Cecil Taylor

The first record I made, when I listen to it, I understand. I understand perfectly well why certain musicians were unhappy with…

— Cecil Taylor

Mother, being a pianist, told me how to play with my fingers on the piano.

— Cecil Taylor

To feel is perhaps the most terrifying thing in this society.

— Cecil Taylor

When I came out of the conservatory, the first thing I did was to go see Thelonious Monk.

— Cecil Taylor

To me, the piano in itself is an orchestra.

— Cecil Taylor

In short, [Coltrane's] tone is beautiful because it is functional. In other words, it is always involved in saying something. You can't…

— Cecil Taylor

One of the things Mother said to me, 'You want this, you're going to practice.' And I know how to practice.

— Cecil Taylor

They say, 'We will give you money, but we want you to play this or that.' And I always thought, 'If I'm…

— Cecil Taylor

You know what the material is so that you never play it the same way twice.

— Cecil Taylor

Doesn't that fool know I recorded that song because I like it?

— Cecil Taylor

You must surrender whatever preconceptions you have about music if you're really interested in it.

— Cecil Taylor

I'm saying that people who are enmeshed in situations of subjugation and have to live, have to find ways to project their…

— Cecil Taylor

Before he fought Billy Conn, Joe Louis said, 'He can run, but he can't hide.' That's how I feel about New York:…

— Cecil Taylor

What I am doing is creating a language. A different American language.

— Cecil Taylor

Sometimes when it goes really well, you wonder, who's that at the piano?

— Cecil Taylor

Someone once asked me if I was gay. I said, 'Do you think a three-letter word defines the complexity of my humanity?'…

— Cecil Taylor

Fats - very funny man, but every note that he played was like a pearl.

— Cecil Taylor

I understand about the relative strengths of people, and I don't think people have to be anything. They can be nothin' if…

— Cecil Taylor

Rhythm is the life of space of time danced through.

— Cecil Taylor

I discovered very early that it wasn't quite enough for me to imitate people.

— Cecil Taylor

When you think about musicians who are reading music, my contention has always been the energy that you're using deciphering what the…

— Cecil Taylor

Lena Horne - when she walked onstage, she really was Erzulie.

— Cecil Taylor

Improvisation is the ability to talk to oneself.

— Cecil Taylor

I try to imitate on the piano the leaps in space a dancer makes.

— Cecil Taylor

If you take the creation of music and the creation of your own life values as your overall goal, then living becomes…

— Cecil Taylor