Ugly Beauty: The Month In Jazz – March 2018

Bassist Buell Neidlinger died last week at 82. He was a fascinating figure, who traveled back and forth between the out-est of out jazz and the smoothest pop music with ease. He might be best known to jazz fans for his creative relationship with Cecil Taylor in the late 1950s and early 1960s; the two of them play together on Taylor's albums Jazz Advance, Looking Ahead!, Love For Sale, The World Of Cecil Taylor, Air, Cell Walk For Celeste, and Jumpin' Punkins. (Another album, New York City R&B, was recorded under Neidlinger's leadership, but co-credited to Taylor upon release.) He also worked with soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy, clarinetist/saxophonist Jimmy Giuffre, and Anthony Braxton. He recorded a living-room jam session with saxophonist Charles Gayle in 1965(!), which went unreleased until it was rediscovered in the mid-2000s.