Algonquin (album)

2004 live album by Cecil Taylor

Algonquin

Live album by

Cecil Taylor

Released| 2004
Recorded| February 12, 1999
Venue| The Library of Congress
Genre| Free jazz
Label| Bridge Records
Cecil Taylor chronology
| Momentum Space
(1999)  | Algonquin
(2004)  | Incarnation
(2004)

|
|

Algonquin is a live album by American pianist Cecil Taylor. It was recorded on February 12, 1999, at the Library of Congress, which commissioned the work, and was released in 2004 by Bridge Records as part of their series "Great Performances from the Library of Congress". On the album, Taylor is joined by violinist Mat Maneri.[1][2]

In the album liner notes, Bill Shoemaker wrote: "Maneri met the demands of readying and premiering a piece commissioned by one of the world's great cultural institutions, one composed and performed by perhaps the most visionary piano virtuoso of the past half-century (with whom Maneri had not previously played, even informally), all in a single day. For Maneri, this daunting task was only feasible because Taylor's purpose is to discover the music, not learn it. To this end, Taylor's assiduously, and notoriously sketchy approach to scores works hand in glove with his marathon, high-energy rehearsals; the process creates the piece as much as, if not more than, the scored elements."[3]

## Reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [4]
All About Jazz| [5]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings| [6]

In a review for AllMusic, Rick Anderson wrote: "In the first movement Maneri and Taylor play together as a duo; Maneri's violin is tastefully amplified, which contributes both to a better balance than might have existed otherwise and also an unusual richness of tone. The two players' ideas bounce off one another as often as they feed each other or intertwine, but there is a warmth to their interplay that makes for some very nice moments. Maneri plays solo on the second movement, and his relaxed but emotional rendering of Taylor's musical ideas is very attractive. Taylor takes over on the third movement, and his own solo turn is also impressive. Their final duo passage is more energized than the first, and brings the program to a satisfying close. Fans of Taylor will know what to expect and should enjoy this album; newcomers may find it a bit daunting."[4]

Rex Butters, writing for All About Jazz, commented: "Algonquin features the pianist alongside violinist Mat Maneri, recorded before an audibly appreciative audience. Clearly enjoying the company, Taylor plays it frisky, free and light... Both sound like they brought their A-Game, and with these two, that's good news for every ear."[5] In a separate All About Jazz review, Clifford Allen remarked: "An ever-increasing architectural complexity is fostered by Taylor's music, a continuous feed of structural cells that repeat and build upon one another, often seemingly straying rather far from the original cell but remaining tied to it through 'feeling,' an indescribable weight that lies behind his compositional philosophy of unit structures... it is rather ironic that Algonquin, a partnership with electric violinist Mat Maneri... both exists and works as well as it does... Maneri appears to make scant use of Taylor's structures and only touches on the sonic directions that Cecil points to. Where James P. Johnson rolls and intense runs fill space, Maneri lightly bends notes in ethereal filigree, a feisty complement to Cecil's opus. Yet Maneri's insistence on avoidance causes Taylor to hesitate at times, keeping the pianist more on his toes than one might expect—exactly the sort of good-natured aesthetic sparring that one hopes for in a duo... Algonquin certainly stands out as one of the most curious Taylor pairings. After all, the indescribable knottiness of a blues has been made ambiguous, more knotty, and thereby more bluesy by its own subversion."[7]

Writing for Classics Today, Jed Distler stated: "The 55-minute performance is typical of Taylor's collaborative modus operandi in that he plays the way he plays, and the rest of you try to fit in. Rather than offer a violinistic counterpart to Taylor's virtuosity and visceral power, Maneri courageously sticks to his understated, soft-spoken style, which fuses free jazz, traditional folk fiddling, and baroque bowing techniques in a compelling, organic whole. He also employs an electronic pedal that expands the violin's range below its unplugged parameters into viola and cello territory."[8]

In an article at One Final Note, Matthew Sumera called the album "another monumental performance by Taylor", and wrote: "There is striking interplay here, as is often the case with Taylor in duo, who clearly has chosen this setting for a reason: It provides him the nakedness of solo performance with the uncertainty of another living, breathing, soul. In other words, as close to being alone as possible, with the comfort of intelligent company... Maneri aptly holds his own, and there is a generosity on the part of Taylor that is less often obvious. Rather than torrents of dense sound clusters and smashing of the deep end of the piano, this is a more nuanced, but no less energetic performance, with Taylor playing to the sonority of the violin, feeding and being nourished from its sound... There is a beguiling beauty to Algonquin that is rare in the world according to Cecil Taylor; this does not suggest that there is not a significant beauty of Taylor at full bore, but that here, Taylor is more romantic in his sensibilities; or, to think of it in another way, more human and less God-like. If typical Taylor is the beautiful terror that the many-mouthed, many-eyed, many-teethed visage of Krishna instills in the Bahagavad Gita, this is a Taylor closer to the world: Mortal (perhaps even a bit frail?) but capable of intensity of feeling and emotion that still leaves the rest of us in awe. Algonquin is the statement of a mature master with a consummate partner, another beautiful moment among many."[9]

## Track listing

[edit]

All compositions by Cecil Taylor.

1. "Part One" - 30:36
2. "Part Two" - 4:12
3. "Part Three" - 6:34
4. "Part Four" - 13:21

## Personnel

[edit]

* Cecil Taylor – piano
* Mat Maneri – violin

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Sessionography of Cecil Taylor". EFI.group. Archived from the original on February 26, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
2. ^ "Cecil Taylor – Algonquin". discogs.com. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
3. ^ Shoemaker, Bill (2004). Algonquin (PDF) (liner notes). Cecil Taylor. Bridge Records. 9146.
4. ^ a b Anderson, Rick. "Cecil Taylor: Algonquin". AllMusic. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
5. ^ a b Butters, Rex (September 3, 2004). "Cecil Taylor: Algonquin". All About Jazz. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
6. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1383\. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
7. ^ Allen, Clifford (December 2, 2004). "Cecil Taylor And Mat Maneri: Algonquin". All About Jazz. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
8. ^ Distler, Jed. "Cecil Taylor: Algonquin". Classics Today. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
9. ^ Sumera, Matthew (August 2, 2004). "Cecil Taylor: Algonquin". One Final Note. Retrieved March 25, 2021.

* v
* t
* e

Cecil Taylor

Discography

Studio albums|

* 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

Live albums|

* 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

Compilations|

* Mixed

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