I had the distinct privilege to study piano explorations with Cecil in the early '70s. Forever life changing. Pure genius always willing to share his vision with the utmost economical verbiage. Just incredible.
About 30 years ago, I was at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago--I was around 19 or 20. A "strange-looking guy" (I thought) came in and stood toward the back during one of the pieces, and I was thinking, "Man, I hope that guy doesn't come over this way." He did, and he stood right behind me till the end of the song, putting his hand on the back of my chair; it made me real nervous. When the song was over, the performer (I think it was maybe Joe Lovano or John Scofield) said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we're honored to have a jazz genius here in the house tonight...Mr. Cecil Taylor." I perked up and looked around to see where he was, and sure enough, it was the guy standing right behind me. I was grossly embarrassed at myself...but it's a moment I'll always hold onto.
Cecil said over and over that one had to prepare to hear him concert. He basically stated, if you didn't prepare to hear his music, you wouldn't ever really 'hear' his music. Most of his critics don't prepare. But if you do, you will be given the keys to a magical kingdom.
He doesn't really say, I think he wants you to find your own way. I like to sit in a room in total silence, I meditate, so that I can emerge free from from all pre-conception. The moment my mind compares the music to other music I know I am not really listening any more.
I grew up with a lot of this. My mom was a huge fan. I always loved the spirit of it. The incredible vocabulary he had plus the fearless drive to go deep into where the wind took him and be able to take you there with him made him a force if you were willing to not be bound by listening rules and made him just sound crazy if you were. This is pretty inside the box for him. Orchestrating. I always thought if he wanted to he could play like Hank or Bill or any of those guys. Sure he could! He didn't wanna. Yeeeaa.
he absolutely can! 50s recordings of cecil, he is definitely still strange, seperate from his peers, but within the realms of "regular" jazz, compared to his later works
I'm pretty selective when it comes to improvisational, avant-garde musicians, and Cecil Taylor has had my stamp of approval right from the get go. His solo and band 'freak out' sessions are nothing short of musical magic; a 'happening', if you will. He stands out amidst a plethora of free form jazz musicians as one with a supreme amount of control of insight. I hear a blending of Roger Sessions-esque classical with Ornette Coleman-esque jazz in his works. But that's just me.
Please people, to understand how this is structured, go to 3:05, and listen for a couple minutes the main chords and melody of this improvisation. Than go back to the beginning. Listen carefully, and you will hear that his improvisation is a "broken period" where he is progressing to that theme/melody (clinging through chaos to the same rhythms and chord progressions), and than afterward it breaks loose again and elaborate in something else, but often nodding at the leitmotiv, just transforming it (forming a new leitmotiv that is a broken-leg version of the previous one, like a cd skip), but he returns to it at the end. Thank you.
when I heard him, he approached the piano by slithering across the floor in his socks. I t was a lunar eclipse, years later, Ornette, another eclipse. both in Australia
There's a great story Wayne Shorter tells about Miles asking him "Do you ever want to play...like you didn't know how to play?" To play like you don't know how to play, you have to first play
@@cabooseabs6864 For me personally, I find it impressive and pleasing because my ears can hear a clear musical structure even though it sounds so chaotic on the surface.
I'm listening to this for the first time ever and am at work. I don't have it too loud as I'm pretty sure people would think I'm losing my mind. It's freaking awesome though haha!
I used to have this on VHS tape. First time I watched it I thought, "Well, obviously that's not possible." Cecil's not a musician, he's a force of nature.
When we saw him in NYC this Normal guy went along and afterwards he said I have no idea what I heard and I dont even know if I liked it so I told him that Cecils music is like a volcanic eruption and you just experience it rather than trying to figure it out
@@HP_____ yah i know but the title of the vid says free improvisation lol you're probably right though it's likely he's taken some ideas from his written work, not uncommon among improvisers
@@andress4780 , Oh I didn't even read the title. Sorry. Many musicians who played with Cecil claimed he would practice a long time before a booked performance. One event in the 60s, I believe, took a whole year to prepare! I attended one of his supposedly quartet concert but the rest of the band couldn't make it due to flight delay from a blizzard so Cecil had to improvise a solo on the spot. He played magnificently. Yes, he could improvise AND play composed music. He is truly missed.
+Terry Clark got no notion of music man !!! how can you say he's a genius this thief son of thousand bitches !! every time he puts his hands on the piano cruelly attentive to the music ..
cris diaz Music is a subject that can divide opinions. I didn't always like this music myself but after listening to it I started to hear more form and structure and beauty in it. Everyone should listen to things they like, so if this isn't for you then that's fine.
I like the papers, glasses and towels sitting on top of the strings. How casual. Most people can't hear the incredible command this man had over the keyboard because they come from western musical ideas of structure, harmony etc. But Cecil played in the same fashion as the abstract expressionists painted. At their respective best, the roots of traditional "classical" technique are foundations for both mediums. And while he could seemingly and effortlessly play exactly what he felt, he did it with such formidable technical prowess and virtuosity, as to be on par with anyone in classical or jazz.
its about music legacy , his compositions based on question and answer or his improvisations with heavy rythm focus it may sound random but its not if youve studied music youll know none of it its just because , a true genious on the piano and will always be remembered , if you want more examples on how cecil propelled jazz harmonies and rythm to its own dimension can be found throughout his work , and if you want he even got an album playing standards so you can hear his approach on standard tunes
I hear structure, many structures and small episodes, appearing and dissolving again, continuously, flowing, gaining momentum, succeeding and receding. I see plenty of structural form, like watching the interplay of water rhythms and wave shapes as they invent themselves into endless displays of pattern and motion. Perhaps his structural invention is minute in detail, intrinsically self similar in nature, fractal, an original outpouring of intentional and dynamic energy. I respect him.
