Cecil Taylor / Tony Oxley

Probably no other musician of the 20th Century was as relentlessly radical as American Cecil Taylor (1929-2018). An advanced pianist/composer when he first recorded in the mid-1950s, he maintained his vanguard concepts and expanded his cutting-edge sounds as he aged. Another Taylor contribution cemented the connection between progressive US, and non-American, mostly European improvisers. This program recorded at the 2002 Kaleidophon in Ulrichsberg, Austria was part of an ongoing affiliation with UK percussionist Tony Oxley, who first collaborated with in the late 1980s, while this turn of the century duo lasted for a few years.

A progenitor of British Free Music, Oxley inventive projects puts him on equal footing with Taylor, who played with multiple percussionist including Sunny Murray and Andrew Cyrille. Dealing with the perpetual motion created by Taylor makes the drummer’s playing as much reactive as active. Yet Oxley’s expositions here include drum ruffs and rumbles, smashes and pops, cymbal scratches and subtle shakes that set up flowing contrapuntal challenges. Fluidly precise, each track’s architecture encompasses a clearly defined introduction, elaborations, climaxes and completion. The first track of spectacular fireworks exposes Taylor’s kinetic skill in juggling prestissimo glissandi, hard keyboard stops and fluid story telling with almost endless motif repetition and unexpected oasis of quiet plinks. But “Power of Two”, the briefer second track, refines the strategy Beginning with the pianist savoring and shaping each tone, trembling finger motions accelerate the tempo to andante and then allegro as Taylor’s inimitable process is identifiable by the end of the first sequence as presto and staccato key pump and glissandi elaborations jump over one another and move upfront. Meanwhile Oxley’s drum ruffs and cymbal echoes pop and clatter to a dance-like rhythms, pushing the narrative to lower pitches. Confirming its skill at slower-paced invention the duo advances at a leisurely pace without losing animation. Finally the theme is segmented and diminishes as it’s marked with singular cymbal pings. Although it’s bogus to s insist every Taylor disc is essential, it would be hard not to counter that argument with this fundamental session.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Being Astral and All Registers 2. Power of Two

Personnel: Cecil Taylor (piano) and Tony Oxley (drums)