Links: March 28, 2025

CT’s Birth Anniversary: Cecil Taylor was born 96 years ago this week, on March 25, 1929. This is where I remind you that my book In The Brewing Luminous: The Life & Music of Cecil Taylor is available now in many fine bookstores, and online from Amazon, Abebooks and direct from the publisher.

My Friend Scott: Scott Seward is a brilliant writer who runs a record store in Massachusetts. He’s been writing a series of pieces called “Confessions of a Used Record Dealer in New England”, and the latest installment is up now.

Nels Cline Is Not A Jazz Guitarist: My latest Stereogum column is out now. I talked to him about his new album Consentrik Quartet, his old album Interstellar Space Revisited (the first thing I heard by him), playing in Wilco, and much, much more. I also reviewed new albums by Branford Marsalis, Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Peter Brötzmann, and others. Check it out, won’t you?

Since launching the Leo Records digital reissue campaign last September, one of the most popular titles has been Amina Claudine Myers’ Song For Mother E. It was the label’s first release, but it had been out of print for decades, finally appearing on CD in 2023.

It’s a brilliant record. Myers plays piano on half the tracks, and organ on the other half. She’s joined throughout by drummer Pheeroan akLaff, whose tumbling beat and rough-handed swing perfectly accentuates what she’s doing. Her piano playing infuses the improvisatory flair of jazz with the energy of gospel. When she shifts to organ, though, things get weird in a hurry. She goes as far out as Larry Young or Alice Coltrane ever did, if not farther, and can turn on a dime, yanking akLaff along in her wake.

I interviewed Myers for the BA podcast in 2024, when she released Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens, a collection of duos with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. (Smith and Myers were both members of Chicago’s AACM — still are — and first worked together in 1969, on Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre’s Humility In The Light Of Creator.) Here’s an excerpt from our conversation:

I’m wondering if you could talk to me about the availability of personal expression within church music. Like, you’re supposed to be serving the message of God, but there’s also room for self-expression. So as a player, how do you strike that balance within sacred music?

Well, first of all, when I first started playing, you know, I was emulating the gospel singers that were popular, especially during the classic gospel period of the ’50s. You know, I was — they were very influential on what I did. So I would teach the songs according to what I heard. So in later years, I started writing songs. They weren’t gospel songs. For instance, like one was “Do You Want to Be Saved?” I played that in the clubs, I also played it in church. Because it’s, you know, it’s an open type of song. Not necessarily a gospel song. Not necessarily a rhythm and blues song. Then in later years I wrote “Call Him,” which is gospel. And a few of the compositions in just expressing about the, I would say the spiritual realm of gospel music to thinking about the spirituality which the music entails, and also by me believing in the creator, I believe that — so I write songs that’s giving praise to God, to the creator. And just seeing how many names various religions have — their names for the creator. And it’s all, to me, it’s all the same god, just different names. And my self-expression in the music is more or less expressing how I feel about God.

What do you think… because lately, you know, the term spiritual jazz has gotten a lot of — is coming back in a big way. A lot of people are using that phrase to describe music, and I often feel like they’re really only using it to describe non-Western spirituality, like jazz musicians who take from Indian music or take from Middle Eastern music or something like that. Whereas someone like yourself who works — you know, who crosses that border between jazz and church music, doesn’t get put into that same category, even though there’s a very strong spiritual element to your music. So I’m wondering what you think about all that.

Well, I don’t know what’s going on as far as the music scene, as far as the spiritual, or the Christian music, but I mean, the music has always been there. It’s just progressing. Because I’m more or less in the traditional — I’m in the tradition of gospel music. Now, the music, it can be, part “I’m gonna have jazz chords” and it’s altogether different. The writing is different now. Singing the music and have dance moves to the music. So it’s progressed to another level but it’s still praising the creator to me. And so everything — I mean the music, I don’t make any comments about it because I mean, it’s forward, this is where it is now. Although I don’t come from this generation, from the type of music that I hear… I mean, I like it because it’s still praising the creator. And so it’s just different now — it’s different. Now what was your question again?

I was just noticing that, you know, when people use the phrase spiritual jazz they tend to leave Christianity out of it in a way, you know what I mean? And it’s like, but that’s spiritual music just as well, you know, gospel music is and you know what you’re doing, blending gospel and jazz, is very much spiritual music, but it doesn’t get discussed in the same way.

Right. Because I think spiritual, you know, I mean, there are people that are spiritual that don’t go to church. They don’t belong to church, but they have the spirit. They have love in their hearts for all creations of the creator. They have love for themselves and for others and for, you know, have a positive attitude on life and try to live according to — live with love. And that’s to me, that’s what spirituality is. Having respect for everything that’s been created, you know, in this world and not mistreat people and, you know, just live a life of positivity and love for all creations. To me, that’s what — it doesn’t mean that you had to sit down, have dinner with them or anything, but you have respect for what’s created here in this world. And you believe in a, I would say a higher power. The existence of — let me see, how can I put it? I would say the creator that has — it depends, too, on that person’s belief. Like I say, you don’t have to go to church to be spiritual. You don’t have to. You know, you can be a poor man out in the street. No money or nothing and be very spiritual.

Buy Amina Claudine Myers’ Song For Mother E on Bandcamp.

If you’re a free subscriber, I’ll see you on Tuesday, when we’ll be discussing the latest album by depressive black metal artist Nortt. If you’re a paying subscriber, keep reading for articles on Nat “King” Cole, rock biopics, William Vollmann, The Venture Bros., and more!