World of Cecil Taylor

Peter Valente is a writer, translator, and filmmaker. He is the author of twenty-two full length books, including a translation of Nanni Balestrini's Blackout, which received a starred review in Publisher's Weekly. His most recent books are The Occult Harry Smith: The Magical and Alchemical Work of an Artist of the Extremes and his translation of Nicolas Pages by Guillaume Dustan. He lives in Castle Hayne, North Carolina.

• IntroductionPeter Valente1. The Avant-Gardist Who Came in from the ColdGary Giddins2. On Cecil Taylor's Conservatory EducationAllan Chase 3. Impressions of Cecil TaylorMarc Edwards4. Visceral and Cathartic Joy: An Appreciation of Cecil TaylorTaylor Ho Bynum5. My Time with Cecil TaylorMark Hundevad6. Remembering CecilJohn Bruschini7. Scale as Material in the Music of Cecil TaylorDamon Smith8. Cecil Taylor: Storyteller/A RemembranceYuko Otomo 9. Excursions on a Wobbly Rail (in Three Parts)Joel Lewis10. Notes on Cecil Taylor and the Drummers: A Thought ExperimentPeter Valente11. Cecil Taylor: My History and FMP CollaborationElliott Levin12. Cecil Taylor in BerlinSteve Lake13. My Time with Cecil TaylorJackson Krall 14. Mountain High/Cecil Taylor Still Scales the HeightsEd Hazell15. Liner Notes to Garden (Hat Hut Records)Art Lange16. Thoughts on the Album Looking AheadMathew Shipp17. Notes for Algonquin (Bridge 9146)Bill Shoemaker18. "'The Scented Parabola': Occasions of Cecil Taylor's Poetry"David Grubbs19. Cecil Taylor and the Commitment to PoetryDavid Grundy20. Cecil Taylor: A Biblio-Discography 21. Cecil Taylor: Across Living Solar PlasmaWill Alexander22. PoetryJoel LewisIndentAnne Waldmanafter Garden(Lisa B) Lisa BernsteinCecil Taylor: I Am an OrchestraCandace Hill MontgomeryBlanklightUnalive Sparrow Decides on Poetic PowersSteve TimmEpicritic (Pertaining to Cutaneous Sensitivity)Proxumal (Nearest)AlumoElliott LevinHuanClark CoolidgeFrom Comes Through in the Call Hold (Improvisations on Cecil Taylor)23. "Mountains" Cecil Taylor (1985) & "Mettle has been tested" Cecil Taylor (1986)Mark Miller24. The Influence and Significance of Cecil Taylor's Alphabet Notation: From the Mills ArchivesJeff Schwartz25. The Foundation of Taylor's MusicMatthew Goodheart26. Notes on the Implications of Cecil Taylor's Solo Performance of "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To"Matthew Landis27. Repertoire and the Role of Written Material in the Music of the 1978 Cecil Taylor UnitAlex Ward28. Reviews: RecordingsGunther Schuller 29. Cecil Taylor's Structures and Personal TechniqueKaja Draksler30. Interview with Cecil TaylorRobert L. Doerschuk 31. InterviewsTed PankenAndrew Cyrille on Cecil TaylorTony Oxley on Cecil Taylor Dan Marmorstein on Cecil TaylorCecil Taylor on Andrew CyrilleList of Contributors Index

"What a marvelous book! Cecil Taylor was a great American artist—a one-of-a-kind pianist, composer, and poet who profoundly enriched those of us who were privileged to live in his time and to count him as a friend. Assembling a broad spectrum of interviews, memoirs, and analyses of Taylor's accomplishments by a bevy of musicians, writers, and poets whose lives were indelibly impacted by him, this anthology is worthy of its subject. It’s at once a terrific read and a textured, multi-angled mine of information about the life and work of a genuinely singular figure." — Robert Levin, author of Going Outside: Fiction, Commentary, Jazz