Ornette and Trane are the two most towering figures in free
jazz, and as such the wildly expressive saxophone has remained the most
dominant instrument in the genre for the last fifty years. So while pianist
Cecil Taylor is undoubtedly the third member of this trinity of free jazz
progenitors, the saxophone has muscled the piano out of the forefront of free
jazz.[1]
There have been many free piano greats, from Muhal Richard Abrams in Chicago to
Alexander von Schlippenbach in Berlin, and on up to recent titans like Matthew
Shipp, but their number is dwarfed by those of saxophonists.
BYG Actuel was able to even the playing field a bit by
allowing so many musicians the opportunity to record their own albums as leader.
So while there are many saxophonists who recorded for the label, Actuel also
released records by the pianists Paul Bley, Dave Burrell, Joachim Kuhn, the
incomparable Sun Ra, and Burton Greene, who was the first of his comrades to
get an album out on the label. Aquariana
is not quite the best piano album that the label put out,[2]
but it is an excellent showcase for a unique musician and composer.
