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Melancholy (album)

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Melancholy
Live album by
Released1999
RecordedSeptember 30, 1990
GenreFree jazz
Length70:07
LabelFMP
ProducerJost Gebers
Cecil Taylor chronology
Nailed
(2000)
Melancholy
(1999)
The Tree of Life
(1998)

Melancholy is a live album by Cecil Taylor's Workshop Ensemble featuring Evan Parker, Barry Guy and Tony Oxley recorded on September 30, 1990, at the Bechstein Concert Hall in Berlin and released on the FMP label.[1]

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[3]

The Allmusic review by Steven Loewy states "Taylor is unquestionably more effective as an arranger in the small group (and solo) contexts to which he is accustomed. With the ensemble, there is a sense that ideas are not always fully realized, although, to be sure, there are remarkable moments throughout. Whether charges of incomplete or confusing rehearsals are accurate is immaterial. What matters is that the results, while good, probably could have been better. Regardless, Taylor aficionados will want to own this one because of the players in the band and because of the extraordinary moments".[2]

The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings wrote: "it is... enough to have other composers and arrangers slack-jawed, with three pieces that put an evolving structure through complex changes and developments. If the middle section, 'Sphere No. 2', seems like a bonding of improvisors, then 'Sphere No. 3' expands to a glorious reconciliation of free solos and composed and implicit structures."[3]

Track listing

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All compositions by Cecil Taylor.
  1. "Sphere No. 1" - 20:33
  2. "Sphere No. 2" - 20:36
  3. "Sphere No. 3" - 28:59
  • Recorded at the Bechstein Concert Hall, Berlin on September 30, 1990

Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ Cecil Taylor sessionography accessed 4 September 2009
  2. ^ a b Loewy, Steve. "Cecil Taylor: Melancholy". AllMusic. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1382. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.