| The Tree of Life | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1998 | |||
| Recorded | March 19, 1991 | |||
| Venue | Berlin Opera House | |||
| Genre | Free jazz | |||
| Length | 73:17 | |||
| Label | FMP | |||
| Cecil Taylor chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Tree of Life is a live album of a solo piano concert by Cecil Taylor recorded at the Berlin Opera House on March 19, 1991 and released on the FMP label.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [2] |
The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek states "In all, The Tree of Life is a fine showcase of the musician Cecil Taylor was in 1990. He was an artist at the crossroads of his own inspirations, looking to open new vistas both creatively and intellectually to audiences who had forgotten him or were encountering him for the first time." [1]
The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings included the album in its suggested "core collection", and called it "a gorgeously lyrical and handsomely realized recital... one of Taylor's most sheerly enjoyable records." They commented: "For readers who aren't prepared to entertain the pianist on the basis of the sheer amount of work involved... this might even be the record to start with. It's no great departure for the man, 70 minutes or so of often rapt and sometimes even quizzical playing, and it tends towards the distilled feel of much of his latter-day music: having got much of the thunder behind him, or having the means to explore it via his larger groupings, by himself he seems content to sit and muse on aspects of a voluminous art. And this is the result." [2]
All tracks are written by Cecil Taylor.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Period 1" | 1:08 |
| 2. | "Period 2" | 44:28 |
| 3. | "Period 3" | 21:29 |
| 4. | "Period 4" | 3:41 |
| 5. | "Period 5" | 2:41 |
Recorded at the Berlin Opera House on March 19, 1991
For Alto is a jazz double-LP by composer/multi-reedist Anthony Braxton, recorded in 1969 and released on Delmark Records in 1971. The tracks on this album are performed by Braxton on alto saxophone, with no additional instrumentation or musicians and no overdubbing.
Love for Sale is an album by pianist Cecil Taylor recorded for the United Artists label in April 1959. The album features performances by Taylor with Buell Neidlinger, and Denis Charles with Bill Barron and Ted Curson added on three tracks.
Always a Pleasure is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded during the Workshop Freie Musik at the Akademie der Kunste, Berlin on April 8, 1993, and released in 1996 on the FMP label. The album features a concert performance by Taylor with Longineu Parsons, Harri Sjöström, Charles Gayle, Tristan Honsinger, Sirone and Rashid Bakr.
Double Holy House is a live album of a solo piano concert by Cecil Taylor recorded live on September 23, 1990 at The Bechstein Concert Hall in Berlin, with added lyrics and percussion which were recorded on the previous day. The album was released on the FMP label.
Nailed is a live album by Cecil Taylor, Evan Parker, Barry Guy and Tony Oxley recorded on September 26, 1990 at the Bechstein Concert Hall in Berlin and released on the FMP label.
Chinampas is a spoken word album by avant-garde jazz pianist Cecil Taylor on which he reads his poetry accompanied by the sound of bells, tympani, and small percussion. Taylor performed all of the vocal and instrumental parts, which are overdubbed.
Riobec is a live album by pianist Cecil Taylor and drummer Günter Sommer recorded in Berlin on June 17, 1988 as part of month-long series of concerts by Taylor and released on the FMP label.
In East Berlin is an album featuring two concerts by Cecil Taylor, one solo and one accompanied by Günter Sommer, recorded in Berlin on June 20 and 21, 1988 as part of a month-long series of concerts by Taylor and released on the FMP label.
The Hearth is a live album featuring a performance by Cecil Taylor with Tristan Honsinger and Evan Parker recorded in Berlin on June 30, 1988 as part of month-long series of concerts by Taylor and released on the FMP label.
Remembrance is a live album featuring a performance by Cecil Taylor and Louis Moholo recorded in Berlin on July 3, 1988 as part of month-long series of concerts by Taylor and released on the FMP label.
Pleistozaen Mit Wasser is a live album featuring a performance by Cecil Taylor and Derek Bailey recorded in Berlin on July 9, 1988 as part of month-long series of concerts by Taylor and released on the FMP label.
Spots, Circles, and Fantasy is a live album featuring a performance by Cecil Taylor and Han Bennink recorded in Berlin on July 10, 1988 as part of month-long series of concerts by Taylor and released on the FMP label.
Legba Crossing is a live album featuring a performance by Cecil Taylor's Workshop Ensemble recorded in Berlin on July 15, 1988 as part of month-long series of concerts by Taylor and released on the FMP label. Taylor did not play the piano on this album, but instead directed the ensemble and contributed vocalizations.
Erzulie Maketh Scent is a live album featuring a solo performance by pianist Cecil Taylor recorded in Berlin on July 16, 1988 as part of month-long series of concerts by Taylor and released on the FMP label.
Celebrated Blazons is a live album featuring performances by Cecil Taylor with William Parker and Tony Oxley recorded at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin on June 29, 1990 and released on the FMP label.
Dream Weaver is the third album by jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd, his first released on the Atlantic label, and the first recordings by the Charles Lloyd Quartet featuring Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee and Jack DeJohnette. The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4½ stars and states "Dream Weaver is a fully realized project by a band — a real band — in which each member has a unique part of the whole to contribute... There were no records like this one by new groups in 1966".
Open, to Love is a jazz album by Paul Bley. It features Bley performing seven solo piano pieces and is considered not only one of his best albums, but a defining album in the history of the ECM record label. Three of the tracks were composed by ex-wife Carla Bley and another two by Bley's soon-to-be-ex-wife Annette Peacock. The album is one of the first showcases of the pointillism and silence that would inform much of his later work.
One is a solo album by American jazz pianist Matthew Shipp, which was recorded in 2005 and released on Thirsty Ear's Blue Series.
Trinity is an album by American mult-instrumentalist and composer Joe McPhee recorded in 1972 and originally released on the CjR label, then reissued by Atavistic in 2001.
Almeda is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded during the "Total Music Meeting" at the "Podewil", the headquarters of the Kulturprojekte Berlin non-profit organisation, on November 2, 1996, and released in 2004 on the FMP label. The album features Taylor with eight other musicians, and is a recording of a single performance lasting over an hour. The same group recorded the album The Light Of Corona the following day. In 2012, FMP also released Almeda , with the same musicians, as part of their Archive Edition.
