2 Blues For Cecil

2 Blues for Cecil is a tribute to pianist Cecil Taylor by a trio who hold cherished musical memories of working with him. Drummer Andrew Cyrille worked with the pianist from 1964 to 1975, and played on Unit Structures, Conquistador!, and Student Studies. Bassist William Parker worked with Taylor from 1980 to 1991, and appears on ten albums including The Eighth, In Florescence, and Olu Iwa. Enrico Rava played in Taylors Orchestra of Two Continents (recorded as Cecil Taylor Segments II) on Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants) and in the Cecil Taylor European Orchestra for Alms / Tiergarten (Spree) -- both include Parker as well. This group first performed in tribute to a present Taylor in 2016. They played again at a French jazz festival in December 2020, and regrouped for these Paris sessions in February 2021. The set is comprised of four group improvisations, two tunes each by Cyrille and Rava, one by Parker, and a standard. This groups innate, perhaps even cellular understanding of Taylors theories are illustrated colorfully and energetically, without attempting to match the pianists fluid intensity. Album opener "Improvisation No. 1" commences with subdued, rippling rim shots by Cyrille while Rava blows percussive bursts of air through the flugelhorn as Parker taps, plucks, and slaps the strings of his bass. Rava offers a four-note phrase, Parker answers, and they take off. Cyrille, one of the great free jazz drummers, is also among the most sensitive. He dances across the snare, hi-hat, and ride cymbals as Parker walks a modal line between those polyrhythms and Ravas inventive lyricism. The flugelhornists "Ballerina" extrapolates bebop onto free terrain with multiple-note flurries that accentuate flailing cymbal and snare work from Cyrille as Parker double-times. "Blues for Cecil No. 1" begins with Parker walking the I-IV-V changes. Cyrille feints, accents, and fills out the progression. Rava enters by smattering and smearing his notes, reshaping them to fit the gutbucket proceeding. Parker stretches the frame to the breaking point, but the rhythmic center holds. "Blues for Cecil No. 2" is a classic jazz-blues. One can hear ghost traces of Charles Brown and Jimmy Rushing in the lyric statement. The blues progression carries throughout, though Ravas solo moves the trio into adventurous terrain. Parkers "Machu Picchu" is a simmering modal blues. He guides his trio mates through shifting tonal and harmonic terrain; he is at once the bridge and vehicle for the finely wrought interaction between Cyrille and Rava. 2 Blues for Cecil concludes with a beautifully restrained reading of "My Funny Valentine." Cyrille caresses his snare with brushes, whispering under Parkers haunted, almost impressionist approach to the changes. Rava responds directly to his bandmates with his most resonantly tender lyricism. This trio may not attempt to imitate Taylors approach, but they do reveal the intricate dimensions in his aesthetic, while simultaneously reflecting and celebrating the long reach of his influence. ~ Thom Jurek