Cecil Taylor Quartet, Royal Festival Hall, London (GB) - Jul 8, 2007

Polar Bear are Mark Lockheart tenor sax, Pete Wareham tenor sax, Tom Herbert double bs, Sebastian Rochford drums/leader, Leafcutter John electronics. Cecil Taylor, the avant-garde pianist, was joined by Anthony Braxton contralto clarinet/sopranino sax/soprano sax/alto sax, William Parker double bs, Tony Oxley drums/percussion/electronics. Oxley started, then Taylor joined him, then Parker did a long bowed solo. All good and then it really took off when Braxton the multi-instrumentalist came on. Terrific soloing and group playing, intellectual but fiery too. Reviewed by John Fordham on 11 Jul 2007 in the Guardian, by John Sharpe at allaboutjazz.com and by Duncan Heining in Jazzwise 112.