Search - Cecil Taylor, Han Bennink :: Spots Circles & Fantasy

Cecil Taylor/Han Bennink duet

Joe Pierre | Los Angeles, CA United States | 07/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of many great duets pairing Cecil with a drummer, during his extended residence in Berlin in 1988 and captured on the famous 'black' FMP discs. In this case, the drummer is Han Bennink, and while this concert seems to garner less praise than the dates with Tony Oxley or Louis Moholo, I don't know why -- it's really a fantastic set.



The music starts with Bennink rattling his sticks (on the wall?) and then adding sudden cymbal crashes. Cecil makes a gradual entrance, offering up his usual vocalisms, shouts, and a chuckle before starting at the keyboard in a spare, explorative fashion. But soon enough it's off the races and we're into dense and rapid pianistics -- classic Cecil territory. Bennink is something of a traditionalist -- he uses a very basic drum kit and casts himself in a supporting role, but that is probably why I like this recording so much -- Cecil stays in the forefront, while Bennink offers up snare, tom-tom, and cymbal rhythms underneath. The playing does get reigned-in in spots, with Cecil resting at times with sparse phrases and ultimately retreating into far-off vocalisms near the end, so it's not all break-neck, but Cecil definitely maintains the energy of any of his best solo work throughout this 74-minute concert."