Queens College Music Library Online Exhibits
Queens Music History Exhibit
Cecil Taylor
Photo Credit: Marek Lazarski CC BY-SA 4.0
Queens native Cecil Taylor (March 25, 1929 – April 5, 2018) stood out as a true innovator among an array of idiosyncratic musicians in the 1950s jazz world where he first gained prominence. Widely considered a pioneer of “avant-garde” or “free jazz,” the classically trained pianist eclipsed what he saw as the narrow parameters of genre, forming his own unique musical language. Or as, he told one interviewer : “Well, I don’t know what jazz is…. I don’t think the word has any meaning at all” (Funkhouser, 1994). Propulsive and dynamic, Taylor’s music eschewed cliché and sentimentality. During his early career, he was effectively shut out of the New York performance world of bars and nightclubs. Struggling financially and forced to work outside of music, Taylor developed a style often described by critics as “percussive.” His backing bands often featured musicians who would later become known for their own contributions to the music, including drummers Sonny Murray and Ronald Shannon Jackson. Though Taylor never played with regard to commercial appeal, he believed—rightly, as it turned out—that his music could eventually be understood by audiences: in 1993 he became the recipient of a McArthur Fellowship.
Funkhouser, C. (1994). “being matter ignited… an interview with Cecil Taylor”. Hambone, 12. https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/authors/funkhouser/ceciltaylor.htm
ITEMS ON DISPLAY IN THE MUSIC LIBRARY:
3 Phasis. Cecil Taylor.
New World Records.
1979
(Personal copy on loan from staff)
Max Roach and Cecil Taylor.
Historic Concerts.
Soul Note.
1984 (Recorded 1979).
(Personal copy on loan from staff)
Algonquin (Commissioned by the Library of Congress).
Cecil Taylor with Matt Maneri.
Bridge Records.
2004
As Serious as Your Life: Black Music and the Free Jazz Revolution, 1957-1977.
Val Wilmer.
Serpent’s Tail
2018 (first published 1977).
Black Music.
Amiri Baraka.
Morrow
1969
Black Music: Four Lives.
A. B. Spellman
Shocken
1970 (originally published as Four Lives in the BeBop Business, 1966).
Cecil Taylor.
New World Records.
1978
Looking Ahead! The Cecil Taylor Quartet.
Fantasy Records.
1959
Miles, Ornette, Cecil: Jazz Beyond Jazz.
Howard Mandel.
Routledge
2008
Nefertiti, the Beautiful has Come.
Arista
1976 (recorded 1961).
Unit Structures. Cecil Taylor.
Blue Note.
1966
ADDITIONAL LIBRARY RESOURCES:
Looking Ahead!
The Cecil Taylor Quartet.
Fantasy Records
1959 (1990 reissue).