A huge amount of color and emotion here, but the palette is quite organized, without clash or chaos, only an impressive competence. Very, very advanced skills. May Mr. Taylor forever rest in peace. Brava Maestro!
His play sounds very random, but also quite complete because it's floating within similar tones and one same spectrum of tempo, successfully delivering his inner moments to reality. Extraordinary artist
I'm not surprised that not everybody enjoys everything, I'm surprised that so many people feel that just because they may be unable to understand something, then it must mean that it is non-music or something like that.
That's a wrong response. You're responding to someone saying "I don't understand this, therefore it's not musical". But that's not what people say. It's more like this: I am capable of detecting musical patterns, and this doesn't seem to have any". You need to respond to THAT.
@@facundocesa4931 There are plenty of patterns in the music as he had been doing for decades. I own all his music and I can detect some of his pet licks easily and I don't have formal musical training, which is not required to enjoy his music. Yes, I said enjoy not analyze. In fact I liked it instantly upon first hearing and it wasn't hard for me to enjoy it. I really don't understand what's the fuss about. To me music is to create interesting sound that captures my attention and Cecil's music makes me listen in rapt attention. I love it.
If you are trying to understand this music and just can't, or are hating on it for some reason I think you should read this. I'm going to go down a slightly different route here and see if it can do any good. At least for me, a very significant part of the reason why I enjoy this music is because I understand the history behind it. I think this is the case for everyone. For any music that anybody likes, a big part of that is either having lived through the era from which it came (you have first-hand experience from those times), or having some historical knowledge and context behind the music. The style of jazz music, which undoubtedly came out of the 1960s, I think very much represents that time period. It was the time of counterculture, wars, assassinations and civil rights. Music very often reflects the time in which it came from and as far as this style of music goes (not to mention other music from this time period - think of even rock music such as the Stooges or the Velvet Underground), I think the chaos of it beautifully paints a picture of the era and makes me feel like I'm living it, even though it was long before I was born.
R.I.P. Cecil - Thank you for your music and for being true to yourself - I saw you at the Roundhouse in Camden, London in the 70's - mesmerizing and very moving to watch and to listen to - I especially love your albums "Dark to Themselves" and the "Historic Concerts" with Max Roach
Came here via Fire Music free jazz documentary, which I recommend to anyone who likes this. Only complaint about that doc is it doesn’t go deeper but it’s good as far as it goes. I have recurring dreams where I play piano spontaneously in this vein but those are just dreams and Cecil Taylor was real. Just incredible.
You can't approach this with confined expectation of what music HAS to be. First mistake. Not enjoying something is ok. Not getting it is even ok. But dismissal means you didn't listen, and didn't let go of rigid construct. As a person that is very attracted to music that grabs you by the shirt collar, confronts, forces your ear, whether through "ugliness" or uniqueness, Cecil Taylor made sense to me very quickly when i first heard it. My brain dances with activity at the sound of Cecil's busy-ness and unpredictable path of rhythm and notes. I'm compelled to listen and make the effort to follow along not unlike a cat to a laser pen. It's the smooth, easy, not-too-anything-mustn't-intrude music that is grating for me. Put on an Adele album and watch my irritation increase with each nice, unblemished song. The equivalent to an eggshell white painted room with a "live. laugh. love" print on the wall. Kick a hole in the wall and make it interesting.
What he's doing definitely takes skill and practice. I know it's funny to think so, but it's hard for a beginner to just sit at the piano and play the structures he is. He's not just messing around, playing randomly, or self-indulging.
Knowing nothing about the piano other than that for me to attempt to play one, I might just as well flap my arms and try to fly, (I play brass instruments) hearing this sounds like he's pushing the limits of what the thing is capable of. Truly stunning.
What’s not to like ? This performance has logic, space, atonality, unison lines, athletics- suspended chords - it’s not random- unison lines can’t be random- I’m glad for this video- ty uploader
The slow section around 3:10 has a definite theme, tonality and structure. It is also quoted and further developed later on in the piece. It would make a worthwhile transcription for further analysis, or even constructing an arrangement for performance.
There is one seldom mentioned distinction between Cecil's pianism and that of the conservatory trained pianist. Cecils music is not truly contrapuntal, and his phrases show little independence between left and right hand. He is either alternating the hands, or he is playing unions or quasi-parallel lines with both hands at once. Rather than counterpoint in the western sense, in which the pianist splits himself into two voices, Cecil's approach is to bring the both hands and indeed the whole body --- the whole person into a gestural unison. He is rather like a singer in this regard. Cecil does not split himself in two, but commits the whole body to one complete gesture at a time. This makes his music, despite what is often said of its complexity, quite simple in certain respects, and quite easy to follow if one can get beyond its strangeness. Also, when he is not involved in hammering clusters up and down the keyboard his gestures are largely diatonic or blues based.
