nuts with a bow making his bass sound almost like a saxophone. Cecil is Cecil, with his typical chordal slamming and mad-cap runs. Parker gets thrown into the mix just past the 10-minute mark with his soprano blending in like a songbird on acid, and the four of them making music that sounds like some alien tongue. Parker fades out near the end and the trio gradually slows down like a train coming to a slow-rolling stop.



To me, this is easily Cecil's best quartet work -- quite similar to the more recent Iridium dates, but Cecil's work is mainly differentiated by his sidemen, and Parker's playing here trumps Harri Sjöström's. Though heresy among CT fans, I've never cared for Jimmy Lyon's playing, so for me, this is really the CT quartet date to get."