A Mirror and Focus for the Jazz Community May 2018 Vol. 34, No. 05 EARSHOT JAZZSeattle, Washington Golden Ear Award Recipients Award recipients (top row) Kenny Mandell, Skerik, Marina Christopher, Erik Hanson, Evan Woodle, Haley Freedlund (bottom row) D’Vonne Lewis, Dawn Clement, Patty Padden, Greg Ruby Photo by Daniel Sheehan IN MEMORIAM/ / / / / Reflections on Cecil Taylor (1929-2018) By Wayne Horvitz this debate in the mid-20th century. Some saw electronics as liberating art- My first encounters with Cecil Taylor ists from the body, in tandem with were defined by snow. I am not sure the removal of traditional interfaces I had even heard Cecil Taylor, but at to make music (instruments). With the age of 17 I took off work early and digital technology, this argument con- headed downtown to the Smithsonian tinues today. By contrast, Taylor was to hear Mr. Taylor give a lecture. What the fiercest modernist of his time,and I heard was unexpected—a 60-minute deeply connected to the past, even the barrage of words connecting ideas like ancient. There was no contradiction; a language poet on Benzedrine, as baf- he viewed this paradigm as essential to fling as it was intriguing. I tried to re- truth and beauty. turn that evening for the concert, but Messiaen’s music is as deep and pro- the roads were treacherous. This was found as any in the history of human my first impression of Mr. Taylor, and existence. It is tempting, however, to I still hadn’t heard a note. Six months criticize the Euro-centric position as later, I was now obsessed with his re- CECIL TAYLOR PHOTO BY DANIEL SHEEHAN elitist, even racist. (2) 1,200 words cordings. I drove with two friends on a many others (John Cage included) does not allow me to address this, nor college tour, including Antioch, where championed, which was the notion am I the person to do so. And Cecil Taylor was teaching. We hit a major that jazz, and its improvisatory lan- Taylor was, clearly, deeply passion- blizzard, and never made it. guage, lacked both the structural ate and articulate about the realities I first learned of Taylor’s music read- integrity and sophistication inher- of race in 20th century America. But ing A. B. Spellman’s Four Lives in the ent in Western art music. (1) Cecil in addition, and in particular, he was Bebop Business. I didn’t realize it then, articulated the difference between an fascinated by notions of hierarchy in but things Cecil said influenced me Afro-Centric and a Euro-Centric aes- aesthetics, and calling out the essential almost as much as his music. By the thetic—in particular, the idea that the contradictions. Cecil wasn’t concerned time I was a sophomore in college, I body has inherent structural integrity. with an “us vs. them” dialectic. He fa- had heard Cecil play live more than This wasn’t an intuitive vs. logical ar- mously stated he “wasn’t afraid of his once, and would many times again. gument, feelings vs. thinking argu- European influences.” He was a lover For a period, he was the single great- ment. He was advocating the notion of ballet, the symphony, and the the- est influence on my music. It was dur- that many cultures had faith in the in- ater. Perhaps the Euro-centric position ing this time that I decided to attend a tellectual intelligence of the body. In- can be accused of culturally insensitiv- concert I thought might be interesting. herent in our physical being is a struc- ity, or ignorance—but also of being That I happened to see Olivier Messi- tural integrity—the brain is a muscle intellectually incomplete. aen and Yvonne Loriod perform Mes- and the hands have a brain. (Note that The “composition vs. improvisation” siaen’s music for two pianos was, in we are talking about a relatively brief argument has, by now, become so sop- retrospect, a miracle. I was astounded, moment in European culture, and of orific as to be almost mind-numbing. and profoundly moved. It changed my a certain class. In addition, any vir- Cecil stated, “If an artist practices cer- life. But it was Cecil’s music that had tuoso, in any musical style, needs to tain links and licks, structure will ap- opened the door. Without it I would cultivate an intense relationship with pear.” (3) have been lost. the intelligence of the body.) A pencil and paper are used to work The irony is that Cecil argued fiercely This was a discourse about structure through a motif, an algorithm creates against something that Messiaen, and and form. Electronic music furthered a sequence, a pair of hands reworks a 2 • EARSHOT JAZZ • May 2018 series of intervals. The only significant this—but in retrospect