Christy Winslow Agreed wholeheartedly. However, this should not be considered a "knock" against his playing or music. I have no doubt that if he CHOSE to he could play polyphonically. Jazz is by it's nature, NOT a contrapuntal language of music, generally speaking. Your analogy to the singer is apt: jazz comes out of a vocal aesthetic. It's joy, it's spiritual basis is that of the human voice. Yes, his music is "simple" in the sense that it tends to be more "vertical" than "linear" (God, I'm a blowhard) but the rhythmic homogeneity (I sound like FM radio!) and motivic connections make the music complex, such as it is. Those of us who have studied music to any great degree can compose a fugue rather easily. And let me tell you, you'd never want to hear one of my fugues more that once. And once might be stretching it. Point: there is no inherent superiority to polyphony, just because it is polyphonic. It must also be "Beautiful." And how many classically trained pianists are even schooled in polyphonic improvisation any more? It's a dead art, sadly, and has been so for nearly 100 years.
The conservatory trained pianist does not compose at the piano for the most part, they recite pre-conceptualized music. Apples and oranges. And I don't see the point in bringing up things like counter-point, as if they matter in any substantive way.
I remember watching/listening to this as part of a jazz history class ~4 years ago, and it's only now with a good pair of headphones that I hear him humming or sounding out what he is playing on the piano. adds a whole other level to this that I wasn't previously aware of until now
I'm a drummer and I play piano like this lol. You can wring a lot of musicality out of it with the right rhythms and dynamics. I can tell he has much better control than I do, and plays with more intention.
music is the language of soul, and this music genre is based (I think) on play what you feel, what you think... Obviously this is not common for many of us, but its music after all. I just have to say that if music is what you feel and whats in your mind, what a rare feelings
I like to imaging that he sat at the piano as a child and started playing random keys and his parents thought "he should start lessons". Weeks later he hadn't played differently. His teacher shrugged. His parents thought, "He'll grow out of it". Months passed and he played on. Years passed and his family thought, "OK, this is his thing."
Oh for the love of the non existing god... He had been playing Bebop for a lifetime before he went exploring the Free and Avant-garde areas... How can you question his musicianship and piano skills?
Its hilarious to see so many huge egos getting into stupid fights in the comment section. “Chick corea sounds way better” “this isn't music” etc. No one cares what you think! Either listen to it or don't!
its hilarious to see endless legions of generic fanboys attempt to dictate what can or can't be written in the comments according to them and their pop gods "I speak for Chick Corea when I say your opinion is shite. If you don't like it, don't watch it" If comments make you shit yourself then why read them. Unless you like to sit around in your own stink which is so superior to everyone elses
@@Negative_creep3383 this happens to be vodeo-sharing site YT where everyone is allowed to watch any video, like/dislike videos, thumbs up/down comments and respond to/post their own comments. Not a single person is forced to read a single comment. But fanboys tend to ignore the rules, beings how they own YT!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't tell me he's "breaking the constraints of rhythm." Tap you foot along with him. No matter how intricate or "implied" a passage gets, he always comes back right on the beat. This is the music the gods listen to on Olympus.
I had just heard his group at a theater in the east village --dont remember the place--70's --asked my piano teacher whom I had great respect for about him the next day at which point he proceded to say he couldnt play.He was a briliant modern composer/player but still cant understand his dismissal of this musical force.
Opened for Maestro Taylor and his fabulous Unit. He said we soundedlime a zoo. We were honoured. Took a hit and half of mickey mouse blotter. Those guys ripped it up! Afterwards, He and Jerome Cooper were dressed drag. It was great. Sunny Murray and Alan Silva. Thanks
Why would you even comment if you have no understanding or empathy for this kind of music? Go waste your own time please…i like this piece, nice and compact and makes perfect sense to an advanced listener…and yes I AM PART OF THE NEW WEF ELITES!! 😂😂😂😂😂
@@BacaOConnell i hesitated between Picasso s work and Jackson Pollack one for the analogy. Picasso seems more appropriate to me since it s sounds like a meticulous deconstruction of any type of melodic and rythmic structures. Not a destruction or an absence of it.
@@Kherian888 yes i agree with everything you are saying, i am definatley not saying you are wrong, because you are not, but to me this sounds as if Taylor destroyed the world that we life in for a time, and used elements of it to create a completely new one with both harsh aggression and dissonance, but also beautiful flowing colors, as Monet does in most of his later works.
I think what is meant by counterpoint in this discussion is not the fussy study of coordinating texture, melody, and harmony in the classical sense, but rather the physical presumption that a pianist cut himself into two -- with each hand playing as its own kind of line against and with the other. But in Cecil's playing you hear the hands working in a kind of gestural unison. Also, with Cecil one gesture completes itself as a breath of sorts before we hear the next, whereas pianists informed by a classical aesthetic are inclined to have certain gestures overlapping one another in a more continuous fashion. One hand is taking a breath, so to speak, as the other is continuing to sing. With Cecil it is more or less all or nothing.
There is order in the chaos. It takes and ordered mind and a musical ear to hear it, which is perhaps what accounts for the ignorant comments and challenges to the man's musicianship, when for those of us who can see with our ears recognize the man is an inspired genius, whether or not we even care for the particular style.
it's definitely takes some skill to do what he does. What he does sounds random but is not random. But on the other hand, it is completely unappealing as music, to me anyway.
