For German readers: some thoughts and notes and quotes on the music I'm listening - to be found
on my new blog:
ubus-notizen.blogspot.com

Also check out the great new, independent magazine get happy!?, reporting on music, movies and more:
gethappymag.de

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Cecil Taylor Unit - Berlin 1969

Here's a great one - a digital radio capture of Cecil Taylor's 1969 set at the Berlin. And opposed to what was long thought, it seems to be the full set, too! (Read the message from Lukas Lindenmaier below - you'll need to save that from here if you want it, it's not included in the DL!)
Most likely, this is the finest quality show we'll ever hear from Taylor's 1969 tour with Sam Rivers!



Cecil Taylor Unit
Berliner Jazztage
Berlin (Germany), Philharmonie
November 6, 1969


Jimmy Lyons - alto sax
Sam Rivers - tenor sax, flute
Cecil Taylor - piano
Andrew Cyrille - drums

1. Announcements by Dietrich Schulz-Köhn (1:50)
2. Fragments Of A Dedication to Duke Ellington (63:30)

TT: 64:47

Sound: A/A-
Source: RBB Kulturradio, June 19, 2009
Lineage: DVB-C (48 khz/ 256 kbps) > Nokia d-box 2 > harddisk
Edits were made with the mp3DirectCut software
Conversion: BeSweet/BeLight > TLH > FLAC (8,asb)

------------------------------

http://www.webmutations.com/ceciltaylor/1969.html

"...the 45:++ from radio broadcast is - most probably - the closing section of the performance. There is another radio broadcast 15:45 with something like the first section, and there seems to be a missing link between these broadcasted parts -some say the gap is but a few minutes, others say it might be more, up to 25:00 - I don't know, I only have the two broadcast fragments, and it seems most likely no private audience tape of this concert exists." --H. Lukas Lindenmaier 05.01.03

{Primary Source: Rick Lopez's Sam Rivers Online Discography, Tape, also documented by Ed Hazell in his unpublished C. T. discography (he has date as 69.11.10 and time length as 48')

:: note by Lukas Lindenmaier (2009-12-14) - not included in the DL! ::

Hi,
after listening to the 1969-1106 recording again, I do believe the 63:30 version we have from the 2009-0619 broadcast (RBB Kulturradio) is the complete performance recorded. There is not cut/editing audible - not in my ears, at least - except for cutting short the final applause. Also, this version is of the best audio quality so far.
Longer versions of recordings from this same date result from - m.h.o - clumsy efforts combining (editing/pasting) fragments from earlier incomplete broadcasts (aired 1969, 1970, and later, by various German radio stations. All these pastiche versions (69 min, 75 min., some even longer) suffer from low audio quality, also harsh cuts and/or inexplicable fades, cross-fades, and overlappings. There is no private audience recording from this performance, as far as I know, documenting „a much longer performance“ as rumourously reported by few eye-/ear-witnesses.
(sidebar): reading from contemporary (1969) festival reviews, 1969-1106 was the opening night of Berliner Jazztage. Performing on this „Piano For Duke“ night were 1) Joe Turner solo or trio?, 2) Steve Kuhn solo?, 3) Joachim Kühn w. Barre Phillips, Stu Martin, Jacques Thollot, 4) Thelonious Monk solo, (then w. J.Turner, Hans Rettenbacher, S.Martin sitting in for the last tune, 5) Cecil Taylor Unit (Lyons, Rivers, Taylor, Cyrille). Not having heard recordings from the first 3 sets, but the complete Monk set, which runs for some 30 min. incl. applause, I guess the CT Unit started at about 2 and 1/2 hours after the beginning of the program - and I don‘t think they played more than the 63:30 on the recording, when „... three quarter parts of the audience derserted ... (quote from Hans Harzheim‘s review in: Jazz Magazine (France) #175 (Feb. 1970) p.11).

Best wishes,
H.Lukas Lindenmaier

12 comments:

ubu said...

MP2 (tagged) + info:

http://rapidshare.com/files/321335383/Cecil_Taylor_1969-11-06_Berlin__256_.rar

ubu said...

And if there's interest, I could also share an MP2 version of the rest of that night's programme - here's the info from my files:

Piano For Duke
Berliner Jazztage 1969
Berlin (Germany), Philharmonie
November 6, 1969 (MP2)

CD1/54:48


1. Introduction by Joachim-Ernst Berendt 02:27

Joe Turner Greets Ellington - Joe Turner Trio

Joe Turner, piano
Hans Rettenbacher, bass
Stu Martin, drums

2. Joe Turner talks about Duke Ellington (1:30)
3. Jig Walk (2:28)
4. Squeeze Me (4:11)
5. unknown (3:54) [FM source]
6. Caravan (3:05)
7. Satin Doll (3:53)
8. Mood Indigo (2:31)


Steve Kuhn Trio

Steve Kuhn, piano
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, bass
Aldo Romano, drums

9. Announcement by Dietrich Schulz-Köhn (1:10)
10. All That's Left Is To Say Goodbye (5:16)
11. U. M. M. G. (6:02)
12. Baubles, Bangles And Beads (6:52)
13. Lament - Once We Loved (4:34)
14. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most (6:50)


CD2/58:55

Joachim Kühn Quartett


Joachim Kühn, piano & alto sax
Barre Phillips, bass
Jacques Thollot, drums
Stu Martin, drums

1. Announcement by Dietrich Schulz-Köhn (1:02)
2. Suite To Our Father Duke (17:25)
3. Oh Oma - For My Mother (10:37)


Thelonious Monk, piano

with (#11):
Joe Turner, piano
Hans Rettenbacher, bass
Stu Martin, drums

4. Announcement by Dietrich Schulz-Köhn (0:33)
5. Satin Doll (3:38)
6. Sophisticated Lady (4:27)
7. Caravan (6:15)
8. Solitude (5:37)
9. Crepuscule With Nellie (2:54)
10. announcement by Joachim-Ernst Berendt (1:05)
11. Blues For Duke (5:17)


TT: 113:43

Sound: A/A-
Source: DVB-S@320, 48kHz > raw data > ProjextX > mp3DirectCut > mp2
(lossy recording seeded in its original broadcast codec)

Please note: Do not ask me for reseeds, I always delete the torrents from the previous month within the first days of the next month.


This audio torrent also includes the Joachim Kühn part of the concert.
Video torrents of this are running here: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php&id=233351 & here http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php&id=232336
The audio portion in this torrent 320 kbps (the video torrent only has 192 kbps).
There also is an FM version (52 mins) running here: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=233886

1009 said...

Wow, thanks much for this great-sounding recording. I used to have a recording of this set, but yours blows it away.

If possible, I'd like to hear the Joachim Kuhn set too.

roberto t. said...

Great post, a million thanks!

1009 said...

Another request: could you up this in mp3 format? I've converted the mp2's, of course, but inevitably lose some more information in the transfer. If not no worries, but just thought I'd check!

Nick said...

thanks, ubu! This looks fantastic. I would love to hear the Monk set as well, and I'm sure many others would, too. And may I respectfully second the request to repost this in mp3 and/or lossless? Thank you again!

ubu said...

Well, MP2 is the original satellite radio file format. There is nothing better than this, and believe me, many of these MP2 captures (at least many of those @ 320 and 256 kbs) sound better than any FM aerial or cable captures ever will! FM isn't actually "lossless" either, as it uses compression to save "bandwidth".

To convert these files to WAV, use the free BeSweet/BeLight software (I think there's an instruction in the comments to another MP2 post, maybe to the first one that appeared here... will search for it later on), and then you can burn to CDR. This will mean you'll have to change the files from 48kHz to 44.1kHz and hence the quality gets a bit less good (though honestly I'm not sure I'd notice the difference).

To put this on an MP3 player, I haven't yet bothered to find any good solution. The usual automatical conversion done by iTunes will end up in crappy 128 kbs files, but I don't care, as I keep all these MP2 shows in the original format on an external HD anyway.

Hope this helps!

In short:

1) there is no lossless, original MP2 is the finest quality you'll get from any satellite broadcast!

2) to burn to CDR use BeLight/BeSweet to convert to WAV @ 44.1kHz (there are other programmes to do the conversion, but some are reportedly freaking up the quality!)

ubu said...

one more comment @ 1009: I'd also have to convert the MP2 files, as these are the original files. I don't think my conversion would end up superior to yours, so there's no need for me to upload it that way, in my opinion!

john schott said...

Dear Ubu,
once again, and not for the last time, THANKS. I've never heard this particular concert, although the (sublime, astonishing) Monk set is something I've had on video for 15 years or more. It is so fascinating to begin to get a sense of the entirety of this extraordinary evening. I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall backstage!

Ilario Rozen said...

Hi Mr. ubu
many thanks in advance for your special work about the blog, and special special work for CT and all Berlin (Germany), Philharmonie
November 6, 1969.
I am very interested for the rest of the night.
thanks again Ilario

1009 said...

Thanks for the info, ubu. I was pretty ignorant of MP2 encoding. I just converted to mp2s to mp3s @320, thinking that would give me the least amount of loss while still allowing me to listen on my ipod. Still sounds great!

Unknown said...

Fantastic recording! Thanks for sharing. I'd love to hear the joachim kuhn concert.