released October 31, 1989

REVIEWS

Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD: 4 Stars.
All Music Guide: 4 ½ Stars

"This is another of the piano and percussion duets from Cecil Taylor's month-long Berlin stay in 1988. Of all of his sessions with drummers, this one comes off as the lightest of them. This is Taylor at his most playful, creating moods and shapes and colors to be reacted to emotionally, which is something he almost never does. Sommer, one of the great if underappreciated European percussionists, is content here to be a detailer of Taylor's visions. He places his own percussive imagination at the service of Taylor's pianistic articulation and theatricality and, as a result, it works very well. The cinematic effect of this music is absolutely uncanny over the suite's four parts. The sheer joy and smirky exuberance at play here make for a wondrous change of pace and mood for Taylor, and consequently offer listeners some of his most intimate and compelling music. Here the traces of Ellington and Fats Waller are everywhere, plainly there for the hearing." - All Music Guide

Cecil Taylor: piano
Günter Sommer: drums

All music by Cecil Taylor & Günter Sommer

Recorded live by Fritz Rosendahl & Jost Gebers during IMPROVISED MUSIC II/88 on June 17th, 1988. at the Kongresshalle in Berlin.

Mixed by Jost Gebers.
Mastered by Jonas Bergler.
Produced by Jost Gebers.

Booklet design/layout: Manfred Kussatz & Jost Gebers.
Photos: Dagmar Gebers.