{"product_id":"fragments_the_complete_1969_salle_pleyel_concerts","title":"Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts","description":"\u003cp\u003eFragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts is a landmark archival release from the Cecil Taylor Unit, documenting two previously unreleased performances recorded on November 3, 1969 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris as part of the 8th Paris Jazz Festival — a concert at which Taylor's group shared the bill with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and Miles Davis's band. Released on April 18, 2026 as an exclusive Record Store Day 3-LP set by Elemental Music in collaboration with the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA), whose original tapes form the source material, the album was restored and mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab and produced by archivist Zev Feldman. The deluxe edition includes a richly illustrated booklet with rare concert photographs by Jean-Pierre Leloir, Jan Persson, and Christian Rose, along with new liner notes by Philip Freeman and testimonies from Andrew Cyrille, Jack DeJohnette, Matthew Shipp, Karen Borca, and Monique Rivers. Both the afternoon and evening sets are presented in full — over two hours of music spread across six sides — each constituting a single continuous work: \"Fragments of a Dedication to Duke Ellington,\" a composition Taylor wrote to mark Ellington's 70th birthday earlier that year, unfolding differently across the two performances.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat makes the release particularly significant beyond its sheer musical force is the personnel: the Cecil Taylor Unit here features not only the pianist's core collaborators alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons and drummer Andrew Cyrille, but also the multi-reedist Sam Rivers — who played tenor and soprano saxophone and flute with the group across most of 1969 before departing. Something Else Reviews noted that only one Unit album with Rivers had ever previously been released, making Fragments an invaluable addition to an extremely scarce corner of the free jazz discography. Burning Ambulance's Philip Freeman described the music as \"free jazz as fast-moving forest fire,\" with Taylor pounding the piano with his forearms and Cyrille matching his intensity at near-blast-beat levels while Rivers emits hoarse vocal cries between phrases. UK Vibe called it \"a vital document of a short-lived, under-documented unit operating at peak capacity — captured in real time, unfettered yet purposeful,\" and All About Jazz concluded that it \"captures a quartet of immense power and invention at a time when avant-garde jazz could garner an appreciative mainstream audience alongside that of Ellington and Davis.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Record Store","offers":[{"title":"CD \/ 2CD","offer_id":53577803465018,"sku":"38235","price":28.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/2041\/0682\/files\/Screenshot_2026-06-08_at_2.12.22_PM.jpeg?v=1780942444","url":"https:\/\/recordstore.ca\/products\/fragments_the_complete_1969_salle_pleyel_concerts","provider":"Record Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}