|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Pianist/composer Cecil Taylor is one of the most explosive and exploratory musicians in the sonic constellation. Although he has often been credited with leading the avant garde wing of jazz, the term jazz is not one he readily applies to his music. Nevertheless, Taylor has been on the cutting edge of the creative music scene for five decades. Whether he performs solo, with small groups or large ensembles, Taylor's music fuses the base elements of jazz with techniques culled from polyphonic classical music, African drumming, urban blues, Gamelan chants and the spoken word. Over the course of his prolific career, he has received the Guggenheim "genius" fellowship, been artist at residence at several universities and has concertized with artists such as Mary Lou Williams, Max Roach and Mikhail Barishnikov. Born in Long Island City, N.Y., on March 25, 1929, Taylor launched his jazz career in the early '50s after graduating from Boston's New England Conservatory of Music. In 1960 he performed in Jack Gelber's play The Connection and later in the decade was one of the founding members of the Jazz Composer's Guild. His 1966 Blue Note album, Unit Structures, is cited by some as a revolutionary work that altered the path of modern jazz. During the '70s, Taylor taught at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and Glassboro State College in Glassboro, N.J. In 1986 he was honored with a "Cecil Taylor Week" sponsored by the Berlin Free Jazz Society. Taylor has increasingly incorporated dance, drama and the spoken word in his compositions. His 1991 Leon release Chinampas features his poetry accompanied by multi-instrumental improvisations. Nowadays, Taylor resides in Brooklyn, N.Y., and continues a busy schedule of composing music, writing poetry and performing. In 1975, Taylor was elected by the Critics into the Down Beat Hall of Fame. |