Cecil Taylor

Cecil Taylor (born March 25, 1929, New York City, New York, U.S.—died April 5, 2018, New York City) was an American jazz musician and composer, among the leading free-jazz pianists. Taylor attended the New York College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music but was influenced more decisively by the music of jazz pianists Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Horace Silver. By the mid-1950s he was leading his own small groups. From his...