AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head
Blue Note Classic - BST84237 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl
Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
AAA 100% Analogue - Limited Edition - Pressed at Optimal
Many audiophiles complain that Rudy Van Gelder didn’t record piano very well; while I think that narrative is exaggerated, Cecil Taylor sounds underwater here. Otherwise, this new Blue Note Classics reissue, cut from the master tapes by Kevin Gray, is perfect. The highs are clear and open, Van Gelder’s soundstage dry but logically spread out, and the 180g Optimal pressing flat and quiet. I haven’t heard the original pressing, but since Van Gelder had to roll off the bass and compress these albums to play on cheap turntables, I assume this is the best version yet. (This is the first all-analog Unit Structures pressing since at least the 1980s.) - Tracking angle
The intrepid free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor made his Blue Note debut with the explosive 1966 album Unit Structures featuring trumpeter Eddie Gale, saxophonists Jimmy Lyons and Ken McIntyre, bassists Henry Grimes and Alan Silva, and drummer Andrew Cyrille. The four extended pieces performed here scale the pinnacle of the mid-1960s jazz avant-garde.
This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, & pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.
Taylor's high-energy atonalism fit in well with the free jazz of the period but he was actually leading the way rather than being part of a movement. In fact, this septet outing with trumpeter Eddie Gale, altoist Jimmy Lyons, Ken McIntyre (alternating between alto, oboe and bass clarinet), both Henry Grimes and Alan Silva on basses, and drummer Andrew Cyrille is quite stunning and very intense. In fact, it could be safely argued that no jazz music of the era approached the ferocity and intensity of Cecil Taylor's
Musicians
Eddie Gale trumpet
Jimmy Lyons saxophone
Ken McIntyre saxophone
Cecil Taylor piano
Henry Grimes bass
Alan Silva bass
Andrew Cyrille drums
Side A:
Steps,
Enter, Evening (Soft Line Structure)
Side B:
Unit Structure/As of a Now/Section
Tales (8 Whisps)
