In East Berlin

In East Berlin is a live album featuring two concerts by Cecil Taylor, one solo and one accompanied by Günter Sommer, recorded in Berlin on June 20 & 21, 1988 as part of month-long series of concerts by Taylor and released on the FMP label.

Contents

• Track listing
• Personnel
• Songs
• References

The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek states "The first disc features Taylor playing at the beginning of his residency in June, performing solo. As is characteristic, he begins slowly, but that's brief. The dynamics and hammering runs of enormous chord clusters and constructively built pyramids of middle-range and lower-register notes cascade from his hands in bursts in the opening section of the lengthy "Reinforced Concrete." Covering 65 minutes of this 72-minute set, this mammoth work allows all the wonderful elements of Taylor's sound architecture to be on display simultaneously... On disc two, recorded the next evening, Taylor is in duet with the great lyrical drummer Günter Sommer. Sommer has a true command of glissando, not only in his captivating and astonishing cymbal work (which opens the first of these three parts), but also his work on the floor tom, making it seem to dance in midair while holding down the fort. Taylor's interaction with him is one that is completely complementary. Taylor has been in dynamic, overpowering duos of force before — most notably with Sunny Murray — but what takes place here, perhaps because of its great energy, is something totally different. While this is free and unrehearsed, the relaxed notion of one player leading the other, following one another, and turning into and out of the angular structures feels effortless... Highly recommended".