In The Brewing Luminous: Update & Chapter 5 Excerpt

What's going on with The Book, and a sample

I am currently writing In the Brewing Luminous: The Life and Music Of Cecil Taylor for publication by Wolke Verlag in 2024. Here’s an update on where things stand:

I’ve conducted some really fascinating interviews — the ones with William Parker and Gregg Bendian were particularly productive, and I’m about to email some questions to dancer Min Tanaka. (Side note: In Florescence is a really fascinating album that deserves greater prominence when Taylor’s discography is considered.) I also had a conversation with Tony Oxley, which left me very worried about his health, so keep him in your thoughts.

I’ve also seen some early sketches of the cover art. I’ve arranged to have painter Martel Chapman create the cover. For those who aren’t familiar with his work, he does abstract portraits of jazz musicians which I find quite beautiful and startling in their vividness. I first noticed his work on the cover of pianist Victor Gould’s debut album, Clockwork. He also painted the cover of another Gould album, Thoughts Become Things, and then did Nduduzo Makhathini’s In the Spirit of Ntu, one of my favorite albums of 2022.

After seeing those pieces, and some others, I reached out to him, and he’s working on the cover now. I can’t wait to see the final piece. (You can check out a lot more of his work, and buy prints, on his website.)

Below the paywall, I’ve included an excerpt from the first draft of the fifth chapter. (To read the full excerpt, become a paid subscriber for $5 a month/$50 a year.) Everything you read is subject to change, but this is where things stand right now.