Dark to Themselves
Dark to Themselves | ||||
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Live album by Cecil Taylor | ||||
Released | 1977 | |||
Recorded | June 18, 1976 | |||
Venue | Ljubljana Jazz Festival, Yugoslavia | |||
Genre | Free jazz | |||
Length | 61:45 | |||
Label | Inner City/Enja | |||
Producer | Matthias Winckelmann | |||
Cecil Taylor chronology | ||||
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Dark to Themselves is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded at the Ljubljana Jazz Festival, Yugoslavia, on June 18, 1976, and released on the Enja label. The album features Taylor on piano with alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, tenor saxophonist David S. Ware, trumpeter Raphe Malik, and drummer Marc Edwards. (The album documents the only occasion on which Ware and Edwards recorded with Taylor.) The original LP release presented the music in edited form, while the CD reissue contains the complete performance, restoring sections that were previously excised.[1]
The album liner notes feature Taylor's poem "Da",[1] which was later reprinted in the collection Every Goodbye Ain't Gone.[2] The liner notes also include the following statement by Taylor, taken from an interview with Joseph Chonto: "Music... is the force of nature which is what the sound is – the eternal sound. The beauty of whatever made those trees, those stones, the rivers... that is the living force I'm concerned with. That is the force that leaves me at those highest points of ecstasy... I'm trying to be in touch with and appreciative of... this day - the way the sky looked last night - extraordinary! ... The beautiful forces unleashed were not a manifestation of anger, but manifestations of the beauty of nature. What we try to do now is consciously bring the beauty of living experience and to share that."[1]
Reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [3] |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [4] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [5] |
The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awards the album 4.5 stars, stating: "Listeners with very open ears and longtime fans of Cecil Taylor can consider this explosive performance to be essential."[3] The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings wrote: "More than in many of Taylor's concert recordings, the music here suggests not darkness but incandescence – the flaring trumpet of Malik has a prominent role in the first 20 minutes, and the brilliance of Taylor's playing in this section is radiant."[5]
In a tribute to Taylor following the pianist's death, Howard Barnum called Dark to Themselves "a full-bore, hour-long exorcism and communal communion with the spirit world", and wrote: "If you are just trying to learn to dig Taylor for the first time, you might want to skip this, but not to go here or somewhere similar is not to give a full picture of Taylor... it has much to offer and is definitely pure, uncompromising Taylor."[6] Writing for the Head Heritage web site, Dave Furgess commented: "Dark To Themselves... features a somewhat more structured and stable sound due to other musicians Taylor has brought to the table for the recording... I rate this right up there with John Coltrane's Live In Seattle for sheer gut-busting intensity... Play this at your next party and see how many people are left standing!"[7]
Track listing
All compositions by Cecil Taylor.
- "Streams and Chorus of Seed" – 61:45
Original vinyl edition:
A. "Streams" - 23:00
B. "Chorus of Seed" - 26:12
Personnel
- Cecil Taylor – piano
- Jimmy Lyons – alto saxophone
- Raphe Malik – trumpet
- David S. Ware – tenor saxophone
- Marc Edwards – drums
References
- ^ a b c Dark to Themselves (liner notes). Cecil Taylor. Enja Records. 1990. 2084 2.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Taylor, Cecil (2006). "Da". In Nielsen, Aldon Lynn; Ramey, Lauri (eds.). Every Goodbye Ain't Gone: An Anthology of Innovative Poetry by African Americans. University of Alabama Press. pp. 248–249.
- ^ a b Yanow, S. Allmusic Review, accessed 14 July 2009.
- ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 189. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1381. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
- ^ Barnum, Howard (April 6, 2018). "The greatness of Cecil Taylor (1929-2018)". Wine, Physics, and Song. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
- ^ Furgess, Dave (April 13, 2003). "Cecil Taylor Unit: Dark To Themselves". Head Heritage. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
- v
- t
- e
- Jazz Advance
- Looking Ahead!
- Stereo Drive
- Love for Sale
- The World of Cecil Taylor
- Air
- Cell Walk for Celeste
- Jumpin' Punkins
- New York City R&B
- Unit Structures
- Conquistador!
- Cecil Taylor Unit
- 3 Phasis
- Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants)
- Chinampas
- In Florescence
- Momentum Space
- At Newport
- Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come
- Student Studies
- Praxis
- The Great Concert of Cecil Taylor
- Indent
- Akisakila
- Solo
- Spring of Two Blue J's
- Silent Tongues
- Dark to Themselves
- Air Above Mountains
- Live in the Black Forest
- One Too Many Salty Swift and Not Goodbye
- Historic Concerts
- It Is in the Brewing Luminous
- Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!
- The Eighth
- Garden
- Iwontunwonsi
- Amewa
- For Olim
- Olu Iwa
- Live in Bologna
- Live in Vienna
- Tzotzil/Mummers/Tzotzil
- In East Berlin
- Regalia
- The Hearth
- Alms/Tiergarten (Spree)
- Remembrance
- Pleistozaen Mit Wasser
- Spots, Circles, and Fantasy
- Legba Crossing
- Erzulie Maketh Scent
- Leaf Palm Hand
- Looking (Berlin Version) Solo
- Looking (Berlin Version) The Feel Trio
- Looking (Berlin Version) Corona
- Celebrated Blazons
- 2 Ts for a Lovely T
- CT: The Dance Project
- Double Holy House
- Nailed
- Melancholy
- The Tree of Life
- Always a Pleasure
- The Light of Corona
- Almeda
- Qu'a: Live at the Iridium, Vol. 1
- Qu'a Yuba: Live at the Iridium, Vol. 2
- Lifting the Bandstand
- Algonquin
- Incarnation
- The Willisau Concert
- The Owner of the River Bank
- All the Notes
- Taylor/Dixon/Oxley
- The Last Dance
- Mixed