Conquistador!
| Conquistador! | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1968[1] | |||
| Recorded | October 6, 1966 | |||
| Studio | Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey | |||
| Genre | Free jazz | |||
| Length | 37:14 | |||
| Label | Blue Note | |||
| Producer | Alfred Lion | |||
| Cecil Taylor chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| All About Jazz |   [2] |
| AllMusic |  [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [4] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [5] |
Conquistador! is a 1968 studio album recorded in 1966 by free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, released by Blue Note Records.[6]
Critical reception
Writing for AllMusic, Scott Yanow gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars, stating that "During the two lengthy pieces, [Jimmy] Lyons' passionate solos contrast with [Bill] Dixon's quieter ruminations while the music in general is unremittingly intense."[3]
The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 4 stars, calling it "an all but flawless record," and commenting: "Dark, difficult, unique, yet operating at an artful tangent to some of the other 'difficult' Blue Note music of the period, this is Taylor at his most devious."[5]
Writing for Vinyl Me Please, Brian Josephs stated: "Conquistador!... swerves away from Unit Structures' fire and evokes the coolness of its cover, which features a turtlenecked Taylor slightly out of focus, hiding behind shades as he mysteriously stares into the distance. The musical elements don’t combust as much as they melt into each other: Horns swell shrilly at the borders to add haunted textures, while Andrew Cyrille's amorphous rhythms tie the masterwork together. Even without Unit Structures as its contrast, Conquistador! still stands as a great testament to this sui generis collective."[7]
In 2008, The New Yorker placed it at number 87 on the "100 Essential Jazz Albums" list.[8]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Cecil Taylor.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Conquistador" | 17:54 |
| 2. | "With (Exit)" | 19:20 |
| 3. | "With (Exit) [Alternate Take]" (CD edition bonus track) | 17:24 |
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.
- Cecil Taylor – piano
- Bill Dixon – trumpet
- Jimmy Lyons – alto saxophone
- Henry Grimes – double bass
- Alan Silva – double bass
- Andrew Cyrille – drums
References
- ^ Billboard Mar 9, 1968
- ^ Fleming, Colin (October 17, 2004). "Cecil Taylor: Conquistador!". All About Jazz. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
- ^ a b Yanow, Scott. "Conquistador! - Cecil Taylor". AllMusic. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
- ^ Swenson, John, ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 189. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1381. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
- ^ Murray, Robin (April 6, 2018). "Free Jazz Innovator Cecil Taylor Has Died". Clash. Archived from the original on April 6, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
- ^ Josephs, Brian (September 12, 2018). "A Cecil Taylor Primer". Vinyl Me Please. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
- ^ Remnick, David (May 19, 2008). "100 Essential Jazz Albums". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
External links
- Conquistador! at Discogs (list of releases)