Cecil Taylor

Featuring: Jimmy Lyons, Andrew Cyrille, Sam Rivers

condition (record/cover): NM / EX

Gatefold sleeve.

The second volume of the July 1969 Maeght nights, on the French Shandar label itself - the original home of these recordings and one of the noblest imprints of the entire era, where Cecil Taylor sat in a catalog alongside La Monte Young, Terry Riley and the Ayler farewells: experimental music's great addresses, all under one roof. With Jimmy Lyons, Sam Rivers and Andrew Cyrille, Taylor delivers ensemble music of staggering density and stamina - waves that keep cresting past every reasonable limit, structure fully audible inside the torrent for those who surrender to it rather than resist, which is the only method that works. Rivers's presence makes this unit unique in the Taylor story, a second reed voice of equal ferocity, and the Maeght tapes are its principal monument. Shandar originals carry a special aura for entirely good reasons: the label understood what it had.

Essential live Taylor, in the edition with the deepest roots. A serious object for a serious shelf.