''Double Holy House'' is a

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 ...

of a solo piano concert by

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 ...

recorded live on September 23, 1990, at The Bechstein Concert Hall in Berlin, with added lyrics and percussion which were recorded on the previous day. The album was released on the FMP label.

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 Thom Jurek states "''Double Holy House'' begins with one of Taylor's most beautiful and haunting ballads, constructed of minor thirds and diminished sevenths. It's full of half-parsed chord voicings and shimmering glissandi. It's six minutes of inwardly focused, blessed-out pianism. The impenetrability of the work's vocal aspect opens part two and rolls out of Taylor's half-spoken, half-whispered text; it is unaccompanied for about six minutes and gradually percussion and piano begin to enter the text as dimensional sound effects and eventually take it over. By the 15-minute mark, the piano has completely replaced both voice and percussion instruments and becomes one of Taylor's more architecturally minded improvisations. His reliance on the middle to lower registers here creates virtual buildings in sound that he erects one after another until he exhausts his tonal possibilities in one series of motifs and begins another for approximately 50 minutes, until the entire work just vanishes from its dizzying heights of arpeggiated ecstasy". The authors of the

Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on compact disc, CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions wer ...

commented: "Taylor's quietest, most beguiling record ever is a profound meditation on some of the well-springs of what he does. It starts with a beautiful prelude at the piano before an extended recitation of poetry, accompanied by tiny splashes of percussion, and eventually a return to the piano... Eventually the accustomed intensity of Taylor in full flow breaks through, and with his accompanying cries the music searches through vocal and non-vocal tradition with a master's aptitude. Outstanding, again."

Track listing

:''All compositions by Cecil Taylor.'' # "Double Holy House" - 6:34 # "Squash People/Eyes Within the Voice/Eucalyptus Intersection and ..." - 54:55 **Recorded live on September 23, 1990, at The Bechstein Concert Hall in Berlin. Lyrics and percussion recorded on September 22, 1990, in Berlin.

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 ...

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound produ ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

References

{{Authority control 1993 live albums Cecil Taylor live albums FMP Records live albums