Spots, Circles and Fantasy

Here we go: two of the most unruly cats ever to sit behind anything, let alone a piano and a set of drums. This set was recorded in 1988, when Cecil Taylor spent a month in Germany making all sorts of musical mischief. At nearly 74 minutes, this is a mammoth duet, or at least one would think so, but apparently not these two. Judging by the energy exerted at the end when compared to that at the beginning, they were just getting revved into action. Things begin with Bennink at a furious tempo, making sounds on everything on the kit but the skins themselves. Taylor enters five minutes later, yelling and clapping and providing a spaced-out encouragement as Bennink begins to choose his beats more and more carefully. Sometimes 30 seconds will go by without a note, and at others there are rolls and rim shots on every single drum before he uses them in combination. Taylor enters in earnest with a shout and a few chords in the lower register and then the two are off to the races, colliding and swimming with and against each other. Bennink uses alternate means to control the dynamic and Taylor just starts ripping at the strings of the piano until, after nearly 15 minutes, he finds his own groove and sidles in next to Bennink for a silvery conjuring match of accented tonal scales, swept brushwork over clamoring tom toms, and a whole lot of good-natured humor for measure. This is a solid duet and an exciting one, despite its rather tense and minimal start.