condition (record/cover): NM / EX

From the 1961 Candid sessions, issued under the Barnaby banner: Cecil Taylor and bassist Buell Neidlinger co-credited on material that catches the early Unit circle - Archie Shepp among the company - working the exact seam between jazz tradition and the coming storm, with one foot in each world and full weight on both. The title is only half a joke and the better for it: Taylor's music always insisted loudly on its Black music lineage, Ellington and the church fully audible inside the clusters for anyone listening honestly rather than defensively, and these sessions make the argument explicit, swinging hard while dismantling the premises of swing. Neidlinger's co-billing is earned - his bass anchors and provokes in equal measure, the loyal foundation of the whole first period.

The Candid-era tapes surfaced across various editions and titles over the years, a small discographical adventure in themselves; this Barnaby issue is one of the characterful stops. Early-sixties Taylor: historically pivotal, and still hot to the touch.