Cecil Percival Taylor (born March 15 or March 25, 1929 in New York City) is an American pianist and poet.
Along with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, he is now generally acknowledged to be one of the innovators of free jazz. Taylor's music is cited by critics, however, as some of the most challenging in jazz, characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing exceedingly complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and intricate polyrhythms. At first listen, his dense and percussive music can be difficult to absorb, and his piano technique has often been likened to drums and percussion rather than to any other pianists, and resembling modern classical music as much as jazz.

Biography

Jazz Advance, 1956
The Cecil Taylor Quartet at Newport, 1957
Looking Ahead!, 1958
Coltrane Time (identical with Hard Driving Jazz), 1958
Love for Sale, 1959
The World of Cecil Taylor, 1960
Air, 1961
Jumpin' Punkins, 1961
New York City R&B (with Buell Neidlinger), 1961
Cell Walk for Celeste, 1961
Mixed, 1961
Nefertiti the Beautiful One Has Come, 1962
Unit Structures, 1966
Conquistador!, 1966
Great Paris Concert, vol 1 & 2 (identical with Student Studies), 1966
Praxis, 1968
Communications, 1968 with Mike Mantler & Carla Bley's "JCOA: Jazz Composer's Orchestra" (featuring Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Larry Coryell and Gato Barbieri.)
The Great Concert (identical with Nuits de la Fondation Maeght), 1969
Indent, 1973
Akisakila, 1973
Solo, 1973
Spring of Two Blue J's, 1973
Silent Tongues, 1974
Dark to Themselves, 1976
Air Above Mountains (Buildings Within), 1976
Nachricht vom Lande, 1976
Cecil Taylor & Mary Lou Williams: Embraced, 1977
Cecil Taylor Unit, 1978
3 Phasis, 1978
Live in the Black Forest, 1978
One Too Many Salty Swift and Not Goodbye, 1978
Tony Williams: Joy of Flying, 1978
Cecil Taylor and Max Roach: Historic Concerts, 1979
Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!, 1980
It is in the Brewing Luminous, 1980
Calling it the 8th, 1981
Garden, 1981
Cecil Taylor Segments II (Orchestra of two Continents): Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants), 1984
For Olim, 1986
Olu Iwa, 1986
Iwnontonwusi - Live at Sweet Basil, 1986
Live in Bologna, 1987
Live in Vienna, 1987
Chinampas, 1987
Tzotzil Mummers Tzotzil, 1987
Erzulie Maketh Scent, 1988
Pleistozaen mit Wasser, 1988
Riobec - Cecil Taylor & Günter Sommer, 1988
Leaf Palm Hand, 1988
Spots, Circles, and Fantasy, 1988
Regalia - Cecil Taylor & Paul Lovens, 1988
Remembrance, 1988
The Hearth, 1988
Riobec, 1988
Legba Crossing, 1988
Alms / Tiergarten (Spree), 1988
In East Berlin, 1988
In Florescence, 1989
Looking (Berlin Version) solo, 1989
Looking (Berlin Version) Corona, 1989
Looking (The Feel Trio), 1989
Celebrated Blazons, 1990
Doubly Holy House, 1990
Melancholy - Cecil Taylor, Harri Sjöström, Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Wolfgang Fuchs
Nailed, 1990
The Tree of Life, 1991
Always a Pleasure - Cecil Taylor, Harri Sjöström, Tristan Honsinger 1993
The Light of Corona- Cecil Taylor, Harri Sjöström 1996
Almeda- Cecil Taylor, Harri Sjöström 1996
Qu'a: Live at the Iridium, vol. 1 & 2 - Cecil Taylor, Harri Sjöström 1998
Algonquin, 1998
Incarnation, 1999
The Willisau Concert, 2000
Complicité, 2001
Taylor/Dixon/Oxley, 2002
Two T's for a Lovely T, 2003
The Owner of the River Bank, 2004