Real soul real skills real music is felt. Those butt hurt are usually all school-uncool cloned musicly taught. Thus why they'll never have a name. My own sax blowing is only my feeling on the horn 🎷. No way in hell ide ever allow some robot no feeling sound alike change my feeling of playing. Thank you for putting up real soul touching. REAL LIVING ART
I know you're being flippant, but I felt like responding anyway. Watch again -- Taylor is capable of radical ferocity, but this video also demonstrates his unmatchable tenderness. This composition (it's not all improvised) is beautiful, listen to his control of the instrument at 3:53 and 9:20.
Like multiple independent forces travelling, eventually onto a single point of harmony and clarity, then breaking apart again. Traces of the "main song" are audible throughout, not littered about as middens of thought, simply refractions. That "main song," is the improvisation as a whole. This is one song in many different climates, most people prefer to engage with clear skies and not warring tempests, blizzards, droughts. Of course some crazy people like anything engaging or exciting and when it comes to played music I am the same, that is why I can dig it.
I had the distinct privilege to study piano explorations with Cecil in the early '70s. Forever life changing. Pure genius always willing to share his vision with the utmost economical verbiage. Just incredible.
Share things that he said to you, please...
Yeah please any details about this experience would be really appreciated
So you learned from him? That would be super cool
Now this is a comment that’s positive, helpful and understanding! Would love to hear more too! Thanks 👍🏽✊🏽🎹
There are a couple of interviews with him out there if you search, for those here who want details of his advice and vision.
About 30 years ago, I was at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago--I was around 19 or 20. A "strange-looking guy" (I thought) came in and stood toward the back during one of the pieces, and I was thinking, "Man, I hope that guy doesn't come over this way." He did, and he stood right behind me till the end of the song, putting his hand on the back of my chair; it made me real nervous. When the song was over, the performer (I think it was maybe Joe Lovano or John Scofield) said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we're honored to have a jazz genius here in the house tonight...Mr. Cecil Taylor." I perked up and looked around to see where he was, and sure enough, it was the guy standing right behind me. I was grossly embarrassed at myself...but it's a moment I'll always hold onto.
If you think he just sat at a piano and started hitting random keys, you've never sat on a piano and started hitting random keys.
Thank you for genius comment! It describes the genius of Cecil!
Ah, not just anyone can become a Bösendorfer artist. They certainly have their choice.
You can hit random chords and memorize them
@@Shotbybothsides117 wonderful
One of the best counter arguments I’ve come across. Excellent.
Cecil said over and over that one had to prepare to hear him concert. He basically stated, if you didn't prepare to hear his music, you wouldn't ever really 'hear' his music. Most of his critics don't prepare. But if you do, you will be given the keys to a magical kingdom.
+Andrew Hall Sort of like Richard Wagner wrote new "music dramas" which contained some esoteric secret?
How do you prepare?
"My music suck so you must first train yourself to be biased" X)
He doesn't really say, I think he wants you to find your own way. I like to sit in a room in total silence, I meditate, so that I can emerge free from from all pre-conception. The moment my mind compares the music to other music I know I am not really listening any more.
Wagner is a genius too.
I grew up with a lot of this. My mom was a huge fan. I always loved the spirit of it. The incredible vocabulary he had plus the fearless drive to go deep into where the wind took him and be able to take you there with him made him a force if you were willing to not be bound by listening rules and made him just sound crazy if you were. This is pretty inside the box for him. Orchestrating. I always thought if he wanted to he could play like Hank or Bill or any of those guys. Sure he could! He didn't wanna. Yeeeaa.
he absolutely can! 50s recordings of cecil, he is definitely still strange, seperate from his peers, but within the realms of "regular" jazz, compared to his later works
I'm pretty selective when it comes to improvisational, avant-garde musicians, and Cecil Taylor has had my stamp of approval right from the get go. His solo and band 'freak out' sessions are nothing short of musical magic; a 'happening', if you will. He stands out amidst a plethora of free form jazz musicians as one with a supreme amount of control of insight. I hear a blending of Roger Sessions-esque classical with Ornette Coleman-esque jazz in his works. But that's just me.
I like the soundtrack of "Naked Lunch", compose and played by Ornette Coleman with his band.
Please people, to understand how this is structured, go to 3:05, and listen for a couple minutes the main chords and melody of this improvisation. Than go back to the beginning. Listen carefully, and you will hear that his improvisation is a "broken period" where he is progressing to that theme/melody (clinging through chaos to the same rhythms and chord progressions), and than afterward it breaks loose again and elaborate in something else, but often nodding at the leitmotiv, just transforming it (forming a new leitmotiv that is a broken-leg version of the previous one, like a cd skip), but he returns to it at the end. Thank you.
Nerozumim music shouldnt need a justification to be enjoyed, it is what it is
Yaco Ale Well, don't take music theory classes, what can I say.
Nerozumim I can see what you are saying
even after knowing that I still dont enjoy it
Yaco Ale I enjoy it immensely.
Ed Ebb cool
This is my favourite thing on youtube, without any doubt
Inspired. He approaches the instrument in a completely original way. It is pure expression, total commitment and risk.
Exactly!
you're a bitch lol
Technically speaking, he was a genius as a piano player only "but honestly no skill to create a good melody."
