Wednesday, March 25, 2009

CT@80 // Big Skye

















[Note: Visit Destination: OUT and/or Triple Point Records for an important late-breaking CT development.]

Happy 80th birthday, Cecil Taylor! (There is some dispute over his actual DOB, but I trust the authorities.)

The commemorative gig--seemingly billed as a poetry/piano set--occurs on Saturday. And I'm almost certain I heard on air that WKCR will play CT from noon to 9pm today.

I've got little to add right now other than to say that attending a wide array of CT shows has been one of the real highlights of my time in NYC over the last decade. I find his music inexhaustible and endlessly fascinating, something I can't say about very many artists in any medium. I've written about him extensively on this blog and elsewhere; here are a few of those pieces:

*Interview/profile in Time Out NY, along with some after-the-fact musings re: this somewhat trying encounter with one of my musical idols, August '08

*Review of Taylor at Village Vanguard with Tony Oxley, July '08 (Links to earlier CT coverage on DFSBP can also be found in this post.)

*An attempt to unpack CT's signature piano moves, including "The Lick," February '08

*A review of CT's most recent NYC solo concert, a show that may provide the blueprint for what goes down on Saturday, August '08

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Also, Crack the Skye officially dropped yesterday. As predicted, my initial obsession with this one has dampened a little since I first heard it, but I'm still mightily impressed. Check out my Mastodon piece in last week's Time Out NY--in which bassist vocalist Troy Sanders unpacks the album's elaborate narrative underpinnings--as well as a separate mini-feature, where Sanders reveals (!) his five favorite concept albums of all time.

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