Editing Cecil Taylor (section)

== 1950s and early 1960s ==
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Taylor's music grew more complex and moved away from existing jazz styles. Gigs were often hard to come by, and club owners found that Taylor's approach of playing long pieces tended to impede business.<ref>{{cite book|title=Four Lives in the Bebop Business|author=Spellman, A. B.|publisher=[[Limelight Editions]]|year=1985|isbn=0-87910-042-7|orig-year=1966}}</ref> His 1959 [[LP record]] ''[[Looking Ahead!]]'' showcased his innovation as a creator as compared to the jazz mainstream. Unlike others at the time, Taylor utilized virtuosic techniques and made swift stylistic shifts from phrase to phrase. These qualities, among others, still remained notable distinctions of his music for the rest of his life.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Jazz: the Basics|last=Meeder|first=Christopher|page=151}}</ref>

Landmark recordings, such as ''[[Unit Structures]]'' (1966), also appeared. Within the [[Cecil Taylor Unit]] (a distinction that was often used at performances and recordings between 1962 and 2006 for a shifting group of sidemen), musicians were able to develop new forms of conversational interplay. In the early 1960s, an uncredited [[Albert Ayler]] worked with Taylor, jamming and appearing on at least one recording, ''Four'', which was unreleased until appearing on the 2004 Ayler [[box set]] ''[[Holy Ghost: Rare & Unissued Recordings (1962–70)]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/holy-ghost-rare-unissued-recordings-1962-70-mw0000718294|title=Holy Ghost: Rare & Unissued Recordings 1962–1970|website=AllMusic|access-date=April 6, 2018}}</ref>

By 1961, Taylor was working regularly with alto saxophonist [[Jimmy Lyons]], who would become one of his most important and consistent collaborators. Taylor, Lyons, and drummer [[Sunny Murray]] (and later [[Andrew Cyrille]]) formed the core personnel of the [[Cecil Taylor Unit]], Taylor's primary ensemble until Lyons' death in 1986. Lyons' playing, strongly influenced by jazz icon [[Charlie Parker]], retained a strong [[blues]] sensibility and helped keep Taylor's increasingly [[Avant-garde music|avant garde music]] tethered to the jazz tradition.<ref name="Kelsey">{{cite web|url=http://allmusic.com/artist/jimmy-lyons-p7010/biography|title=Jimmy Lyons – Biography|author=Kelsey, Chris|website=AllMusic|access-date=March 27, 2012|author-link=Chris Kelsey}}</ref>