@runner305 YOU ARE FOOLING YOURSELF!
when I heard him, he approached the piano by slithering across the floor in his socks. I t was a lunar eclipse, years later, Ornette, another eclipse. both in Australia
Those who have studied music know that this kind of music is infinitely harder to pull off than it looks. Much respect and RIP Mr. Taylor.
There's a great story Wayne Shorter tells about Miles asking him "Do you ever want to play...like you didn't know how to play?" To play like you don't know how to play, you have to first play
The guy might be super talented and this music hard to play but it's hard for me to get why anyone would find it pleasing to listen to.
Yo
@@cabooseabs6864 For me personally, I find it impressive and pleasing because my ears can hear a clear musical structure even though it sounds so chaotic on the surface.
@@drew6237 but actually this isn't "to play like you don't know how to play" ...
"Art is expressing oneself honestly."- Bruce Lee
Jo Sallins “even if shittily” -half the people listening to this
"Rhythm is a dancer". Snap
“As is verbrande turf” koot en bie
I'm listening to this for the first time ever and am at work. I don't have it too loud as I'm pretty sure people would think I'm losing my mind. It's freaking awesome though haha!
Boss! B)
I used to have this on VHS tape. First time I watched it I thought, "Well, obviously that's not possible."
Cecil's not a musician, he's a force of nature.
When we saw him in NYC this Normal guy went along and afterwards he said I have no idea what I heard and I dont even know if I liked it so I told him that Cecils music is like a volcanic eruption and you just experience it rather than trying to figure it out
Pure genius, to think that for over 60 years people would argue about the validity of his musicianship is absurd. RIP CT!
It's an honor in itself when the audience still argues about an artist's style over 60 years! I would sign for that. 😂👌
He is playing the piano correctly....as the percussion instrument it is.
interesting perspective!
chick corea also says that a piano is just an 88 drum percussion instrument
"Black people turn every instrument into a drum." -Cecil Taylor
The horns, bass, and guitar are all drums.__James Brown
Piano is a sideways Harp with mallets (percussion) as keys.🖤
Àä
I can't believe this is improvised it's structured so well
Much of his music is written, notated in his own musical diagrams, evident in the documentary on him: "All The Notes."
@@HP_____ yah i know but the title of the vid says free improvisation lol you're probably right though it's likely he's taken some ideas from his written work, not uncommon among improvisers
@@andress4780 , Oh I didn't even read the title. Sorry. Many musicians who played with Cecil claimed he would practice a long time before a booked performance. One event in the 60s, I believe, took a whole year to prepare! I attended one of his supposedly quartet concert but the rest of the band couldn't make it due to flight delay from a blizzard so Cecil had to improvise a solo on the spot. He played magnificently. Yes, he could improvise AND play composed music. He is truly missed.
jazz players improvise almost every time
Cecil Taylor is a genius in a class of his own. It's like a drum solo played on the piano.
+Terry Clark got no notion of music man !!! how can you say he's a genius this thief son of thousand bitches !! every time he puts his hands on the piano cruelly attentive to the music ..
cris diaz Music is a subject that can divide opinions. I didn't always like this music myself but after listening to it I started to hear more form and structure and beauty in it. Everyone should listen to things they like, so if this isn't for you then that's fine.
+cris diaz AGREE 10000% The guy is music CHARLATAN ........
And repulsive...
your foundation is stupid. Piano know nothing .. Stick to comment
Love this man's work. He will be truly missed.
I just love this so much. Brought me so much joy today. The freedom!!!
Dissonance & melody, chaoticaly clashing against the emotions conveyed. Fucking love it. If you think it's just noise your ears isn't hip to it.
I like the papers, glasses and towels sitting on top of the strings. How casual. Most people can't hear the incredible command this man had over the keyboard because they come from western musical ideas of structure, harmony etc. But Cecil played in the same fashion as the abstract expressionists painted. At their respective best, the roots of traditional "classical" technique are foundations for both mediums. And while he could seemingly and effortlessly play exactly what he felt, he did it with such formidable technical prowess and virtuosity, as to be on par with anyone in classical or jazz.
I love this music. It always gives me courage and reminds me why life is worth living.
Completely agreed. He's like battery to me. His music recharges me all the time!
Incredible and fortunate to have seen him twice! His technique is unreal!
I saw him at Ronnie Scotts Club in London in the 1970s - I have never forgotten that experience
Frank Zappa said, if you want to learn to play the piano, go out and buy a record of Cecil Taylor.
That kind of piano playing won't last because there's no melody to remember him for a lifetime nor commercial success.
@@solecaring1230 i guarantee you a 100% cecil taylor will be remembered.
@@rafaelfernandeslopesdeoliv1700 Only you can remember him
@Guhraff yes, because that's how you measure a legacy. RUclips views
I think this is a bit beyond your depth, bud
its about music legacy , his compositions based on question and answer or his improvisations with heavy rythm focus it may sound random but its not if youve studied music youll know none of it its just because , a true genious on the piano and will always be remembered , if you want more examples on how cecil propelled jazz harmonies and rythm to its own dimension can be found throughout his work , and if you want he even got an album playing standards so you can hear his approach on standard tunes
Tabs for this?
not!
Ask your kids!
