"Jazz Advance: Early Cecil Taylor" on Night Lights

[ghost of miles]

 

This week on Night Lights it’s “Jazz Advance: Early Cecil Taylor.” Pianist Cecil Taylor is one of the most influential pioneers of late-20th-century improvised music; as author John Litweiler says in his book The Freedom Principle, “One of the running threads in the story of today’s jazz is that so many of the advances first appeared in Cecil Taylor’s music.” Taylor’s musical universe, often perceived by mainstream jazz fans as a challenging, distant place, is thoroughly grounded in the music’s history; and his early influences ran from Dave Brubeck and Lennie Tristano to Horace Silver and Duke Ellington. We’ll hear selections from the 1950s albums that gave birth to Taylor’s career—Jazz Advance, Looking Ahead, Coltrane Time (Taylor’s only meeting on record with John Coltrane), and Love For Sale, along with a performance from the 1957 Newport Festival. “Jazz Advance” airs Saturday, July 29 at 11:05 p.m. EST on WFIU and at 9 p.m. Central Time on WNIN-Evansville; Michigan listeners can hear it Sunday evening at 10 p.m EST on Blue Lake Public Radio. The program will be posted Monday afternoon in the Night Lights archives.

 

Next week: "Hip Parade: Early Mark Murphy."

Edited April 6, 2018 by ghost of miles

[Kalo]

Great idea for a show. I look forward to listening.

Are you ever going to air in Boston?

[Uncle Skid]

Missed it last night on Blue Lake Public Radio, but looking forward to getting it from the archives!

It's fascinating to hear (and attempt to make sense out of) Cecil's "early influences". Mr. Litweiler cites Horace Silver's "Sister Sadie":

Certain Silver solos (for example, the funky call-response development in his second "Sister Sadie" chorus) are like nothing else in fifties jazz except certain choruses of Cecil Taylor.

[Uncle Skid]

Up again -- this show is now available in the archives.

(also wanted to put in a request for one or more follow-up shows -- the Candid releases, "Mixed", etc...)

[ghost of miles]

Uncle Skid, thanks for posting the archive info--I was away from a computer yesterday. Candid/Mixed request duly noted! That 1960-62 period is one of my favorite Cecil periods.

Kalo, I'd love to be on the air in Boston, but haven't reached out to any stations there yet.

[Niko]

thank you a lot for that great show!! (and I will never again pronounce cecil the wrong way!)

[ghost of miles]

Up in remembrance:

Jazz Advance: Early Cecil Taylor

[Marzz]

Thank you for this. My Saturday morning listening