was the most advanced improviser in jazz; five decades later he is still the most radical. Although in his early days he used some standards as vehicles for improvisation, since the early '60s
has stuck exclusively to originals. To simplify describing his style, one could say that
's intense atonal percussive approach involves playing the piano as if it were a set of drums. He generally emphasizes dense clusters of sound played with remarkable technique and endurance, often during marathon performances. Suffice it to say that
Taylor started piano lessons from the age of six, and attended the New York College of Music and the New England Conservatory.
Taylor's early influences included
Duke Ellington and
Dave Brubeck, but from the start he sounded original. Early gigs included work with groups led by
Johnny Hodges and
Hot Lips Page, but, after forming his quartet in the mid-'50s (which originally included
Steve Lacy on soprano, bassist
Buell Neidlinger, and drummer
Dennis Charles),
Taylor was never a sideman again. The group played at the Five Spot Cafe in 1956 for six weeks and performed at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival (which was recorded by Verve), but, despite occasional records, work was scarce. In 1960,
Taylor recorded extensively for Candid under
Neidlinger's name (by then the quartet featured
Archie Shepp on tenor) and the following year he sometimes substituted in the play The Connection. By 1962,
Taylor's quartet featured his longtime associate
Jimmy Lyons on alto and drummer
Sunny Murray. He spent six months in Europe (
Albert Ayler worked with
Taylor's group for a time although no recordings resulted) but upon his return to the U.S.,
Taylor did not work again for almost a year. Even with the rise of free jazz, his music was considered too advanced. In 1964,
Taylor was one of the founders of
the Jazz Composer's Guild and, in 1968, he was featured on a record by
the Jazz Composer's Orchestra. In the mid-'60s,
Taylor recorded two very advanced sets for Blue Note but it was generally a lean decade.
Things greatly improved starting in the 1970s.
Taylor taught for a time at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Antioch College, and Glassboro State College, he recorded more frequently with his Unit, and European tours became common. After being awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1973, the pianist's financial difficulties were eased a bit; he even performed at the White House (during
Jimmy Carter's administration) in 1979. A piano duet concert with
Mary Lou Williams was a fiasco but a collaboration with drummer
Max Roach was quite successful.
Taylor started incorporating some of his eccentric poetry into his performances and, unlike most musicians, he has not mellowed with age. The death of
Jimmy Lyons in 1986 was a major blow, but
Cecil Taylor has remained quite active up until the present day, never compromising his musical vision. His forbidding music is still decades ahead of its time.
–
Scott Yanow, Rovi