Virtuoso technique applied to to the most strikingly original music
I hear structure, many structures and small episodes, appearing and dissolving again, continuously, flowing, gaining momentum, succeeding and receding. I see plenty of structural form, like watching the interplay of water rhythms and wave shapes as they invent themselves into endless displays of pattern and motion. Perhaps his structural invention is minute in detail, intrinsically self similar in nature, fractal, an original outpouring of intentional and dynamic energy. I respect him.
luminousmusic Damn... That’s deep
...... no ya don’t. Staaahp
When I close my eyes, this is exactly what I see.
@@kathrynwhitbeck9798 what music do you listen to?
A huge amount of color and emotion here, but the palette is quite organized, without clash or chaos, only an impressive competence. Very, very advanced skills. May Mr. Taylor forever rest in peace. Brava Maestro!
3:03
His play sounds very random,
but also quite complete because it's floating within similar tones and one same spectrum of tempo, successfully delivering his inner moments to reality.
Extraordinary artist
What an ability to switch off preconception and channel what he's actually feeling. Stunning!
I'm not surprised that not everybody enjoys everything, I'm surprised that so many people feel that just because they may be unable to understand something, then it must mean that it is non-music or something like that.
VegetativeHorse Pretty sure Miles Davis hated this shit too... just sayin
@@kathrynwhitbeck9798 lmao, he was hated for jazz fusion too
@@kathrynwhitbeck9798 He hated it at first, then he incorporated it into his own music. Listen to his performances at the FIllmore in the late '60s.
That's a wrong response. You're responding to someone saying "I don't understand this, therefore it's not musical". But that's not what people say.
It's more like this: I am capable of detecting musical patterns, and this doesn't seem to have any".
You need to respond to THAT.
@@facundocesa4931 There are plenty of patterns in the music as he had been doing for decades. I own all his music and I can detect some of his pet licks easily and I don't have formal musical training, which is not required to enjoy his music. Yes, I said enjoy not analyze. In fact I liked it instantly upon first hearing and it wasn't hard for me to enjoy it. I really don't understand what's the fuss about. To me music is to create interesting sound that captures my attention and Cecil's music makes me listen in rapt attention. I love it.
THIS is GENIUS manifest.
If you are trying to understand this music and just can't, or are hating on it for some reason I think you should read this. I'm going to go down a slightly different route here and see if it can do any good. At least for me, a very significant part of the reason why I enjoy this music is because I understand the history behind it. I think this is the case for everyone. For any music that anybody likes, a big part of that is either having lived through the era from which it came (you have first-hand experience from those times), or having some historical knowledge and context behind the music. The style of jazz music, which undoubtedly came out of the 1960s, I think very much represents that time period. It was the time of counterculture, wars, assassinations and civil rights. Music very often reflects the time in which it came from and as far as this style of music goes (not to mention other music from this time period - think of even rock music such as the Stooges or the Velvet Underground), I think the chaos of it beautifully paints a picture of the era and makes me feel like I'm living it, even though it was long before I was born.
Intense melodic exploration! Powerful!
What I love about him the most is that he doesn't listen to the voice that says "stop"
R.I.P. Cecil - Thank you for your music and for being true to yourself - I saw you at the Roundhouse in Camden, London in the 70's - mesmerizing and very moving to watch and to listen to - I especially love your albums "Dark to Themselves" and the "Historic Concerts" with Max Roach
Thanks to Cecil Taylor I discovered a new dimension to music. I believe I would call it “Shame-less Spontaneity”.
Came here via Fire Music free jazz documentary, which I recommend to anyone who likes this. Only complaint about that doc is it doesn’t go deeper but it’s good as far as it goes. I have recurring dreams where I play piano spontaneously in this vein but those are just dreams and Cecil Taylor was real. Just incredible.
You can't approach this with confined expectation of what music HAS to be. First mistake. Not enjoying something is ok. Not getting it is even ok. But dismissal means you didn't listen, and didn't let go of rigid construct. As a person that is very attracted to music that grabs you by the shirt collar, confronts, forces your ear, whether through "ugliness" or uniqueness, Cecil Taylor made sense to me very quickly when i first heard it. My brain dances with activity at the sound of Cecil's busy-ness and unpredictable path of rhythm and notes. I'm compelled to listen and make the effort to follow along not unlike a cat to a laser pen. It's the smooth, easy, not-too-anything-mustn't-intrude music that is grating for me. Put on an Adele album and watch my irritation increase with each nice, unblemished song. The equivalent to an eggshell white painted room with a "live. laugh. love" print on the wall. Kick a hole in the wall and make it interesting.
I watched this for the first time when I was about 12. It changed my life.
What a JOY!
The cat is so on it... what a monster player
As someone who has been free improvising for a few years I can confirm that this is fantastic (at least in my opinion)
I agree 100 %
At the moment i started to interpret jazz pieces as conversations a whole new world opened for me. 😊
Wooahhhhh this is really good!!
What he's doing definitely takes skill and practice. I know it's funny to think so, but it's hard for a beginner to just sit at the piano and play the structures he is. He's not just messing around, playing randomly, or self-indulging.
He's a graduate of the New England Conservatory I believe.
only someone who's never touched the instrument could think that it doesn't take skill
Hard is probably the understatement of the year lol. I’ve been playing piano for 17 years, and I can’t do this.
