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Joe's Collection

Cecil Taylor   10/??/1997

The Jazz Bakery, Culver City, CA
Media DVD
Notes Cecil Taylor

XX Oct 1997

Culver City, CA

Venue: The Jazz Bakery

Cecil Taylor piano
Dominic Duval bass
Jackson Krall drums

Cecil Taylor - Jazz Bakery 2.mpg (47:53 m:s)

Audience Video
Cecil Taylor Research Group's sessionography says
"Primary Source: Heinrich Smejkal, Private Video tape."

Second of 2 tapes, 1 set per tape, recorded from 6 nights performances (2 sets per night),
tape labels say only 1997.

Cecil Taylor Research Group's sessionography
says "4 consecutive nights engagement"
but lists 6 dates: 1997-10-07 - 1997-10-12;
1997-10-10 LA Times review confirms "six-night run".
(see details below)

Lineage:

ex-library VHS cassette from Johnson City Public Library (scan of label included),
purchased I don't remember where or when
> Sony SLV-679HF > USB Ion Video2PC > CyberLink PowerDirector V8 > mpg2/LPCM file

gspot info:

File Name: Cecil Taylor - Jazz Bakery 2.mpg
File Size: 3,484,311,552 Bytes
Video Codec: MPEG2
Video Bitrate: 8025 kb/s
QPel?:
H264?:
GMC:
Audio Codec: DVD_LPCM_AUDIO (vlc says 48000Hz, 16bit)
Audio Bitrate: kb/s
Audio Bitrate Type:
Duration: 47:53.299
Frame Count: 86112
Frames Per Second: 29.970
Display Aspect Ratio: 1.333
Frame Width: 720
Frame Height: 480

------------------------------------
Windows Properties says:

Video:

Length: 0:47:53
Frame Width: 720
Frame Height: 480
Data Rate: 8300kbps
Total Bitrate: 9836kbps
Frame Rate: 29 frames/second

Audio:

Bit Rate: 1536kbps
Channels: 2 (stereo)
Audio Sample Rate: 48kHz

------------------------------------

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From http://jdisc.columbia.edu/session/cecil-taylor-october-7-12-1997

Cecil Taylor October 7-12, 1997

Main Session Personnel:

Cecil Taylor piano
Dominic Duval bass
Jackson Krall drums

# Tracks Playtime Issue Variance from Main Session Personnel
1 Untitled Improvization 50:00

genre: Free jazz, experimental, avant-garde
Recording Date: 1997-10-07 - 1997-10-12

Venue Type: live performance
Venue Name: The Jazz Bakery
Venue Location: Culver City, CA

Session Details:

This is a live trio performance at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City, CA. This session is only listed on the Cecil Taylor Research Group source; where it states that this was a "four nights engagement." There is a private tape (audience recording) of each of the four nights available. There is only one track, a lengthy "Untitled Improvization" played each night; each nightly performance ranges from 48-52 minutes in length. For our purposes, we have included all four performances as one, as the personnel, location, etc is the same, and because we otherwise have very little information. Furthermore, for track length, we have used a rough average of "50:00" in order to represent all of the nights. We have included this session to: 1) stay true to the sources that we're using, and 2) in the hopes that someone may come forward with additional information, or perhaps with access to any of the tapes. Please contact our Program Director at if you can provide any additional information about these performances.

Sources:

Cecil Taylor Research Group's sessionography (http://www.webmutations.com/ceciltaylor/index.html) & R. Shapiro's Cecil Taylor discography (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mtaylors.html

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http://www.webmutations.com/ seems to be gone, but internet archive still has it:

From http://web.archive.org/web/20130602205843/http://www.webmutations.com/ceciltaylor/1997.html

97.10.7
97.10.8
97.10.9
97.10.10
97.10.11
97.10.12

CECIL TAYLOR TRIO

The Jazz Bakery, Culver City, CA (USA)

Cecil Taylor (p)
Dominic Duval (b)
Jackson Krall (dr)

1) Untitled Improvisation (Taylor) 48:00

Notes: 4 consecutive nights engagement.

Primary Source: Heinrich Smejkal, Private Video tape


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From http://articles.latimes.com/1997/oct/10/entertainment/ca-41099

JAZZ REVIEW

Taylor Brings an Abstract Touch to Piano

October 10, 1997|DON HECKMAN | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES


Pianist Cecil Taylor is one of the few remaining, still actively creative links to the jazz avant-garde years of the '50s and '60s. Tuesday, in the opening set of his six-night run at the Jazz Bakery, he provided a persuasive musical argument for the continued vitality of his freely spontaneous approach to jazz improvisation.

Garbed in white, wearing dark sunglasses, his long, wispy dreadlocks hanging down over his shoulders, Taylor hovered over the piano, his gaze fixed upon the keyboard. An efficient player, he was not given to particularly dramatic movements, with all the action converging through his hands, which moved with blinding speed and triphammer force.

The set began unceremoniously, with Taylor and his accompanists--bassist Dominik Duvall and drummer Jackson Krall--starting to play while much of the audience was still in the outer lobby. There were no announcements, no apparent tunes, only a nonstop, continuing improvisation for the full 80 minutes or so that Taylor was onstage. At one point, he suddenly removed his hands from the keyboard, picked up a piece of paper from the top of the piano and read what appeared to be an abstract poem. That concluded, he resumed his attack upon the keys.

The music had no familiar reference points. It was not improvisation based upon a tune, a harmony, a structure or a rhythm. It was, in fact, determinedly anarchic.

Was there a there there? Did the moderate-sized crowd, some of whom nodded their heads in response to some kind of presumed rhythm in the turbulent flow of sound, actually hear something that was musically significant, or were they simply applauding enthusiastically for the emperor's new clothes?

The answer is that Taylor's music--viewed on the terms by which he presents it--is filled with fascinating experiential values. Heard as an unfolding tapestry of sound, it was comparable to an abstract expressionist painting, devoid of representational character, but making an impact in a purely emotional, nonspecific sense.

That said, however, Taylor's playing, despite his insistent anarchic spontaneity, was still subject to certain essential principles of music. Like all music, it moved through time; like most music, it was dependent upon the innate structure of repetitions; and like Western music, it was framed within the 12 notes of the chromatic tempered scale.

And, whether Taylor chooses to acknowledge it or not, fundamental musical elements--the elements of repetition and sequence--played a significant role in joining his improvisation with his audience. And those occasional repetitions of phrases and rhythms, the melodic patterns that moved in sequence, one after the other, were the key that opened the door to Taylor's music, making it possible for listeners to relate to its compelling rhythmic movement and emotional flow.

* The Cecil Taylor Trio at the Jazz Bakery through Sunday, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City, (310) 271-9039. $20 admission tonight and Saturday at 8:30 and 10 p.m., and Sunday at 6 p.m. $18 admission Sunday at 8 p.m.
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Owned by Joe · Last Updated Jan 14, 2024