Editing Cecil Taylor (section)

== Musical style and legacy ==
According to Steven Block, [[free jazz]] originated with Taylor's performances at the [[Five Spot Café|Five Spot Cafe]] in 1957 and with [[Ornette Coleman]] in 1959.<ref>Block, Steven, "Pitch-Class Transformation in Free Jazz", ''[[Music Theory Spectrum]]'', Vol. 12, No. 2 (Autumn 1990), pp. 181–202. Published by [[University of California Press]] on behalf of the [[Society for Music Theory]].</ref> In 1964, Taylor co-founded the [[Jazz Composers Guild]] to enhance opportunities for [[avant-garde jazz]] musicians.<ref name="Walden">Walden, Daniel, "Black Music and Cultural Nationalism: The Maturation of Archie Shepp", ''[[Negro American Literature Forum]]'', Vol. 5, No. 4 (Winter 1971), pp. 150–154. Published by [[St. Louis University]].</ref>

Taylor's style and methods have been described as "[[Constructivism (art)|constructivist]]".<ref>Review by Robert Palmer, "''Indent'' by Cecil Taylor", ''The Black Perspective in Music'', Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring 1974), pp. 94–95.</ref> Despite [[Scott Yanow]]'s warning regarding Taylor's "forbidding music" ("Suffice it to say that Cecil Taylor's music is not for everyone"), he praises Taylor's "remarkable technique and endurance", and his "advanced", "radical", "original", and uncompromising "musical vision".<ref name="Yanow" />

This musical vision is a large part of Taylor's legacy:
{{blockquote|Playing with Taylor I began to be liberated from thinking about chords. I'd been imitating John Coltrane unsuccessfully and because of that I was really chord conscious.|[[Archie Shepp]], quoted in [[Amiri Baraka|LeRoi Jones]], album liner notes for ''Four for Trane'' (Impulse A-71, 1964)|source=}}