Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley

Description
Divergent backgrounds aside, American piano maverick Cecil Taylor and British free-improv percussionist Tony Oxley are clearly kindred spirits. The pianist, perpetually described as treating the instrument like 88 tuned drums, compels even the most willful percussionists to break new ground; Oxley, whose style can resemble the contents of a junk shop caught in a whirlpool, meshes with Taylor’s idiom to an extent achieved by few others. Taylor’s playing these days is broader and less frenetic, as athletic exertion cedes to balletic poise and painterly balance. That approach, no less intense, yields its own unmistakable rewards; Oxley’s negotiation of Taylor’s terrain remains beyond reproach.