Editing Cecil Taylor (section)

== Early life and education ==
Cecil Percival Taylor was born on March 25, 1929, in [[Long Island City]], [[Queens]],<ref name="nytobit">{{Cite news|last=Ratliff|first=Ben|author-link=Ben Ratliff|date=April 6, 2018|title=Cecil Taylor, Pianist Who Defied Jazz Orthodoxy, Is Dead at 89|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/obituaries/cecil-taylor-dead.html|access-date=February 18, 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and raised in [[Corona, Queens]].<ref name=NYT2012>[[Ben Ratliff|Ratliff, Ben]] (May 3, 2012). [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/arts/music/cecil-taylors-keyboard-legacy.html "Lessons From the Dean of the School of Improv"], ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved December 9, 2017: "I recently spoke with the 83-year-old improvising pianist Cecil Taylor for about five hours over two days. One day was at his three-story home in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, where he has lived since 1983.... Raised in Corona, Queens, he started out as a Harlem jam-session musician in the early 1950s and talks with intense loyalty about a line of particularly New York-identified piano players: Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Mal Waldron, John Hicks."</ref> As an only child to a middle-class family, Taylor's mother Almeda Ragland Taylor encouraged him to play music at an early age. He began playing piano at age six and went on to study at the [[New York College of Music]] and [[New England Conservatory]] in [[Boston]]. At the New England Conservatory, Taylor majored in popular music arrangement. During his time there, he also became familiar with contemporary European [[art music]]. [[Béla Bartók|Bela Bartók]] and [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]] notably influenced his music.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Jazz: the Basics|last=Meeder|first=Christopher|page=150}}</ref>

In 1955, Taylor moved back to New York City from Boston. He formed a quartet with soprano saxophonist [[Steve Lacy (saxophonist)|Steve Lacy]], bassist [[Buell Neidlinger]], and drummer [[Denis Charles|Dennis Charles]].<ref name=":0" /> Taylor's first recording, ''[[Jazz Advance]]'', featured Lacy and was released in 1956.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/jul/11/jazz.johnfordham|title=CD: Cecil Taylor, Jazz Advance|last=Fordham|first=John|date=July 10, 2008|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=April 6, 2018}}</ref> The recording is described by [[Richard Cook (journalist)|Richard Cook]] and [[Brian Morton (Scottish writer)|Brian Morton]] in the ''Penguin Guide to Jazz'': "While there are still many nods to conventional [[post-bop]] form in this set, it already points to the freedoms in which the pianist would later immerse himself."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Penguin jazz guide : the history of the music in the 1,001 best albums|last=Morton|first=Brian|date=2011|publisher=Penguin|others=Cook, Richard|isbn=978-0-14-195900-9|location=London|oclc=759581884}}</ref> Taylor's quartet featuring Lacy also appeared at the 1957 [[Newport Jazz Festival]], which was made into the album ''[[At Newport (Cecil Taylor and Gigi Gryce album)|At Newport]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/sep/20/jazz.artsfeatures1|title=CD: Gigi Gryce/Donald Byrd/Cecil Taylor, At Newport|last=Fordham|first=John|date=September 20, 2002|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=April 6, 2018}}</ref> Taylor collaborated with saxophonist [[John Coltrane]] in 1958 on ''[[Stereo Drive]]'', now available as ''Coltrane Time''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/coltrane-time-mw0000652601|title=Coltrane Time – John Coltrane|website=AllMusic|access-date=April 6, 2018}}</ref>