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| Cecil Taylor in Chamber Jazz Series Kaufman Center Presents Cecil Taylor with Mark Feldman & Sylvie Courvoisier Oct. 12 In Chamber Jazz Series at Merkin Concert Hall. At 77 years of age, Cecil Taylor continues to stun audiences with his unparalleled technique on the piano. The grandmaster of abstract expressionism and catalyst to the late 1950's modernist movement, Taylor fearlessly obliterates conventions with his instrument, and remains as artistically vital now as he did 50 years ago. Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) and Mark Feldman (violin) open the concert with pieces from John Zorn's Masada collection. Cecil Taylor is an American pianist and poet now generally acknowledged to be one of the principal sources of free jazz. Soon after he first emerged in the mid-'50s, Taylor was the most advanced improviser in jazz; five decades later he is still the most radical. Although in his early days he used some standards as vehicles for improvisation, since the early '60s Taylor has worked exclusively with original compositions. His intense atonal percussive approach has been likened to playing the piano as if it were a set of drums. Taylor played on landmark recordings such as Unit Structures, Nefertiti the Beautiful One Has Come, and with John Coltrane on Coltrane Time / Hard Drivin' Jazz, in addition to recording extensively with alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons from 1961 until Lyons' death in 1986 (along with drummer Sunny Murray and later Andrew Cyrille). Within that group, known as "The Unit, " the musicians developed volcanic new forms of conversational interplay. Following Lyons' death, Taylor has played in a variety of settings ranging from solo (e.g. Silent Tongues, Indent, For Olim, Garden, Erzulie Maketh Scent, The Tree of Life, and In Willisau), the "Feel Trio" formed in the early 1990s with William Parker (bass) and Tony Oxley (drums) (Celebrated Blazons, Looking (The Feel Trio), 2 T's for a Lovely T) as well as larger ensembles and big-band projects. Most of his recordings for the past several decades have been put out on European labels, with the exception of Momentum Space. Taylor was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1973 and a MacArthur Genius Award in 1991. Violinist Mark Feldman is classically trained virtuoso, but is probably best known for his performances with the world's leading improvisers and modern composers. Having appeared in numerous John Zorn projects, Feldman has worked with Mark Dresser Sylvie Courvoisier, Hank Roberts, Ernst Reijseger, Pharoah Sanders, Ray Anderson, and Bill Frisell, among many others and has made over 45 jazz albums as a sideman with everyone from Lee Konitz to They Might Be Giants. Once a Nashville studio musician, he appears on over 200 recordings, including those of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and even TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. Mark Feldman has premiered the Violin Concerti of Guus Janssen, Bill Dobins and Jay Weigal and has appeared as a soloist with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in the Contemporary Music Festival Nederland Muziek Dagen, the WDR Jazz Orchestra, WDR Radio Orchestra, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra at the New Orleans Cultural Arts Center and the Basil Symphonetta. He has performed and recorded The Complete String Quartets of John Zorn (Tzadik Records) and his own works for string quartet Book of Tells (Enja Records), the works of composer Sylvie Courvoisier with Trio Abaton (ECM) and What Exit with John Taylor, Anders Jormin and Tom Rainey due out in October 2006 (ECM). Mark is currently a member of the John Abercrombie Quartet along with Joey Baron and Marc Johnson. In addition to international concert tours, the resulting recordings Open Land, Cat n' Mouse and Class Trip are on ECM records. "Courvoisier's playing is jaw-dropping... a terrifying free jazz piano freakout that could make a person faint!" (Michael Anton Parker, 2005). Born and raised in Lausanne, Switzerland pianist/composer Sylvie Courvoisier has been commissioned to write music for concerts, radio, dance and theater worldwide. Courvoisier attended the Conservatoire de Lausanne where she trained in composition, conducting, and piano. At the Conservatoire de Montreux she studied jazz. Her latest ECM release as a leader Abaton features her husband, violinist Mark Feldman and cellist Erik Friedlander. She has played and recorded with such notables as John Zorn, Yusef Lateef, Butch Morris, Tim Berne, Vincent Courtois, Jolle Landre, Dave Douglas, Susie Ibarra, Mark Dresser, Herb Robertson, Tim Berne, Ellery Eskelin, Ikue Mori, Fred Frith, Michel Godard, Tom Rainey, and Mark Nauseef among others. Based in Brooklyn since 1998, Sylvie Courvoisier's recent work includes Mephista an improvising trio with Ikue Mori on electronics and Susie Ibarra on drums. In 1996 she was awarded Switzerland's prestigious "Prix des jeunes crateurs" and in 2000, "Prix de la Cration" - Zonta club. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |