The roar . . .

. . . of the Lyons. . .

Jimmy Lyons alto saxophone player best known for his long tenure in the Cecil Taylor Unit, being the only constant member of the pianist's group from the mid-1960s to his death, after which Taylor never worked with another musician as frequently. Lyons's playing, which usually retained a strong influence from bebop pioneer Charlie Parker, helped keep Tayor's often wildly avant garde music tethered to the jazz tradition.

He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and brought up firstly there for his first 9 years, before his mother moved the family to Harlem and then the Bronx. He obtained his first saxophone in the mid-1940s and had lessons from Buster Bailey.

After high school, Lyons was drafted into the United States Army and spent 21 months on infantry duty in Korea, before spending around a year playing in army bands. On discharge, he attended New York University. By the end of the 1950s he was supporting his interest in music with day jobs in the Postal Service.

In 1961 he followed Archie Shepp into the saxophone role in the Cecil Taylor Unit. His post-Parker sound and strong melodic sense became a defining part of the sound of that group, from the classic 1962 Cafe Montmartre sessions onwards.

During the 1970s Lyons also ran his own group with bassoonist Karen Borca and percussionist Paul Murphy, taking performance opportunities at the loft jazz movement around Studio Rivbea. His group and the Unit continued a parallel development through the 1970s and 1980s, often involving the same musicians, such as trumpeter Raphe Malik, bassist William Parker and percussionist Paul Murphy.

Lyons died from lung cancer in 1986. The recording legacy of his own group was relatively sparse, though that situation has been rectified by a 5 CD boxed set of archive recordings from 1972 to 1985, released on Ayler Records.  (from wikipedia.com)

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Sticktoitiveness. . .

. . . or something. . .

(thanks to Wikipedia.com)
Cecil Taylor began playing piano at age six and studied at the New York College of Music and New England Conservator. After first steps in R&B and swing-styled small groups in the early 1950s, he formed his own band with soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy in 1956 and with whom he made his first recording that same year. Some critics said it already pointed to the freedoms in which he later became immersed.

Through the 50s and 60s, Cecil's music grew more complex and moved away from existing jazz styles. Gigs were often hard to come by, and club owners thought his lengthy pieces were not easily accessible to the general jazz-going audience. Landmark recordings, like UNIT STRUCTURES followed later, in 1966. Alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons later joined Cecil and became one of his most important and consistent collaborators. Taylor, Lyons and drummer Sunny Murray (and later Andrew Cyrille) formed the core personnel of The Unit, Taylor's primary group effort until Lyons's premature death in 1986. With 'the Unit', musicians developed often volcanic new forms of conversational interplay.

Cecil began to perform solo concerts in the early 1970s. Many of these were released on album and include INDENT (1973), side one of Spring of Two Blue-J's (1973), SILENT TONGUES (1974), GARDEN (1982), and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1973 and then a MacArthur Fellowship in 1991.


Cecil recorded sparingly in the 2000s, but continued to perform with his own ensembles (the Cecil Taylor Ensemble and the Cecil Taylor Big Band) as well as with other musicians such as Joe Locke, Max Roach and Amiri Baraka.  In 2004, the Cecil Taylor Big Band at the Iridium 2005 was nominated a best performance of 2004 by All About Jazz, and the same in 2009 for the Cecil Taylor Trio at the Highline Ballroom in 2009. The trio consisted of Taylor, Albey Balgochian, and Jackson Krall. An autobiography, more concerts, and other projects are in the works. In 2010, Triple Point Records released a deluxe limited edition double LP titled Ailanthus/Altissima: Bilateral Dimensions of Two Root Songs, a set of duos with long-time collaborator Tony Oxley that was recorded live at the Village Vanguard in New York City.

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