Word: cecill
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...almost the whole world against us," said Lacy, "we had more rehearsals than gigs, and there were about two, or three, or four people that would follow us around from gig to gig. That was our public, really...There were musicians who would walk off the bandstand when Cecil would walk in a club...
Just what was so radical about Taylor's music? In essence, Cecil Taylor broke every rule, and smashed every convention that had been held sacred by the jazz world. His all-out assault on the hapless, half-tuned pianos that sat on the bandstands of most clubs meant that he not only broke the accepted standards of melody, harmony, and song structure, but also countless pianos themselves...
Unfortunately, as with most truly artistic music, in order to listen to any Cecil Taylor at all, let alone thirty straight hours of it, one has to really want to. Taylor's music is both emotionally draining and almost physically demanding. There is simply no way to listen to it passively, as the listener is constantly bombarded with screaming sheets of note-clusters, unexpected exclamations, and a frenetic rhythmic pulse that makes sitting still virtually impossible...
Acceptance of Taylor's music is a somewhat embarassing process. What makes it so is the emotional extremes that it insistently conveys. Yet the result of acceptance is revelation, plain and simple. Cecil Taylor's music is not ugliness made art; rather, it is the essence of beauty revealed...
Like that of Miles Davis or Thelonious Monk, Cecil Taylor's music is the result of a very intense, powerful individual personality. As a man, Taylor dominates the people around him, whether in conversation or musical interaction. In an interview, he will inevitably take control of the proceedings out of the reporter's hands, as this reporter recently found...