Knowing nothing about the piano other than that for me to attempt to play one, I might just as well flap my arms and try to fly, (I play brass instruments) hearing this sounds like he's pushing the limits of what the thing is capable of. Truly stunning.
One of the masters. Let your preconceptions about music go.
For me, interesting and fun to listen to. More structured than it may first appear. I think this would become clearer on subsequent listens.
Holy shit the extremely fast parts of this are mind-altering.
Every single note seems to have its own unknown scale : )))
What’s not to like ? This performance has logic, space, atonality, unison lines, athletics- suspended chords - it’s not random- unison lines can’t be random-
I’m glad for this video- ty uploader
The slow section around 3:10 has a definite theme, tonality and structure. It is also quoted and further developed later on in the piece. It would make a worthwhile transcription for further analysis, or even constructing an arrangement for performance.
Have you done this ? Please share
@@odienation1542 No, because I forgot I had made the comment. But now reminded I might try and make an attempt . . .
I'll do so next month . . .
@@odienation1542 F/D (to) F#/D, Ab min/Eb, parallel 4ths on Ab, Eb7/G, Ab7 sus4. 😁
I wonder where I can get a sparkly sweatsuit like that. I love this man! Such an inspiration.
I love this music.
+Tony Lombardo ?????????????????????????????????????????????
The comments about whether or not Cecil Taylor can play straight or not are hilarious. He's classically trained!
Exactly
This reminds me of Philip Glass. Similar critiques/disses on his early work. So ridiculously ignorant but also pretty entertaining nowadays haha.
There is one seldom mentioned distinction between Cecil's pianism and that of the conservatory trained pianist. Cecils music is not truly contrapuntal, and his phrases show little independence between left and right hand. He is either alternating the hands, or he is playing unions or quasi-parallel lines with both hands at once. Rather than counterpoint in the western sense, in which the pianist splits himself into two voices, Cecil's approach is to bring the both hands and indeed the whole body --- the whole person into a gestural unison. He is rather like a singer in this regard. Cecil does not split himself in two, but commits the whole body to one complete gesture at a time. This makes his music, despite what is often said of its complexity, quite simple in certain respects, and quite easy to follow if one can get beyond its strangeness. Also, when he is not involved in hammering clusters up and down the keyboard his gestures are largely diatonic or blues based.
Christy Winslow Agreed wholeheartedly. However, this should not be considered a "knock" against his playing or music. I have no doubt that if he CHOSE to he could play polyphonically. Jazz is by it's nature, NOT a contrapuntal language of music, generally speaking. Your analogy to the singer is apt: jazz comes out of a vocal aesthetic. It's joy, it's spiritual basis is that of the human voice. Yes, his music is "simple" in the sense that it tends to be more "vertical" than "linear" (God, I'm a blowhard) but the rhythmic homogeneity (I sound like FM radio!) and motivic connections make the music complex, such as it is.
Those of us who have studied music to any great degree can compose a fugue rather easily. And let me tell you, you'd never want to hear one of my fugues more that once. And once might be stretching it. Point: there is no inherent superiority to polyphony, just because it is polyphonic. It must also be "Beautiful."
And how many classically trained pianists are even schooled in polyphonic improvisation any more? It's a dead art, sadly, and has been so for nearly 100 years.
The conservatory trained pianist does not compose at the piano for the most part, they recite pre-conceptualized music. Apples and oranges. And I don't see the point in bringing up things like counter-point, as if they matter in any substantive way.
I remember watching/listening to this as part of a jazz history class ~4 years ago, and it's only now with a good pair of headphones that I hear him humming or sounding out what he is playing on the piano. adds a whole other level to this that I wasn't previously aware of until now
I'm a drummer and I play piano like this lol. You can wring a lot of musicality out of it with the right rhythms and dynamics. I can tell he has much better control than I do, and plays with more intention.
Classical training isn't irrelevant to what he's doing here; it's evident throughout.
Of course it is.
Definitely a Classical Rococo influence goin' on in his workings here!
beautiful!!!!!!!!!
Love how he makes the crunchy dissonance work so well, great musician
holy cow I was not ready for this
I like the natural bit crushing effect happening from the recording
music is the language of soul, and this music genre is based (I think) on play what you feel, what you think... Obviously this is not common for many of us, but its music after all. I just have to say that if music is what you feel and whats in your mind, what a rare feelings
Eduardo Sam well he must have been feeling reeeeeal fucked up
you could have stopped at "this music genre is based"
Great improvisation!
I lov the way you grumble .. you and Glenn ..
When hands are clearly faster than thoughts. Amazing, incredibile.
Lo mejor de Cecil es cuando toca solo...es un genio!
amazing!!!
I don’t know much about model music but I can sure relate to this it sounds like the inside if my head
I like to imaging that he sat at the piano as a child and started playing random keys and his parents thought "he should start lessons". Weeks later he hadn't played differently. His teacher shrugged. His parents thought, "He'll grow out of it". Months passed and he played on. Years passed and his family thought, "OK, this is his thing."
Took me 30y+ to understand this too for my life experience
@@seedsofconsciousness7859 It took me 7 months to thank you for this comment.
Oh for the love of the non existing god... He had been playing Bebop for a lifetime before he went exploring the Free and Avant-garde areas... How can you question his musicianship and piano skills?
Amazing.
