FMP box set<\/a>\u00a0on display. As to the concert, I was not sure what to expect, but that was secondary. Any chance to see this legend
\n of free-jazz was enough, and I certainly didn’t expect such a show of energy and
\n intensity from the frail 87-year-old pianist.\n<\/p>\n\n The show began, as the listener can experience here, with a few deliberate
\n notes from Taylor at the piano. As the ideas begin forming, tones from Okkyung Lee’s
\n cello begin shadowing the painist’s twisting melodic phrases. Jackson Krall’s drum rolls
\n started coming with increasing frequency as Harri Sj\u00f6str\u00f6m, who had worked with
\n Taylor in the 90s and was instrumental in organizing this appearance, added colorful motion to the growing music, his playing intertwining seamlessly with
\n the cello. Taylor’s long-time collaborator Tony Oxley, who was unable to play
\n drums at this point, adds electronic adornments to the music. Within minutes,
\n the group seems to gave gelled into the titular “new unit.” \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n The music is energetic and simply flowing. That this was the first appearance
\n of this quartet — and one that was pretty much spontaneously assembled just prior to
\n the concert’s start — is almost unbelievable. Cohesive, responsive and flowing, the quartet hit all the right notes. At about 35-minutes into
\n the spirited set, Taylor rose from the piano bench and began to speak.
\n Sounding a bit like late period William Boroughs, Taylor’s thin, lightly warbling voice
\n began discussing something between science, history and philosophy. I recall
\n trying to make sense of the sentences but losing the thread as soon as I
\n thought I had grabbed a piece of it. Silly me, this too was sound, words like
\n melodic snippets and chordal fragments. Taylor was not playing alone, the group was underscoring, accentuating and reacting like when deep into recitation, Taylor suddenly starts to
\n mimic the trilling saxophone, playing not just with the sounds of the words
\n but with the sounds of the big open hall. The words last almost 45-minutes and
\n end in an explosion of applause. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Taylor is in very good form on the recording, and apparently was not considering this to be a final performance either, however he passed away in
\n 2018 without having given another one. So, Words and Music the last bandstand,\u00a0<\/i>released on
\n the prolific Fundacja Sluchaj label from Warsaw, is the grand master’s final artistic statement and it is a satisfying coda to a
\n remarkable career. Luckily preserved, even if it was not recorded perfectly, the label has done a wonderful job in making
\n it quite presentable. Hell, it gets five stars just because it exists – but it does muich more than that.<\/p>\n