''Spring of Two Blue-J's'' is a 1974

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in comple ...

, the second set of a "return concert" recorded at The Town Hall in New York City in November 1973. Originally released on Taylor's Unit Core label, bootlegged on European CDs, it was legitimately reissued for the first time in 2022 on global streaming platforms by its original producer,

Fred Seibert Frederick G. Seibert is an American television producer and media proprietor. Seibert began his professional career as a jazz and blues record producer and audio engineer in the 1970s. He co-founded the record label Oblivion Records by 1972 an ...

Oblivion Records Oblivion Records is an independent American record label that focuses on under recorded blues and jazz musicians. The company was originally based in Huntington, New York and the WKCR-FM studios at Columbia University in New York City, with a p ...

. The LP features one side-long solo performance by Taylor and one side-long quartet performance with

Jimmy Lyons Jimmy Lyons (December 1, 1931 – May 19, 1986) was an American alto saxophone player. He is best known for his long tenure in the Cecil Taylor Unit. Lyons was the only constant member of the band from the mid-1960s until his death. Taylor never ...

, Sirone, and

Andrew Cyrille Andrew Charles Cyrille (born November 10, 1939) is an American avant-garde jazz drummer. Throughout his career, he has performed both as a leader and a sideman in the bands of Walt Dickerson and Cecil Taylor, among others. AllMusic biographer ...

Reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review by Stephen Cook states "The extended solo piece finds Taylor subtly moving from faint, romantic chords into knotty and mercurial ruminations, then ending the piece with tumultuous runs over the entire keyboard. With its keen call-and-response motives, endlessly fertile improvisation, and intuitive shifts in dynamics, this piano exploration qualifies as one of Taylor's best and most accessible. The ensemble version is predictably more intense. While Cyrille compliments and provokes Taylor with his supple and energetic work behind the kit, Lyons alternates between comically detached commentary and frenetic wailing on the alto. Sirone gets lost in the mix, but is heard to great effect on a solo spot at the end of the piece".

Track listing

:''All compositions by Cecil Taylor.'' # "Spring Of Two Blue-J's" - 16:19 # "Spring Of Two Blue-J's" - 21:29 :*Recorded at New York City Town Hall on November 4, 1973

Personnel

* Cecil Taylor –

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

–

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

* Sirone –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Recording background and details

This concert at The Town Hall was billed as Cecil Taylor's "return" to New York City after a period teaching in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

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. The concert program notes said: "This concert marks the return of Cecil Taylor to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, his birthplace, to embark upon projects conceived during the past three and one-half year while he held the position of artist and composer in residence at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

and

Antioch College Antioch College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection and began operating in 1852 as a non-secta ...

. "The premiere of the first of these projects will take place at Avery Fisher (Philharmonic) Hall, January 1, 1973. By what can only be termed an ambitious undertaking, it will include the Unit Core, dance, voice, special effects, an ensemble of musicians who have participated in the Cecil Taylor Unit program at the institutions mentioned. Mr. Taylor will be presenting various parts of this project in a series of special programs to take place at the Spring Natural Foods restaurant, 149 Spring Street, in Soho." Mr. Taylor's self-proclaimed manager, David Laura, arranged the production of the concert and engaged

owner and a

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

WCKR-FM producer/engineer/DJ, to record the concert for eventual LP release on Taylor's Unit Core Records. Seibert, assisted by Nick Moy and

Alan Goodman Alan Eliot Goodman is an American actor and media marketer. He is one of the founders of TESTD Inc, a health and data management products company. He was formerly a television writer and producer who has worked in media since 1981. Early life an ...

, brought a portable Ampex 4-track, half inch, tape recorder, mixers, and microphones to capture the performances. The tapes were mixed twice, first at Blank Tapes in the Chelsea section of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, and then again at Generation Sound; engineering advice was provided by world class engineer Tony May, who'd developed high jazz visibility with a series of recordings first at

A & R Recording A & R Recording Inc. was a major American independent studio recording company founded in 1958 by Jack Arnold and Phil Ramone. History Before founding A & R Recording in 1958, Arnold and Ramone had been working at JAC Recording, Inc.; Arnold ...

in New York City and then for Germany's

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

. Limited equalization and reverberation were used so as to preserve the acoustics of the original Town Hall recording. The 1974 LP release was a limited pressing of 2000 albums, independently distributed. The album cover was a solarized photograph by renowned Japanese jazz photographer K. Abe, and the record labels designed by Frank Olinsky (the future co-designer of the

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

logo from

Manhattan Design Manhattan Design was a graphic design collective in New York City from 1979 until 1991. The studio is known for having designed the MTV logo, as well as album packaging, posters, books, and magazines. They also conceived the adaptation of the MTV "m ...

). The record was never repressed or re-released, except in bootlegs of vinyl/digital transfers on obscure European labels. The only other legitimate release of both LP sides is currently available on global streaming services. The original LP was the second half of the concert (titled "Autumn" and "Parade"), but there are rumors that these tracks too might one day be mixed and released.

Production

*Produced by Bonitza Melodies (

) & AD Icklas (David Laura) *Cover photograph: K. Abe aka

Kōbō Abe , known by his pen name , was a Japanese writer, playwright and director. His 1962 novel ''The Woman in the Dunes'' was made into an Woman in the Dunes, award-winning film by Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1964. Abe has often been compared to Franz Kaf ...

*Recording:

with Nick Moy *Remix:

, Jeff Ader,

at Blank Tapes and Generation Sound, NYC *Design: Don Mathe and Li Baily''LP Insert''
Scribd.com, 4 November 1973

References

External links

Complete LP details and background story
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spring Of Two Blue J's 1973 live albums Cecil Taylor live albums