Incarnation
By Cecil Taylor
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Track listing
- 1 Focus 32:32
- 2 Carnation 19:32
- 3 Cartouche 25:01
- Total length: 77:05
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2 Reviews
Amazing Reunion Album Shows Off New Tricks
Berlin, November 4, 1999
Cecil Taylor: piano, voice; Franky Douglas: guitar, voice; Tristan Honsinger: cello; Andrew Cyrille: drums, tympani
"Incarnation" is a brilliant late period album that clearly got lost in the shuffle as FMP prepared to fold in 2004. So many of the later releases could be said to be (still good) copies of earlier styles, but not this one. For one, it shows a few worlds colliding. This is the return to the fold of Andrew Cyrille, recorded with Taylor for the first time since the mid 70s. He's not quite as driving as he was in many of their trio albums, but he's the perfect drummer for this date, and experiments with tympani only add to the already diverse approaches on the record. The second return is from master cellist Tristan Honsinger. He'd created quite a rapport with Taylor from the late 80s to the end of the 90s, and this one shows him in fine, sparring form from the first note he plays, always coloring and driving, winding, bobbing, twirling all around Taylor. Taylor knows the responses, and the two are often dancing in and around each other through the piece. The new kid in town, then is guitarist Franky Douglas. Honestly, it takes half the piece for Douglas to really enter the scene, but when he does, you can't miss him. Like Sonny Sharrock in a particularly funky mood, he zaps textures all over the back end of this show, often thrillingly moving electronic coloring into Taylor's orbit, no small feat.
What's best though, is the chemistry between all four, especially the returning three. As a trio alone, this would've been a perfect project, as the three know exactly how to compliment each other while keeping everything going. The guitarist, though, spurs others like Honsinger to add some funky color, and there's a swing evident here that's sometimes lacking in the later work. Taylor himself even launches some clusters and arpeggios with a dancing lilt, and the piece (technically three songs, but clearly meant to be part of a larger whole) never slows down. What makes it extra special, then, is that it is always searching for something new, always returning from the well, so to speak, with a new tactic. Taylor, in particular, sounds renewed on the record, and it is an absolute must for all fans, and for anyone looking for something unique. Though there are echoes of many eras throughout this, it's absolutely unlike anything else in the Taylor catalog. Brilliant.
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Since music like this is so dependent on the interactions of the players, I'll rate them individually and then talk about it.
Cecil - 4.5 stars. Solid and as always the driving force and glue that holds it together, but he's overshadowed in some ways by the return of:
Andrew Cyrille - 5 stars. Amazing. The guy brilliantly straddles that line of form and free sound that confounds so many players who can do one and not the others. The fact that he's creating it as he goes is just the cherry on top. For me, he's the star of the show, the belle of the ball.
Tristan Honsinger - 4 stars. Really quite good here, especially in a lengthy duet with Cyrille. But he also does a lot of work to hold things together in the maelstrom.
Franky Douglas - 3.5 stars. First time out with Cecil, I'd guess and sometimes he sounds at a loss as to what to do, as when he starts up a funky little riff near the end of the "focus" segment. It sounds interesting, but totally out of place, like it's what he fell back on when he ran out of inspiration. Elsewhere he's more convincing, sounding better when he's breaking it down into notes than when he's laying on the pedals. I'd like to hear him develop with Taylor because the only other guitarist to have taken his music on is Derek Bailey, about as cerebral and brittle a match as I could think of, though the resulting record is actually quite good.
Total rating - 4 stars. A good record, and the experience of a more conventional guitarist in Cecil's music is a wonderful prospect, though I think the actuality could be improved upon. Anyway, solid, exciting, interesting, not amazing, but good.
Cecil - 4.5 stars. Solid and as always the driving force and glue that holds it together, but he's overshadowed in some ways by the return of:
Andrew Cyrille - 5 stars. Amazing. The guy brilliantly straddles that line of form and free sound that confounds so many players who can do one and not the others. The fact that he's creating it as he goes is just the cherry on top. For me, he's the star of the show, the belle of the ball.
Tristan Honsinger - 4 stars. Really quite good here, especially in a lengthy duet with Cyrille. But he also does a lot of work to hold things together in the maelstrom.
Franky Douglas - 3.5 stars. First time out with Cecil, I'd guess and sometimes he sounds at a loss as to what to do, as when he starts up a funky little riff near the end of the "focus" segment. It sounds interesting, but totally out of place, like it's what he fell back on when he ran out of inspiration. Elsewhere he's more convincing, sounding better when he's breaking it down into notes than when he's laying on the pedals. I'd like to hear him develop with Taylor because the only other guitarist to have taken his music on is Derek Bailey, about as cerebral and brittle a match as I could think of, though the resulting record is actually quite good.
Total rating - 4 stars. A good record, and the experience of a more conventional guitarist in Cecil's music is a wonderful prospect, though I think the actuality could be improved upon. Anyway, solid, exciting, interesting, not amazing, but good.
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