Music Monday: Two Birthdays and a Funeral

I follow a bunch music groups (well, not like bands, but groups of folks who like certain labels, kinds of music, and so on) on the Social Medias and one of the things that they do is remind me of births and deaths. I’ve found it to be a nice inspiration to dig deeper into my music collection and listen to albums that are on the margins of my usual rotation.

March saw Cecil Taylor’s and Paul Motian’s birthday. Both are favorites and produced huge quantities of recordings over the course of their long careers. Paul Motian played on some of the most iconic albums in jazz history including Bill Evans Village Vanguard sessions which are among my absolute favorite recordings of all time and tons of fantastic Charlie Haden and Keith Jarrett albums (many of which I’ve blogged about here).

Among the most famous, although perhaps not the most accomplished, is his 1973 debut as a bandleader, Conception Vessel, that matched Sam Brown on guitar with Haden, Jarrett as well as Leroy Jenkins on Violin and Becky Friend who joins Jarrett on flute on some tracks.

There’s not a ton of it online and free, but here’s the title track which should give you a sense of the album and Motian’s sensitive, but not passive drumming. 

I love Cecil Taylor in part because I really enjoy the density of his playing. I have no idea what he’s doing on a theoretical or conceptual level, but I really find him intriguing. Last year, I was absolutely enthralled by his famous “return concert.” The excerpts on YouTube give you a taste of it here and here, but they can’t replicate the intensity of over an hour of continuous improvisation that the full recording provides. 

This past week, I’ve been enjoying Cecil Taylor’s early recording including an album called Air. I couldn’t find it on YouTube (and, in fact, the early 1960s discography of Taylor is a bit baffling to me). From what I gather Air was outtakes from an 1960 recording session which produced The World of Cecil Taylor. It features Archie Shepp on sax, Buell Neidlinger on bass and Denis Charles on drums. It’s pretty great and offers an amazing preview of Cecil Taylors much more famous 1960s and 1970s recordings.

Finally, my buddy David Haeselin turned me on to Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou. She was an Ethiopian nun and pianist. Apparently she passed away last week. I’ve been listening to her volume of the Éthiopiques record series (volume 21). Here’s a link to that album.

Here’s the first track which gives you a good sense for what it sounds like: