After several years off records, pianist
Cecil Taylor finally had an opportunity to document his music of the mid-'60s on two Blue Note albums (the other one was
Conquistador). Taylor's high-energy atonalism fit in well with the free jazz of the period but he was actually leading the way rather than being part of a movement. In fact, this septet outing with trumpeter
Eddie Gale, altoist
Jimmy Lyons,
Ken McIntyre (alternating between alto, oboe and bass clarinet), both
Henry Grimes and
Alan Silva on basses, and drummer
Andrew Cyrille is quite stunning and very intense. In fact, it could be safely argued that no jazz music of the era approached the ferocity and intensity of
Cecil Taylor's. ~ Scott Yanow