At Iridium 2004 is a vast work. Cecil Taylor also leaves behind similarly vast territories of sound: the 10-disc Feel Trio recordings 2 Ts For A Lovely T (Codanza Records, 1995) or the monumental In Berlin ’88 box (FMP, 1989). Within jazz, his music stands like a monolith-challenging and imposing. Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane’s At Iridium 2004 continues the tradition.
Taylor’s hallmark intensity remained undiminished at the Iridium residency. Contemporary accounts suggest that these performances functioned less as conventional free-jazz engagements than as laboratories for large-scale compositional thinking. The music confirms that Taylor’s technical command and imaginative reach were fully intact. His pianism-still astonishing…