music clip of the day

Happy (85th) Birthday, Cecil!

Cecil Taylor (March 25, 1929-), pianist, composer, MacArthur “genius” grant recipient, 2013 Kyoto Prize Laureate in Arts and Philosophy, etc.

Today, celebrating his musical life, we revisit three favorites.

Live, Germany (Nürnberg), 1984

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Live (with Rashid Bakr, drums; Thurman Barker, marimba, miscellaneous percussion), 1995

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Live (with Max Roach, drums), New York (Columbia University), 2000

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

I try to imitate on the piano the leaps in space a dancer makes.

—Cecil Taylor