Unit Structures

Unit Structures was Taylor's first album on Blue Note; he would record Conquistador! for the label later the same year with a similar lineup, although it was not released until 1968.{{cite magazine|last=Morton |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |date=April 2004 |issue=242 |title=The Primer: Cecil Taylor |magazine=The Wire |pages=48–49}} Jesse Jarnow of Pitchfork described Unit Structures as "among the most intense of the early free jazz albums".{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1960s/?page=1|title=The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s|page=1|work=Pitchfork|date=August 22, 2017|access-date=January 24, 2018}}

The album was accompanied by an essay written by Taylor entitled "Sound Structure of Subculture Becoming Major Breath/Naked Fire Gesture".{{sfn|Bartlett|1995|p=276}}

The album has been referred to as "among the most intense of the early free jazz albums." According to Jesse Jarnow of Pitchfork: "The album is by no means easy listening; the atonality is unrepentant. But Taylor’s septet finds numerous gorgeous spaces as they interpret “free jazz” not just as the freedom to improvise but the freedom to invent musical worlds and hidden syntaxes. The only way to tap into the 'rhythm-sound energy found in the amplitude of each time unit,' as Taylor wrote in the liner notes, is to listen reverently."{{Cite web |last=Pitchfork |date=2017-08-22 |title=The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1960s/ |access-date=2025-06-13 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}

AllMusic gave the album five stars, with reviewer Scott Yanow opining that "Taylor's high-energy atonalism fit in well with the free jazz of the period but he was actually leading the way rather than being part of a movement...it could be safely argued that no jazz music of the era approached the ferocity and intensity of Cecil Taylor's". The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded it three and a half stars of a possible four, writing: "Unit Structures is both as mathematically complex as its title suggests and as rich in colour and sound as the ensemble proposes, with the orchestrally varied sounds of the two bassists — Grimes a strong, elemental driving force, Silva tonally fugitive and mysterious — while Stevens and McIntyre add other hues and Lyons improvises with and against them."{{Cite book|first1=Richard|last1=Cook|author-link1=Richard Cook (journalist)|first2=Brian|last2=Morton|author-link2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer)|title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD|edition=7th|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2004}}

In 2008, webzine Cokemachineglow included Unit Structures on their "30 'Other' Albums of the 1960s" list.{{cite web|url=http://cokemachineglow.com/category/30-other-albums-of-the-1960s/|title=30 "Other" Albums of the 1960s (page 1 of 3)|work=Cokemachineglow|date=July 5, 2008|access-date=January 24, 2018}} In 2013, Spin included it on their "Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s" list.{{cite web|url=http://www.spin.com/2013/03/best-100-albums-1960s-sixties-alternative-list/130327-cecil-taylor/|title=The Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s (page 22 of 101)|work=Spin|date=March 28, 2013|access-date=August 14, 2018}} In 2017, Pitchfork placed it at number 197 on their list of the "200 Best Albums of the 1960s".

In 2017, Jesse Jarnow of Pitchfork wrote: "Unit Structures still challenges notions of musical freedom. Recorded during the same season that the psychedelic ballroom scene was starting to bubble in San Francisco, Unit Structures did more to disassemble music than nearly all of the light-show-drenched psychedelia that followed."

{{Track listing

| all_writing = Cecil Taylor

| title1 = Steps

| length1 = 10:20

| title2 = Enter, Evening

| length2 = 11:06

| title3 = Enter, Evening (Alternate Take)

| note3 = CD edition bonus track

| length3 = 10:11

| title4 = Unit Structure/As of a Now/Section

| length4 = 17:47

| title5 = Tales (8 Whisps)

| length5 = 7:14

}}

Credits adapted from liner notes.{{cite AV media notes |title=Unit Structures |others=Cecil Taylor |type=liner notes |year=1987 |publisher=Blue Note |id=CDP 7 84237 2}}

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;Performers

• Eddie Gale – trumpet
• Jimmy Lyons – alto saxophone
• Ken McIntyre – alto saxophone, oboe, bass clarinet
• Cecil Taylor – piano, bells
• Henry Grimes – double bass
• Alan Silva – double bass
• Andrew Cyrille – drums

{{Col-2}}

;Production and additional personnel

• Alfred Lion – producer
• Rudy Van Gelder – recording engineer
• Francis Wolff – photography
• Reid Miles – design
• Cecil Taylor – liner notes
• Michael Cuscuna – reissue producer (1987 CD reissue)
• Ron McMaster – digital transfer (1987 CD reissue)

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{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal |jstor=833708|title=Cecil Taylor, Identity Energy, and the Avant-Garde African American Body|journal=Perspectives of New Music|volume=33|issue=1/2|pages=274–293|last1=Bartlett|first1=Andrew W.|year=1995}}

• {{Discogs master|43554|Unit Structures}}

{{Cecil Taylor}}

{{Makanda Ken McIntyre}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1966 albums

Category:Blue Note Records albums

Category:Cecil Taylor albums

Category:Albums produced by Alfred Lion

Category:Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio