| Free Jazz |
Summary: A newly unearthed 1969 Paris concert captures Cecil Taylor and his quartet at the height of the Free Jazz revolution, delivering a raw, boundary-breaking performance at Salle Pleyel.
The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts: Cecil Taylor’s Free Jazz Breakthrough in Paris
To listen to this album, and truly take it in, you have to return to 1969, a moment when Free Jazz was spreading across the globe and Paris stood as one of its most radical centers. Released as The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts, this monumental, previously unreleased recording captures the Cecil Taylor Unit at the 8th Paris Jazz Festival on November 3, 1969. Drawn from the archives of the Institut national de l’audiovisuel and issued in a deluxe edition, the set documents two complete performances in the legendary Salle Pleyel. The lineup itself reads like a summit of avant-garde power: Cecil Taylor (piano), Sam Rivers (tenor and soprano saxophones, flute), Jimmy Lyons (alto saxophone) and Andrew Cyrille (drums).
At the time, audiences blurred together, just as artistic disciplines did. This music could just as easily be imagined as a painting in which no formal boundaries are respected. That, in essence, is the raw material of Free Jazz: the breaking of norms. In an era increasingly shaped by conformity, such freedom can feel disorienting. But history shows that in the wake of upheaval, the arts often move toward new frontiers. To understand why Free Jazz held such a powerful place in France, one must look back to the upheaval of May 1968 protests in France, when students and workers filled the streets. As Léo Ferré sang (in French), “Paris Marseilles, les villes son pareille s, les paves s’entassent et les flics qui passent, les prennent sur la gueule .” The line, emblematic of the period, captures a society shedding imposed norms.
Within this shifting landscape, Taylor, like several of his contemporaries, was recognized as a major artist. For his audience, there was little doubt. The performances themselves stretch conventional limits: a 49-minute improvisation followed by another lasting 20 minutes; on a second disc, a nearly 72-minute exploration. In a venue traditionally reserved for classical soloists, the codes were unmistakably broken. The groundwork had already been laid in 1967, when Pierre Henry composed Messe pour un temps présent (Mass for the Present Time) for a ballet by Maurice Béjart, signaling a widening institutional acceptance of experimental forms.
I came to understand this only years later. I was seven at the time of Messe pour un temps présent, and nine, studying music, when Taylor’s concert took place. It would take time, and the gradual pull of Free Jazz artists, before I fully engaged with this music. Listening to Cecil Taylor Unit – Fragments – The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concert is, first and foremost, hearing the sound of an era: musicians in the midst of exploration, offering not a finished product but something still taking shape.
The technical work drawn from INA sources is exemplary, with sound carefully restored and mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab. This deluxe edition is presented as a triple 180-gram vinyl set in a gatefold sleeve, capturing the full sonic force and physicality of the original performance.
The package also includes a richly illustrated booklet featuring rare concert photographs by Jean-Pierre Leloir, Jan Persson and Christian Rose, alongside new liner notes by Phil Freeman and testimonies from Andrew Cyrille, Jack DeJohnette, Matthew Shipp, Karen Borca and Monique Rivers.
This is a work of art that will not appeal to everyone. Yet it remains essential, an artifact that helps shape our understanding of the history of art, jazz and music itself, from a time of restless experimentation when, it seemed, anything was possible.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, March 24th 2026
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Musicians:
Cecil Taylor – Piano
Sam Rivers – Tenor & Soprano Saxophone, Flute
Jimmy Lyons – Alto Saxophone
Andrew Cyrille – Drums
Track Listing LPs:
Side A
Evening Set Version: Part 1
Side B
Evening Set Version: Part 2
Side C
Afternoon Set Version: Part 1
Side D
Afternoon Set Version: Part 2
Side E
Afternoon Set Version: Part 1
Side F
Afternoon Set Version: Part 2
Tracklisting CDs:
Disc 1
- FRAGMENTS OF A DEDICATION TO DUKE ELLINGTON – Evening Set
- FRAGMENTS OF A DEDICATION TO DUKE ELLINGTON – Afternoon Set Part 1
Disc 2
- FRAGMENTS OF A DEDICATION TO DUKE ELLINGTON – Afternoon Set Part 2