This is so good.
Talking about intensity … and music! great!
Its hilarious to see so many huge egos getting into stupid fights in the comment section. “Chick corea sounds way better” “this isn't music” etc. No one cares what you think! Either listen to it or don't!
its hilarious to see endless legions of generic fanboys attempt to dictate what can or can't be written in the comments according to them and their pop gods "I speak for Chick Corea when I say your opinion is shite. If you don't like it, don't watch it"
If comments make you shit yourself then why read them. Unless you like to sit around in your own stink which is so superior to everyone elses
Well, no one cares what you think too. Why are you complaining after all?
@@Negative_creep3383 this happens to be vodeo-sharing site YT where everyone is allowed to watch any video, like/dislike videos, thumbs up/down comments and respond to/post their own comments. Not a single person is forced to read a single comment. But fanboys tend to ignore the rules, beings how they own YT!!!!!!!!!!!
outstanding !
I don't claim to understand the music completely, but I sure do enjoy it!
Solo un excelente pianista puede lograr lo que hacía Cecil.
Gracias genio.
Cecil Percival Taylor (25 de marzo de 1929 - 5 de abril de 2018).
Don't tell me he's "breaking the constraints of rhythm." Tap you foot along with him. No matter how intricate or "implied" a passage gets, he always comes back right on the beat. This is the music the gods listen to on Olympus.
I had just heard his group at a theater in the east village --dont remember the place--70's --asked my piano teacher whom I had great respect for about him the next day at which point he proceded to say he couldnt play.He was a briliant modern composer/player but still cant understand his dismissal of this musical force.
Opened for Maestro Taylor and his fabulous Unit. He said we soundedlime a zoo. We were honoured. Took a hit and half of mickey mouse blotter. Those guys ripped it up!
Afterwards, He and Jerome Cooper were dressed drag. It was great. Sunny Murray and Alan Silva. Thanks
OUAIS !!! Super !! Génial !!No breakdown but break through !!
There’s actually quite a bit of harmony in there interspersed. Amazing playing
Why would you even comment if you have no understanding or empathy for this kind of music?
Go waste your own time please…i like this piece, nice and compact and makes perfect sense to an advanced listener…and yes I AM PART OF THE NEW WEF ELITES!!
😂😂😂😂😂
This piece enters the entire history of the United States .. it is all here. ..
My hero!
Cubism in music.
Nanton BullArt Great analogy
to me this sounds like a late Monet painting, like maybe the Japanese bridge or something.
but the late one with orange and red
@@BacaOConnell i hesitated between Picasso s work and Jackson Pollack one for the analogy. Picasso seems more appropriate to me since it s sounds like a meticulous deconstruction of any type of melodic and rythmic structures. Not a destruction or an absence of it.
@@Kherian888 yes i agree with everything you are saying, i am definatley not saying you are wrong, because you are not, but to me this sounds as if Taylor destroyed the world that we life in for a time, and used elements of it to create a completely new one with both harsh aggression and dissonance, but also beautiful flowing colors, as Monet does in most of his later works.
I think what is meant by counterpoint in this discussion is not the fussy study of coordinating texture, melody, and harmony in the classical sense, but rather the physical presumption that a pianist cut himself into two -- with each hand playing as its own kind of line against and with the other. But in Cecil's playing you hear the hands working in a kind of gestural unison. Also, with Cecil one gesture completes itself as a breath of sorts before we hear the next, whereas pianists informed by a classical aesthetic are inclined to have certain gestures overlapping one another in a more continuous fashion. One hand is taking a breath, so to speak, as the other is continuing to sing. With Cecil it is more or less all or nothing.
Amazing
My God. He is the musical Picasso.
Rest in peace, Taylor. Glad NPR covered such a talent.
There is order in the chaos. It takes and ordered mind and a musical ear to hear it, which is perhaps what accounts for the ignorant comments and challenges to the man's musicianship, when for those of us who can see with our ears recognize the man is an inspired genius, whether or not we even care for the particular style.
fuk the water that took nshookin titanic
it's definitely takes some skill to do what he does. What he does sounds random but is not random. But on the other hand, it is completely unappealing as music, to me anyway.
Real soul real skills real music is felt. Those butt hurt are usually all school-uncool cloned musicly taught. Thus why they'll never have a name. My own sax blowing is only my feeling on the horn 🎷. No way in hell ide ever allow some robot no feeling sound alike change my feeling of playing. Thank you for putting up real soul touching. REAL LIVING ART
This is absolutely insane.. So amazing haha
I know you're being flippant, but I felt like responding anyway. Watch again -- Taylor is capable of radical ferocity, but this video also demonstrates his unmatchable tenderness. This composition (it's not all improvised) is beautiful, listen to his control of the instrument at 3:53 and 9:20.
Like multiple independent forces travelling, eventually onto a single point of harmony and clarity, then breaking apart again. Traces of the "main song" are audible throughout, not littered about as middens of thought, simply refractions. That "main song," is the improvisation as a whole. This is one song in many different climates, most people prefer to engage with clear skies and not warring tempests, blizzards, droughts. Of course some crazy people like anything engaging or exciting and when it comes to played music I am the same, that is why I can dig it.
Almost incomprehensible brilliance.
Thank you!
Mesmerized!
one of the best afro-american musicians of the xxth century