''The Great Concert of Cecil Taylor'' is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded in St. Paul de Vence, Nice, on July 29, 1969, and released on the

Prestige Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.) Prestige may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films * ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...

label in 1977 as a 3-LP set. The album was originally released as ''Nuits de la Fondation Maeght'' on the French

Shandar Shandar was a French record label specializing in avant-garde material that did seminal work during the 1970s releasing, among others, recordings by Albert Ayler, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Steve Reich, Sunny Murray, Philip Glass, Richard Horowitz, C ...

label as a box set, consisting of three separate LPs in 1971.Maurer, E.
Discography of Shandar Records
accessed October 28, 2015 It features a performance by Taylor with

Jimmy Lyons Jimmy Lyons (December 1, 1931 – May 19, 1986) was an American alto saxophone player. He is best known for his long tenure in the Cecil Taylor Unit. Lyons was the only constant member of the band from the mid-1960s until his death. Taylor never ...

, Sam Rivers and

Andrew Cyrille Andrew Charles Cyrille (born November 10, 1939) is an American avant-garde jazz drummer. Throughout his career, he has performed both as a leader and a sideman in the bands of Walt Dickerson and Cecil Taylor, among others. AllMusic biographer ...

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

review by Scott Yanow refers to this recording as "a real blowout" and "a major release," and states: "The music is unrelentingly intense and Taylor does not let up for a moment.... listeners new to Taylor's music should investigate his solo piano works first."

Track listing

:''All compositions by Cecil Taylor.'' # "Second Act Of A (Part 1)" - 21:17 # "Second Act Of A (Part 2)" - 20:51 # "Second Act Of A (Part 3)" - 18:08 # "Second Act Of A (Part 4)" - 16:11 # "Second Act Of A (Part 5)" - 12:45 # "Second Act Of A (Part 6)" - 20:38 :*Recorded in St. Paul de Vence, Nice, on July 29, 1969

Personnel

* Cecil Taylor:

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

: alto saxophone * Sam Rivers: soprano saxophone,

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

: drums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Concert Of Cecil Taylor, The 1977 live albums Cecil Taylor live albums Prestige Records live albums