Conquistador!

Last updated
Conquistador!
Conquistador!albumcover.png
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 1968 [1]
RecordedOctober 6, 1966
Studio Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Genre Free jazz
Length37:14
Label Blue Note
Producer Alfred Lion
Cecil Taylor chronology
Unit Structures
(1966)
Conquistador!
(1968)
Student Studies
(1966)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [3]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [5]

Conquistador! is a 1968 studio album recorded in 1966 by free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, released by Blue Note Records. [6]

Contents

Critical reception

Writing for AllMusic, Scott Yanow gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars, stating that "During the two lengthy pieces, [Jimmy] Lyons' passionate solos contrast with [Bill] Dixon's quieter ruminations while the music in general is unremittingly intense." [3]

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 4 stars, calling it "an all but flawless record," and commenting: "Dark, difficult, unique, yet operating at an artful tangent to some of the other 'difficult' Blue Note music of the period, this is Taylor at his most devious." [5]

Writing for Vinyl Me Please, Brian Josephs stated: "Conquistador!... swerves away from Unit Structures' fire and evokes the coolness of its cover, which features a turtlenecked Taylor slightly out of focus, hiding behind shades as he mysteriously stares into the distance. The musical elements don’t combust as much as they melt into each other: Horns swell shrilly at the borders to add haunted textures, while Andrew Cyrille's amorphous rhythms tie the masterwork together. Even without Unit Structures as its contrast, Conquistador! still stands as a great testament to this sui generis collective." [7]

In 2008, The New Yorker placed it at number 87 on the "100 Essential Jazz Albums" list. [8]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Cecil Taylor.

No.TitleLength
1."Conquistador"17:54
2."With (Exit)"19:20
3."With (Exit) [Alternate Take]" (CD edition bonus track)17:24

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Cyrille</span> American avant-garde jazz drummer

Andrew Charles Cyrille 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 Chris Kelsey wrote: "Few free-jazz drummers play with a tenth of Cyrille's grace and authority. His energy is unflagging, his power absolute, tempered only by an ever-present sense of propriety."

<i>Unit Structures</i> 1966 studio album by Cecil Taylor

Unit Structures is a 1966 studio album by free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, released by Blue Note Records.

<i>Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come</i> 1963 live album by Cecil Taylor

Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come is an album by the Cecil Taylor Unit, recorded live at the Café Montmartre in Copenhagen, Denmark on November 23, 1962. This concert is nearly all he recorded from 1962 to 1966.

<i>Blossom Dearie</i> (album) 1957 studio album by Blossom Dearie

Blossom Dearie is an album by Blossom Dearie that was recorded in 1956 and released in 1957. It was her first recording for Verve.

<i>The Jazz Composers Orchestra</i> (album) 1968 studio album by Jazz Composers Orchestra

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra is a 1968 album by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra recorded over a period of six months with Michael Mantler as composer, leader and producer. Many of the key figures in avant-garde jazz from the time contributed on the album including Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri, Larry Coryell, Roswell Rudd, and Carla Bley. The album's finale features a two-part concerto for Cecil Taylor and orchestra.

<i>Mixed</i> (album) 1998 compilation album by Cecil Taylor/Roswell Rudd

Mixed is a compilation album of two avant-garde jazz sessions featuring performances by the Cecil Taylor Unit and the Roswell Rudd Sextet. The album was released on the Impulse! label in 1998 and collects three performances by Taylor with Archie Shepp, Jimmy Lyons, Henry Grimes and Sunny Murray with Ted Curson and Roswell Rudd added on one track which were originally released under Gil Evans' name on Into the Hot (1961). The remaining tracks feature Rudd with Giuseppi Logan, Lewis Worrell, Charlie Haden, Beaver Harris and Robin Kenyatta and were originally released as Everywhere (1966). Essentially these are the three Cecil Taylor tracks from the "Gil Evans album" teamed with Roswell Rudd's Impulse album Everywhere, in its entirety.

<i>Student Studies</i> 1973 live album by Cecil Taylor

Student Studies is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded in November 1966 and released on the Japanese BYG label as an untitled 2-LP set in 1973. It features a performance by Taylor with Jimmy Lyons, Alan Silva and Andrew Cyrille. The album was first released on CD by the Affinity label as Student Studies, later rereleased on the Black Lion label as The Great Paris Concert, and then reissued a third time as Student Studies by Fuel 2000. None of the three CD issues use the original LP cover artwork.

<i>Indent</i> (album) 1973 live album by Cecil Taylor

Indent is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded in March 1973, originally released on Taylor's own Unit Core label and subsequently more widely released on the Arista Freedom label. It was the first solo piano performance released by Taylor but was recorded over four years after Praxis which saw limited release in 1982.

