Duets 1992 Vinyl Record

Trumpeter Bill Dixon and pianist Cecil Taylor, friends going back to their Truman-era school days, associated copiously in nearly every artistic fashion - except making music together. Duets is their only meeting in studio apart from both artists appearing on Taylor's 1966 landmark Blue Note LP, Conquistador. In 1992 they made the briefest summer festival tour to Italy and France, budgeting in two additional days for this recording session. That musical output was prepared for a release that was shelved for more than a quarter century and now comes out as a posthumous release in tribute to both giants. The initiative to release this music began with the Bill Dixon Trust and was approved by Taylor in his final years. Now, a wider public will hear music that they both prized, documenting the extraordinary relationship between their musicalities. Duets is a remarkable and unique item in the extensive catalogs of both men's recordings. Fans familiar with Dixon and Taylor's distinctive styles will approach with curious uncertainty: How could it possibly work to blend styles of Joyce and Hemingway? Pollock and Kline? Nevelson and Brancusi? Bill Dixon and Cecil Taylor share a fundamental fiber of taste and reaction as the basis for their interaction. The complementary nature of Duets makes the case thoroughly that the project stands apart not just from the numerous duet projects of both instrumentalists, but from the wide field of improvised duets in this sector of the music. This double-LP set has been scrupulously mastered from the original tape, preserving both the high gloss and the brutal physicality of the recording. Plates cut by Sterling Sound's Grammy®-winning mastering master Steve Fallone have been pressed into virgin vinyl at QRP, and wrapped in a hand-numbered Old-Style Tip-On® gatefold jacket that Stoughton has perfected. The package also includes a new contextualizing essay by historian Ben Young, hitherto-unpublished photographs from the collaboration, and artifacts reproduced from the original release plans. Bill Dixon conceived this as a deluxe digital release; Triple Point is honored to bring Duets to vinyl reality in the 21st century. Strictly limited edition of 665 (hand-numbered).