Unit Structures
| 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 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 studio album by American jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, released in October 1966 by Blue Note Records.
Background
Unit Structures was Taylor's first album on Blue Note; he would record Conquistador! for the label later the same year with a similar lineup, though it was not released until 1968.[5] Jesse Jarnow of Pitchfork described Unit Structures as "among the most intense of the early free jazz albums".[6]
The album was accompanied with an essay written by Taylor entitled "Sound Structure of Subculture Becoming Major Breath/Naked Fire Gesture".[7]
Critical reception
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...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, webzine Cokemachineglow included Unit Structures on their "30 'Other' Albums of the 1960s" list.[8] In 2013, Spin included it on their "Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s" list.[9] In 2017, Pitchfork placed it at number 197 on their list of the "200 Best Albums of the 1960s".[6]
Track listing
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 |
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.[10]
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References
- ^ "New Album Releases". Billboard. October 22, 1966. p. 66. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
- ^ a b Yanow, Scott. "Unit Structures - Cecil Taylor". AllMusic. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
- ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2004). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD (7th ed.). Penguin Books.
- ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. US: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 189. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- ^ Morton, Brian (April 2004). "The Primer: Cecil Taylor". The Wire. No. 242. pp. 48–49.
- ^ a b "The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s". Pitchfork. August 22, 2017. p. 1. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
- ^ Bartlett 1995, p. 276.
- ^ "30 "Other" Albums of the 1960s (page 1 of 3)". Cokemachineglow. July 5, 2008. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
- ^ "The Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s (page 22 of 101)". Spin. March 28, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- ^ Unit Structures (liner notes). Cecil Taylor. Blue Note. 1987. CDP 7 84237 2.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
- Bartlett, Andrew W. (1995). "Cecil Taylor, Identity Energy, and the Avant-Garde African American Body". Perspectives of New Music. 33 (1/2): 274–293. JSTOR 833708.
External links
- Unit Structures at Discogs (list of releases)
