Search - Cecil Taylor :: For Olim

You have to bring something to the music to hear it.

Stephen Burnside | Houston | 04/02/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I was 20 an older acquaintance in his late 30s told me that he thought Cecil Taylor was the most dynamic and creative artist in jazz. So I went out and bought a Cecil Taylor album. I listened to it once and threw it away! Obviously my friend was mistaken and deluded by this drivel, I thought at the time! When I was 35 I heard a Cecil Taylor piece from this album on an eclectic radio show and was mesmerized by it. So I bought this album and some of his other works. I've even been fortunate to see Cecil live a few times!The moral: You have to bring something to this music to be able to hear it. When I was 20 I was too young to understand the music. When I was 35 I was ready.This ain't no easy listening music."

I can't see all the way to the bottom

Ahmed Chronwell | 03/23/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Taylor's solo piano work is dazzling, difficult, and rewarding if you're willing to give his music time to work it's subtle alchemy on the synapses of your inner ear. There's more here than I can follow, and I don't really try - I just share a room with it now and again. Perhaps we'll become friends."

Accessible Distance

Reader and Writer | USA | 02/24/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This has to be one of Taylor's most accessible CDs. The pieces are short, he doesn't often play at his barely comprehensible fastest, there is a steady pulse though no regular beat, and there are hints of harmonic structure. All that said, it is still the far shores of contemporary piano playing in any genre. For listeners with open ears, a great introduction to a world of sound like no other."