Conquistador!

Conquistador! is a 1968 studio album recorded in 1966 by free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, released by Blue Note Records.[6]

For other uses, see conquistador (disambiguation).
Conquistador!
Studio album by
Cecil Taylor
ReleasedMarch 1968[1]
RecordedOctober 6, 1966
StudioVan Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
GenreFree jazz
Length37:14
LabelBlue Note
ProducerAlfred Lion
Cecil Taylor chronology
Unit Structures
(1966)		 Conquistador!
(1968)		 Student Studies
(1966)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz[2]
AllMusic[3]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[5]

Critical reception

Writing for AllMusic, Scott Yanow gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars, stating that "During the two lengthy pieces, [Jimmy] Lyons' passionate solos contrast with [Bill] Dixon's quieter ruminations while the music in general is unremittingly intense."[3]

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 4 stars, calling it "an all but flawless record," and commenting: "Dark, difficult, unique, yet operating at an artful tangent to some of the other 'difficult' Blue Note music of the period, this is Taylor at his most devious."[5]

Writing for Vinyl Me Please, Brian Josephs stated: "Conquistador!... swerves away from Unit Structures' fire and evokes the coolness of its cover, which features a turtlenecked Taylor slightly out of focus, hiding behind shades as he mysteriously stares into the distance. The musical elements don’t combust as much as they melt into each other: Horns swell shrilly at the borders to add haunted textures, while Andrew Cyrille's amorphous rhythms tie the masterwork together. Even without Unit Structures as its contrast, Conquistador! still stands as a great testament to this sui generis collective."[7]

In 2008, The New Yorker placed it at number 87 on the "100 Essential Jazz Albums" list.[8]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Cecil Taylor

No.TitleLength
1."Conquistador"17:54
2."With (Exit)"19:20
3."With (Exit) [Alternate Take]" (CD edition bonus track)17:24

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

References
  1. Billboard Mar 9, 1968
  2. Fleming, Colin (October 17, 2004). "Cecil Taylor: Conquistador!". All About Jazz. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  3. Yanow, Scott. "Conquistador! - Cecil Taylor". AllMusic. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  4. Swenson, John, ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 189. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  5. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1381. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  6. Murray, Robin (April 6, 2018). "Free Jazz Innovator Cecil Taylor Has Died". Clash. Archived from the original on April 6, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  7. Josephs, Brian (September 12, 2018). "A Cecil Taylor Primer". Vinyl Me Please. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  8. Remnick, David (May 19, 2008). "100 Essential Jazz Albums". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
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