it made sense. Cecil worked pitch sets and interval- difference is the time scale. As Eugene I adore Ornette’s music, but it’s fair lic permutations with the best of them; Chadbourne said to me once, “Bird to say it wasn’t as great a departure as he just arrived at them with a different uses as much space as Monk, at twice many professed. Ornette abandoned methodology—an invitation to the the tempo!” Milliseconds vs. two chord structures, but he didn’t aban- logic of the body. And I don’t believe months at an artist residency. And if don long-standing melodic devices. I Cecil Taylor would find any contradic- you don’t think the brain can be bril- often show students two melodic frag- tion that, as a pianist, he embraced the liant in milliseconds, then you aren’t ments using the same leading tones, definitive trope of modern European awake. In fact, this is the counterargu- scale tone emphasis, etc., both on a music—the division of the octave into ment I use with academics who tout dominant chord: one from a Charlie 12 equal parts. Because above all Cecil improvisation as some sort of revolu- Parker solo, the other from a Mozart Taylor played the piano. He really, re- tionary construct. Hell, we improvise sonata. Ornette’s lines share many ally played the piano—and we are all every time we get on I-5! If not, we’d of the same devices—diatonic lines, the better for it. all be dead by now. but over a shifting tonality and a free (1) Messiaen himself was a brilliant Messiaen was deeply inspired by bird- length of phrase—another idea found improviser as an organist, one of the re- song. Birdsong—I often think of it as in music from around the globe. maining traditions of improvisation in the greatest rhythmic, non-metered Cecil was interested in the shapes of modern European classical music. music on earth. Not in strict pulse, intervals, the non-diatonic harmonic (2) Much has changed since the 1950s always definitive and precise. An apt implications, and the rhythms within and ‘60s, the 2018 Pulitzer Prize being description of Cecil Taylor’s musical a phrase, free from a given tempo or an example, one that occurred as I was language. Eric Dolphy famously prac- pulse. Monk and Ellington surely led writing this. Cecil was an early pioneer ticed in his yard in L.A. with birds. It the way, and Coltrane worked both the in articulating these contradictions, and wasn’t transcription, it was ear train- traditional melodic devices and the in- brilliant at doing it. Of course, much ing—or the hippest iReal Pro ever. tervallic. But the sound of Cecil’s lan- remains the same. I used to play sometimes at a place guage shares much with Webern, Ives, midtown called Soundscape, near 8th Ligeti, and Messiaen. Let any Ph.D. (3) This is paraphrased. I could not find Avenue. One day I arrived for a gig in post tonal theory analyze Cecil’s the exact quote. and Cecil Taylor and Ornette Cole- music, and structure will not only ex- Two recordings for reference man were rehearsing for a possible col- ist—it will be blindingly obvious. Like laboration. I heard later—and this was any great composer, the structures are Cecil Taylor, Silent Tongues (Aris- only rumor—that Ornette didn’t care clear, easily evident, and elegant. ta/Freedom 1974) for playing “out of time.” Considering A critic once described Cecil’s ap- Olivier Messiaen (with Yvonne Ornette and Cecil were the two icons proach to the piano as “88 drums.” I Loriod, pianist), Vingt Regards Sur of modern jazz, I was dismayed to hear don’t agree. L’Enfant Jesus (Erato ECD 71581) NEW YORK Marketing & promotion of Edmonds Center for the VOICES Arts is made possible, in part, by assistance from 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION the Snohomish County Hotel-Motel Tax Fund. Saturday, May 19, 2018 7:30 pm | $19–$54 Known for their close-knit voicings, inspired arrangements and unparalleled vocal blend, New York Voices’ chameleon-like musicianship allows them to move seamlessly from setting to setting, from orchestral and big band to ec4arts.org | 425.275.9595 the intimate trio lineup. 410FOURTHAVENUENORTH 10% off for Seniors 62+ & Military on ECA presented events! EDMONDSWA98020 May 2018 • EARSHOT JAZZ • 3 LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR (Give)BIG News! The Earshot Jazz organization has that you donate to alternately been described as both Earshot Jazz because a Seattle cultural institution and we can double your a spunky little non-profit. They’re donation, dollar for both accurate, and we’re happy to be dollar. Please donate here! As Seattle’s non-profit jazz or- now.