| Unit Structures | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 1966 [1] | |||
| Recorded | May 19, 1966 | |||
| Studio | Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey | |||
| Genre | Free jazz | |||
| Length | 46:27 (Original LP) 56:38 (CD reissue) | |||
| Label | Blue Note | |||
| Producer | Alfred Lion | |||
| Cecil Taylor chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [2] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz |  [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [4] |
Unit Structures is a 1966 studio album by free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, released by Blue Note Records.
Unit Structures was Taylor's first album on Blue Note. He released Conquistador! on the label in the same year, with a similar lineup. [5] Jesse Jarnow of Pitchfork described the album as "among the most intense of the early free jazz albums". [6]
The album was accompanied with an essay written by Cecil Taylor, titled Sound Structure of Subculture Becoming Major Breath/Naked Fire Gesture. [7]
AllMusic gave the album five stars, with reviewer Scott Yanow opining that "Taylor's high-energy atonalism fit in well with the free jazz of the period but he was actually leading the way rather than being part of a movement... In fact, it could be safely argued that no jazz music of the era approached the ferocity and intensity of Cecil Taylor's". [2] The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded it three and a half stars (of a possible four), writing "Unit Structures is both as mathematically complex as its title suggests and as rich in colour and sound as the ensemble proposes, with the orchestrally varied sounds of the two bassists — Grimes a strong, elemental driving force, Silva tonally fugitive and mysterious — while Stevens and McIntyre add other hues and Lyons improvises with and against them." [3]
In 2008, Cokemachineglow included it on the "30 'Other' Albums of the 1960s" list. [8] In 2013, Spin included it on the "Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s" list. [9] In 2017, Pitchfork placed it at number 197 on the "200 Best Albums of the 1960s" list. [6]
All tracks are written by Cecil Taylor.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Steps" | 10:20 |
| 2. | "Enter, Evening" | 11:06 |
| 3. | "Enter, Evening (Alternate Take)" (CD edition bonus track) | 10:11 |
| 4. | "Unit Structure/As of a Now/Section" | 17:47 |
| 5. | "Tales (8 Whisps)" | 7:14 |
Credits adapted from liner notes. [10]
|
|
Cecil Percival Taylor was an American pianist and poet.
Giant Steps is the fifth studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane as leader. It was released in February 1960 on Atlantic Records. This was his first album as leader for Atlantic Records, with which he had signed a new contract the previous year. The record became highly influential on other jazz musicians. Many of its tracks have become practice templates for jazz saxophonists. In 2004, it was one of fifty recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. It attained gold record status in 2018, having sold 500,000 copies.
Song for My Father is a 1965 album by the Horace Silver Quintet, released on the Blue Note label in 1965. The album was inspired by a trip that Silver had made to Brazil. The cover artwork features a photograph of Silver's father, John Tavares Silver, to whom the title composition was dedicated. "My mother was of Irish and Negro descent, my father of Portuguese origin," Silver recalls in the liner notes: "He was born on the island of Maio, one of the Cape Verde Islands."
The Real McCoy is the seventh album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner and his first released on the Blue Note label. It was recorded on April 21, 1967 following Tyner's departure from the John Coltrane Quartet and features performances by Tyner with Joe Henderson, Ron Carter and Elvin Jones. Producer Alfred Lion recalls the recording session as a "pure jazz session. There is absolutely no concession to commercialism, and there's a deep, passionate love for the music embedded in each of the selections".
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.
Conquistador! is a 1966 studio album by free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, released by Blue Note Records.
A New Perspective is a 1964 studio album by jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd. It was released on the Blue Note label as BLP 4124 and BST 84124.
Stereo Drive is an album by jazz musician Cecil Taylor featuring John Coltrane. It was released in 1959 on United Artists Records, catalogue UAS 5014. The mono edition was issued as UAL 4014 with the title Hard Driving Jazz credited to The Cecil Taylor Quintet, and later reissued under Coltrane's name in 1962 as Coltrane Time. Compact disc reissues appeared on the Blue Note Records label credited to Coltrane. It is the only known recording featuring both Coltrane and Taylor.
Blue Spirits is an album by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard released on the Blue Note label. It would be his last studio album for Blue Note, recorded in the 1960s. It features performances by Hubbard, James Spaulding, Joe Henderson, Harold Mabern, Jr., Larry Ridley, Clifford Jarvis, Big Black, Kiane Zawadi, Hank Mobley, McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw, Pete LaRoca. The CD release added tracks from a 1966 session featuring Hosea Taylor, Herbie Hancock, Reggie Workman, and Elvin Jones.
In 'n Out is the third album by jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson released on the Blue Note label. It was recorded on April 10, 1964 and features performances by Henderson with Kenny Dorham, McCoy Tyner, Richard Davis and Elvin Jones.
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.
Air Above Mountains is a live album by Cecil Taylor performing a solo piano concert recorded at the Moosham Castle in Langau, Austria on August 20, 1976.
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."
Historic Concerts is a live album by Cecil Taylor and Max Roach recorded at the McMillin Theatre, Columbia University, NYC on December 15, 1979 and released on the Soul Note label in 1984. Despite the inaccurate plural title, the entire album is just one single show. The album features solo and duet performances by Taylor and Roach and the later CD reissue adds interviews recorded after the concert.
Winged Serpent 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.
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.
Some Other Stuff is the second album by American trombonist Grachan Moncur III recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label in 1965. It was remastered by Rudy Van Gelder in 2008 and reissued on CD.
Midnight Special is an album by the American jazz organist Jimmy Smith, recorded in 1960 and released on the Blue Note label. The album was recorded at the same session that produced Back at the Chicken Shack (1960).
The Awakening is an album by American jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal featuring performances recorded in 1970 for the Impulse! label.
Vince Guaraldi Trio is the debut studio album by American jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi, released in the US by Fantasy Records in September 1956. It was recorded in San Francisco, California, in April 1956.
