Cecil Taylor Unit

Whether he's playing solo piano or working in a group, Cecil Taylor creates whirlwinds of sound, layers of intricately detailed percussive patterns that form into long overlapping arcs and result in works of extraordinary scale and density. However controversial or demanding his work has been, in a career that stretches back to the early 1950s, it's rooted deeply in the jazz tradition of kinetic rhythmic dialogue. On this sextet recording from 1978, Taylor is joined by alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, trumpeter Raph© Malik, violinist Ramsey Ameen, bassist Sirone, and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. Taylor's complex methodology here involves both written scores and free improvisation, but the elements are integrated into thick group textures in which lines of demarcation become blurred.

There are three pieces, long by the standards of jazz and short by the standards of Taylor's live performances since the mid-'60s. "Idut" and "Serdab" are each about 15 minutes, "Holiday en Masque" nearly 30. All are densely concentrated rather than diffuse. "Idut" is a study in pointillist fragments, while "Serdab" seems focused on expanding rhythmic motifs. "Holiday en Masque" develops a teeming group language with long tension curves. Taylor and Lyons had been working together steadily since 1961, and their interplay approaches the telepathic. What is most astonishing about Taylor's group playing is the way it touches on, extends, and forms every part of the work. A brilliant musical raconteur, Taylor is simultaneously engaged in conversation with each member of the ensemble, in dialogue with drums and bass, commenting on a horn's phrase, offering new materials, and forging links between disparate threads. When the other parts fall away to solo piano, all the topics of the group discourse are still present, but with a sharpened clarity. --Stuart Broomer