<i>Spring of Two Blue Js</i> 1974 live album by Cecil Taylor

Spring of Two Blue-J's is a 1974 live album by Cecil Taylor, the second set of a "return concert" recorded at The Town Hall in New York City in November 1973. Originally released on Taylor's Unit Core label, bootlegged on European CDs, it was legitimately reissued for the first time in 2022 on global streaming platforms by its original producer, Fred Seibert's Oblivion Records. The LP features one side-long solo performance by Taylor and one side-long quartet performance with Jimmy Lyons, Sirone, and Andrew Cyrille.

<i>Dark to Themselves</i> 1977 live album by Cecil Taylor

Dark to Themselves is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded at the Ljubljana Jazz Festival, Yugoslavia, on June 18, 1976, and released on the Enja label. The album features Taylor on piano with alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, tenor saxophonist David S. Ware, trumpeter Raphe Malik, and drummer Marc Edwards. The original LP release presented the music in edited form, while the CD reissue contains the complete performance, restoring sections that were previously excised.

<i>Cecil Taylor Unit</i> 1978 studio album by Cecil Taylor

Cecil Taylor Unit is an album by Cecil Taylor recorded in April 1978 and released on the New World label. The album features three performances by Taylor on piano with alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, trumpeter Raphe Malik, violinist Ramsey Ameen, bassist Sirone and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. The album was recorded during the same sessions that produced 3 Phasis. Taylor is heard on a 96-key Bösendorfer piano about which he commented: it "will stop you cold if you're not ready."

<i>It Is in the Brewing Luminous</i> 1981 live album by Cecil Taylor

It is in the Brewing Luminous is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded at Fat Tuesdays, NYC, on February 8 & 9, 1980 and released on the Hat Hut label. The album features performances by Taylor with Jimmy Lyons, Ramsey Ameen, Alan Silva, Jerome Cooper and Sunny Murray. The album was originally released as a double LP then rereleased as a single CD.

<i>Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants)</i> 1985 studio album by Cecil Taylor

Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants) is an album by Cecil Taylor recorded in Milan, Italy on October 22–24, 1984 and released on the Soul Note label. The album features performances by Taylor with Jimmy Lyons, Enrico Rava, Tomasz Stanko, Frank Wright, John Tchicai, Gunter Hampel, Karen Borca, Andre Martinez, William Parker and Rashid Bakr who are billed as The Orchestra of Two Continents.

<i>For Olim</i> 1987 live album by Cecil Taylor

For Olim is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded in Berlin, Germany on April 9, 1986 and released on the Soul Note label. The album features a solo concert performance by Taylor.

<i>The Great Concert of Cecil Taylor</i> 1977 live album by Cecil Taylor

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 label in 1977 as a 3-LP set. The album was originally released as Nuits de la Fondation Maeght on the French Shandar label as a box set, as three separate LPs in 1971. It features a performance by Taylor with Jimmy Lyons, Sam Rivers and Andrew Cyrille.

<i>Nuba</i> (album) 1979 studio album by Andrew Cyrille, Jeanne Lee & Jimmy Lyons

Nuba is an album by American jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille, vocalist Jeanne Lee, and saxophonist Jimmy Lyons recorded in 1979 for the Italian Black Saint label.

<i>Son of Sisyphus</i> 1990 studio album by Bill Dixon

Son of Sisyphus is an album by American jazz trumpeter Bill Dixon recorded in 1988 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.

<i>Other Afternoons</i> 1970 studio album by Jimmy Lyons

Other Afternoons is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, recorded in 1969 and released in 1970 on the BYG label as part of their Actuel series. His first recording as leader, it features Lyons on alto saxophone along with trumpeter Lester Bowie, bassist Alan Silva, and drummer Andrew Cyrille.

<i>Burnt Offering</i> (album) 1991 live album by Jimmy Lyons and Andrew Cyrille

Burnt Offering is a live album by American jazz saxophonist Jimmy Lyons and American jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille. It was recorded in May 1982 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and released by the Black Saint label in 1991.

<i>Something in Return</i> 1988 live album by Jimmy Lyons and Andrew Cyrille

Something in Return is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jimmy Lyons and American jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille. It was recorded in February 1981 at Soundscape, New York City, and released by the Black Saint label in 1988.

References

  1. Billboard Mar 9, 1968
  2. Fleming, Colin (October 17, 2004). "Cecil Taylor: Conquistador!". All About Jazz . Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Yanow, Scott. "Conquistador! - Cecil Taylor". AllMusic . Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  4. Swenson, John, ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide . USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 189. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
  5. 1 2 Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1381. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
  6. Murray, Robin (April 6, 2018). "Free Jazz Innovator Cecil Taylor Has Died". Clash . Archived from the original on April 6, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  7. Josephs, Brian (September 12, 2018). "A Cecil Taylor Primer". Vinyl Me Please. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  8. Remnick, David (May 19, 2008). "100 Essential Jazz Albums". The New Yorker . Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2019.