Fragments: The Complete1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts＜限定盤＞

前衛ジャズ界において注目すべき瞬間だったという1969年11月3日にパリのサール・プレイエルで行われたセシル・テイラー・ユニットのライヴ録音。

ピアノのセシル・テイラー、アルト・サックスのジミー・ライオンズ、テナー/ソプラノ・サックスとフルートのサム・リヴァース、ドラムのアンドリュー・シリルが参加し、このコンサートでは、このグループによる強烈で自由なジャズスタイルが披露された。

＜パーソネル＞CECIL TAYLOR(p) SAM RIVERS(ts) JIMMY LYONS (as) ANDREW CYRILLE(ds)
Recorded live at Salle Pleyel, Paris, France, November 3, 1969

Jazz detective Zev Feldmans relationship with Frances Institut National de Laudiovisuel (INA) bears abundant fruit once more, this time with the previously unreleased Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival in Europe and produced by George Wein. The Cecil Taylor Unit were on a bill with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Miles Davis Quintet. Recorded on November 3 at afternoon and evening concerts, Taylors short-lived quartet -- with saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, drummer Andrew Cyrille, and saxophonist/flutist Sam Rivers -- had been together since January and played Paris the previous June at Fondation Maeght, where they gelled (as evidenced by the 1971 triple-LP Nuits de la Fondation Maeght). Here, playing a lone composition titled "Fragments of a Dedication to Duke Ellington," they fire on all cylinders in extended, often incendiary improvisations with numerous composed sections of canny, interlocking interplay and shifting dynamics. Feldman, with assistance from critic and Taylor biographer Phil Freeman (who penned a lengthy liner note essay), released this set via Elemental for Record Store Day 2026. First up is a 50-minute evening performance on disc one, appended with the first section of the afternoons 90-minute performance. The evening gig was played for 50 minutes on disc one, with the second 90-minute version commencing on disc one before its completion on the whole of disc two. Perhaps the best non-hyperbolic word to describe the music found here is "explosive." While there are discernible patterns and harmonic and rhythmic shifts and occasional dynamic shifts, the playing and communication here are never less than intense (this band would rehearse sometimes for six or seven hours). The communication between Lyons and Rivers is almost telepathic as Taylor dialogues with both men, individually and collectively; his conversational expression with Cyrille -- especially on disc two -- stretches the entire notion of improvisational interplay between a pianist and drummer. (Check the middle dialogue between them on the first version, especially). During the first half of the second version -- also on disc one -- Rivers solo, underscored by Taylors mid- and lower-register extended chords, are caressed by Lyons alto before he lets loose and has his own conversation with the pianist. Throughout, Cyrille plays free, yet never indulges in excess. The second disc, made up entirely of the 71-minute second version, begins with one of the pianists finest, most labyrinthine solos coursing through extended harmonies with glissandos of fluid arpeggios and fragmented chord voicings before flute and alto wrap him in dialogic improvisation complete with vocal moaning. This startlingly formidable document offers a master class in real-time composition as a force of nature with all members of the Cecil Taylor Unit delivering revolutionary sound at their most disciplined, creative best. In addition to Freemans booklet essay, there is an introduction by Feldman and reminiscences by Cyrille, Lyons widow Karen Borca, and Rivers daughter Monique Rivers. ~ Thom Jurek