Chinampas #5'04 [Cecil Taylor]

Cecil Taylor is one of the most (in)famous musicians of the twentieth century. Yet he is also a poet whose work is of considerable interest, despite the comparative lack of critical attention it has received. One of the reasons for such neglect may be that Taylor as poet has not had a consistent or comprehensive publishing history. Poetry and writing has appeared as liner notes to albums intermittently since the 60s (most famously on his Blue Note record 'Unit Structures'), and, from the 80s, Taylor began to incorporate poetry and dance, as well as piano playing, into his concerts. However, there has been no book-length collection of work, or even pamphlet publication. With the exception of the liner notes, a few pieces anthologised in various collections, and vocal performances on a number of more recent records, 'Chinampas' (Leo Records, 1987) remains the most important document of Taylor's poetic activities. The record features Taylor reading his work, sometimes overdubbed, with sparse accompaniment on timpani and percussion. This is, in fact, the only one of his many albums on which he does not play piano.

The poem featured in this clip is the first track from 'Chinampas'. As the title indicates, one of the major thematic areas of this poem, and the poems on the record as a whole (which can perhaps be best understood as one work, rather than as separate 'poems'), is the Aztec civilisation in which Taylor is so interested. Scientific, mathematical, astrological, astronomical discourses also flit their way through series of elliptical and ambiguous phrases and incantatory refrains. Taylor's work lives in its sounding; from scrawled manuscripts, shuffled (interchangeable?) handwritten notes, work in progress, in continuance, never quite complete, never one monolithic entity - improvisational, vocal. Arguably, it would not be what it is without the sound of his own voice, without the unusual pauses and continuances (often not entirely in accordance with grammatical or semantic norms), without the music of his speech.

[The transcription in the video is my own, based in part on that of Fred Moten. See his article 'Sound in Florescence: Cecil's Taylor's Floating Garden', published online at http://www.ubu.com/papers/moten.html.]

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Music

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• Cecil Taylor
• poetry