Cecil Taylor Quotes & Sayings

I understand about the relative strengths of people, and I don't think people have to be anything. They can be nothin' if they want to be. — Cecil Taylor

The quality of life, values that go down to doin' that, that's the issue. — Cecil Taylor

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

Improvisation is the ability to talk to oneself. — Cecil Taylor

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

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

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

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

Rhythm is the life of space of time danced through. — Cecil Taylor

To me, the piano in itself is an orchestra. — Cecil Taylor

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

If you take the creation of music and the creation of your own life values as your overall goal, then living becomes a musical process. — 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 separate the means that a man uses to say something from what he ultimately says. Technique is not separated from its content in a great artist. — Cecil Taylor