Customer Reviews

Momentum Space

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4 star:		(3)
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2 star:		(1)
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This album was a surprise when it first appeared: while Cecil Taylor, Dewey Redman & Elvin Jones are all masters of forwardlooking 1960s jazz, one would hardly expect such individual & differently-oriented players to gel together. Jones, despite the enormous complexity of the rhythms & sounds he creates, has typically still preferred to maintain the drums' timekeeping role (having left Coltrane's band, for instance, as Coltrane moved more and more towards completely "free" playing). Taylor, on the other hand, has since the early 1960s become the leading exponent of a highly percussive & rhythmic but freely-measured piano style.

This recording, as most reviewers have noted, is misleadingly packaged as a trio recording, when only the first and sixth tracks (ten and twenty minutes long, respectively) have all three musicians together. I'm inclined to think this not necessarily a bad thing: the shorter of the two tracks, "Nine", is an amazing confrontation, perhaps the best thing on the album; the 20-minute track, "Is", is I think the one weak track on the disc, episodic & rambling. It's telling that on "Nine" Jones elects to play in time, while on "Is" he tries for free-tempo playing.

But with the exception of "Is"--which anyway has its moments too--the rest of this album is first-rate. There's a fine, melodic drum solo by Jones; a nice solo piece by Taylor; a brilliant duet between Redman & Jones; and a good duo between Taylor & Jones. A brief Redman solo ends the disc--it's only 49 seconds & is sufficiently good I wish there were more. So, despite my reservations about the one (longest) track, there's plenty on here that deserves a listen.

Want to know what's wrong with jazz today? The fact that this fabulous album, made by three acknowledged masters and released on a major label, could be ignored by radio and the press, says it all. Though the three participants here share top billing, the CD sounds very much like Taylor's 1962 trio recording, "Nefertiti" and is more or less dominated by his musical vision. Like "Nefertiti," this is a classic example of Taylor's art--viruoso playing, fabulously expressive, totally individual. Jones and Redman are perfect foils, adding multi-layered rhythmic coherency and melodic sweetness, respectively. Unlike many of the safe, pre-digested CDs of re-tread '50s hard bop that draw critical raves these days, this is probing, challenging, emotionally gripping improvised music--ie, excellent jazz--by three great musicians. Sadly, most reviewers have apparently been as bewildered as the Amazon.com scribe above. (If anyone can figure he's trying to say in his last sentence, I'd be interested to hear what it is.) If you have an interest in Taylor, Jones or avante jazz in general, don't miss this one.

Who'd have thought this?

This is the recording of the avant-garde giant Cecil Taylor with the drummer from the legendary John Coltrane 4tet? To those familiar with both artists, the big question, does it work?

One one had, you think yes, as both Cecil and Elvin are known for the extraordinary power and energy in their playing.

On the other hand, it would not, because Elvin and Cecil rely on pulse and meter (or lack of it) in different ways which are usually not compatible.

The answer is YES! All three players make strong individual efforts. It sometimes takes Elvin a little time to sync up with what Cecil does, but once they do, it is quite amazing stuff. For Cecil, it is markedly different then his recent recordings. His playing is not as layered, it is a dialogue between rhythmic chords and fast melodic lines. The chords have tonalities which recall some of his work from the early 70s.

I got this record last Christmas and immediately made a tape of it for my car - I had to listen to it all the time. All three giants sound great, the album has nice liner notes, and I love the Einsteinian notion of "Momentum Space" as it relates to this transformative restructuralist music. Elvin Jones made another wonderful trio album a few years ago with his brother Hank and George Mraz in tribute to his brother Thad. "Momentum Space" has a different kind of beauty. Check it out! : )

Sometimes an artist gets tied up with a label that doesn't know what it's doing and tries to string together "stars." This is the 2nd collaboration that has gone awry in the Cecil annals. The first was a duet with Max Roach. Sadly, it was recorded too early into the tour and before Max, maybe the best drummer Cecil ever played with, had mastered CT's music. Momentum has the similar problems. Early into the recording you three guys lost. Dewey blowing something silly without much rhyme or reason. Elvin on a different path. CT gives in and just mocks the affair with a bunch of silly chords. Eventually, the music gets better, then worse. Momentum just should have never been released without a little more rehearsel, but that cost money so screw the art. The powers that be toss it out on a public that can be satisfied with nothing but a buncha notes in a mall anyway. Despite all the problems, it was probably a good seller, but obviously not enough to keep in print.

Anyone who knows the playing of Dewey Redman, Cecil Taylor, and Elvin Jones will know that this is not going to be music for the faint of heart. Both figuratively and literally, these guys put some serious muscle into their playing! Hard to believe that at the time of this recording, Cecil Taylor was the junior member at 65--Dewey Redman was 67, and Elvin Jones was 70. My goodness--where does the time go!? Ok--I've warned you that this CD is not for the faint of heart.

The opening cut, "Nine," is an energetic trio workout with Taylor and Jones being especially hard on their instruments. The second cut, "Bekei," is a drum solo by Jones--fun and very approachable. Next comes "Spoonin'," a duet with Jones and Redman. Next up are three compositions by Taylor: "Life As" (solo piano, not as jarring as you might expect), "It" (a duet with Taylor and Jones), and "Is" (a wild 20-minute workout for the whole trio). The closing piece, "Dew," is a 49-second saxophone solo by Redman. For the musically adventurous and stout of heart, Momentum Space is worth an audition.

I've been playing this intermixed with Glenn Gould's "Bach's Goldberg Variations", and actually enjoy this more! The first track "Nine" reminds me of atoms (of type Redman, Taylor, and Jones) colliding together in musical space. Very ingenious! All three musicians , although rarely intersecting in the time dimension, create complementary musical space with respect to one another. This was my first major exposure to Cecil Taylor's style of piano, and I must listen to more of him. He and Jones complement each other well, in that I've always thought of Jones as a "lyrical drummer", while Taylor seems to be able to create interesting percussion sounds with his piano.

This musical document represents a significant example of the level to which Africa has influenced European music. The quintessential European instrument, the piano, is here played percussively. The drums are played melodically, and "talk", and create a "soundscape" (witness the shimmering waves created by the cymbals of Mr Jones behind Mr Taylor during his solo on track 6) whilst the saxophone of Mr Redman mimics the human voice so important in African music. The three artists have contributed much to the development of music over the past 40 years. We owe them a debt of gratitude. This is an excellent example of their art. Although conversations prevail, the soliloquy on track two by Mr Jones has an almost perfect structure and is a powerful testimony to Afro-American drumming. We do miss something though. Just as it is a revelation to have witnessed Mr Thelonious Monk "play" the piano, so it is revelatory to visually witness the plasticity, the melding, of Mr Taylor with his instrument and with the music - dance, sculpture and sound interweave to make a more emotionally powerful experience. In the meantime, we will just have to close our eyes and imagine as we listen intently to the music on this CD. Superbly engineered by Jay Newland. Thanks to The Creative Music Institute.