“Full of feverishly hammering passages,
dissonant harmonic language and a
quite remarkable density of texture.”
–The New York Times

Few settings seem more appropriate for Taylor’s epic, inspired improvisations than the soaring interior of Grace Cathedral. A free jazz patriarch who has lost none of his creative ferocity at 79, pianist Cecil Taylor pushed jazz into uncharted territory in the late 1950s and has never stopped exploring. His performances are intense, theatrical, galvanizing events marked by his sharply percussive attack and roiling clusters of ringing chords.

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Few settings seem more appropriate for Cecil Taylor’s epic piano improvisations than the soaring interior of Grace Cathedral. A free jazz patriarch who has lost none of his creative ferocity at 79, Taylor pushed jazz into uncharted territory in the late 1950s and has never stopped searching. His performances are intense, inspired, galvanizing events marked by his sharply percussive attack and roiling clusters of ringing chords.

Born and raised in New York City, Taylor has often cited dance as an important influence on his music, and his lithe, graceful presence at the keyboard is a hallmark of his performances. As a young musician studying at the New England Conservatory, he found early inspiration in the percussive chords of Dave Brubeck, the orchestral sweep of Duke Ellington and the asymmetric rhythms of Thelonious Monk. By the time he recorded 1956’s Jazz Advance, he was a leading force in jazz’s emerging avant garde.

While Taylor made several landmark recordings in the late 1950s and early 60s, he worked infrequently for the next decade (more often in Europe than the U.S.), instead concentrating on honing his overwhelmingly physical keyboard style in private. By the time saxophonist Sam Rivers joined Taylor’s band in 1968, the pianist’s mature sound was fully formed, and he was starting to gain widespread recognition as one of the music’s foremost innovators. A protean artist who deals in vivid, dynamic abstractions, Taylor has created an ecstatic

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