Cecil Taylor - The Complete Nat Hentoff Sessions [Bonus Track Version] (2016)

Born in New York in March of 1929 (some sources list his date of birth as March 15, while others list it as March 25), Cecil Taylor is perhaps one of the most controversial and debated figures in jazz. This collection compiles all of the recordings Taylor made for the short-lived Candid label. Candid Records was founded as a subsidiary of Archie Bleyer's Cadence label in New York City in 1960. The jazz writer and civil rights activist, Nat Hentoff, worked as the label's A&R director, aiming to create a representative catalog of the jazz of the day. Hentoff worked with designer and photographer Frank Gauna to create many memorable album covers and wrote most of the liner notes. Although the label produced classic dates led by Clark Terry and Coleman Hawkins with Pee Wee Russell, it focused primarily on the work of the emergent avant-garde, as well as recordings celebrating the Civil Rights movement. Recordings by Cecil Taylor and Steve Lacy belong to the first group, and those by Charles Mingus and Max Roach belong to the second, but there is not a strict differentiation. In particular, Roach's We Insist! Freedom Now Suite is a classic political statement. The label had a brief existence in its New York incarnation, however, and recordings ceased during 1961. Cecil Taylors work for the label features him during the first years of his career as a leader.