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8 unusual facts about Cecil Taylor


Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival

Jazz stars like Miles Davis, Count Basie, Sun Ra, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Yusef Lateef, Ornette Coleman, and Cecil Taylor have played the festival, as well as headliners like Ray Charles, Maceo Parker, Etta James, James Brown, Booker T. & the MG's, Taj Mahal, Dr. John, Bonnie Raitt, and Al Green.

Creativity techniques

Two contemporary musicians that use free improvisation are Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor.

Dark to Themselves

Dark to Themselves is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded at the Ljubljana Jazz Festival, Yugoslavia on June 18, 1976 and released on the Enja label.

Glenn Spearman

Following his return he worked in the Cecil Taylor Unit, working primarily out of San Francisco, though he performed on both sides of the Atlantic through the 1980s.

Imagine the Sound

It features interviews with and musical and dramatic performances by pianist Cecil Taylor, saxophonist Archie Shepp, trumpeter Bill Dixon and pianist Paul Bley.

Jimmy Lyons

He is best known for his long tenure in the Cecil Taylor Unit, being the only constant member of the pianist's group from the mid-1960s to his death, after which Taylor never worked with another musician as frequently.

Rory Stuart

His former students lead their own groups and have played with bands led by a wide range of jazz legends, such as Roy Haynes, Kenny Garrett, Elvin Jones, Pat Metheny, Cecil Taylor, Wynton Marsalis, Richard Bona, Joshua Redman, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Charlie Haden, Terence Blanchard, Charlie Hunter, Anthony Braxton, Jimmy Smith, Eliane Elias, and Lonnie Plaxico.

Santi Debriano

He returned to New York City and has since worked with Don Pullen, Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Fortune, Billy Hart, Larry Coryell, Chucho Valdés, Hank Jones, Cecil Taylor, Randy Weston, Freddie Hubbard, Kirk Lightsey, and Attila Zoller.


Moers Festival

Many famous musicians have appeared there, including Fred Frith, David Murray, Cecil Taylor, Lester Bowie, Herbie Hancock, Abdullah Ibrahim, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, and Jan Garbarek.

Shandar

Shandar was a French record label specializing in avant-garde material that did seminal work during the 1970 releasing, among others, recordings by Albert Ayler, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Steve Reich, Sunny Murray, Philip Glass, Richard Horowitz, Charlemagne Palestine, La Monte Young, Alan Silva, Pandit Pran Nath, Terry Riley, Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra.

Consequently, much of the label's catalog consists of recordings of Maeght-sponsored concerts, as in the cases of Cecil Taylor's and Albert Ayler's Nuits de la Fondation Maeght.

Trane's Blues

It comprises recordings from sessions for Blue Note and United Artists Records as a sideman for Paul Chambers, Sonny Clark, Johnny Griffin, and Cecil Taylor that were issued respectively on their Whims of Chambers, Sonny's Crib, A Blowin' Session, and Hard Driving Jazz albums.


see also

Bill Dixon

He was one of four featured musicians in the Canadian documentary Imagine the Sound (along with Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, and Paul Bley), 1981.

Erzulie

A 1988 solo album by free-jazz pianist Cecil Taylor is called Erzulie Maketh Scent.