trying to tackle something like cecil's recorded legacy is certainly not for the weak at heart (or ear as i sure my wife probably thinks)... i could have never done this site on my own. this idea of a cecil taylor research group evolved in october of 2002 by a small committed core of cecil taylor fanatics that have traded cdrs and tapes of live shows for years, some of us for more years than probably we would like to admit.

this website is a culmination of research by several folks:

first and foremost, rick lopez has an huge online presence in the online free jazz world, compiling discographies and sessionographies for many related artists (sam rivers, david ware, and william parker). there is no way to thank rick lopez enough for all the guidance and support and general coolness when it comes to such an insane, sometimes seemingly impossible task. he is an inspiration for me and for many folks who have ever considered cataloguing something like a free jazz artists career.

jan strom has done research on jimmy lyons, cecil's man alto man from 66-85. he has freely allowed us to use his research on this site. also, rick lopez has been doing discographical research on related musicians that played at various times also, big thanks to jan strom for letting us reproduce his hours of hard work that encompasses the cecil portion of his great "jimmy lyons, a sessionography" book (available at his ayler.com website, go BUY IT! NOW!)

heinrich smekal, music trader extraordinaire, who has not only collected cecil's music for years but also has put together the largest, most complete unpublished document of cecil's music so far. many thanks to heinrich for sharing his work with the cecil research group!

ed hazell typed up a partial but large cecil taylor sessionography document in the early 90's. he has freely given us access to his research and it is incorporated into this site. he is very closely working with william parker at the moment and will probably be digging up new things as well. many thanks to him to letting us post his work!

special thank you to suso navarrete, cecil's current manager/confidante for blessing this project. also, thanks to suso for providing recent information about cecil's current schedule.

and finally, thanks to mr. cecil taylor himself. your music is interesting enough to have captivated my very short attention span for a long time now. also, i want to personally thank you for holding on to your artistic vision and never selling out.

explanation of some of the notes contained in this ever changing, ever growing document...

RL=rick lopez
HS=heinrich smejkal
EH=eddie hazell
AG=andrew galloway
JH=jason hook
ID=igor danilishen

also, the first date for each entry is notated in the following way:

90.01.21

This corresponds to January 21, 1991.

if a date was unknown, the date will correspond to something like this:

90.01.00

with 00 corresponding to the unknown day in January of 1991.

related links:

rick lopez' amazing discography/sessionography site for william parker, sam rivers, et al...
http://www.velocity.net/~bb10k/

jan strom's ayler records home, independent record label producing (with the artists permission and blessings) very fine quality recordings of hard to find free jazz artists such as arthur doyle, noah howard, et al... he is working on a jimmy lyons box set at the moment!
http://www.ayler.com

cecil's official site of recent news done by suso n.
great place to find info on recent info about cecil, new releases, reviews of special events, plus schedule of upcoming performances!
http://www.the-temple.net/taylor/

please comment if you see anything that inspires you on here!