37 Quotes by Cecil Taylor

I discovered very early that it wasn’t quite enough for me to imitate people.

I'm saying that people who are enmeshed in situations of subjugation and have to live, have to find ways to project their dignity as human beings - in spite of all the efforts of those around them to degrade them - I'm saying that this music is the manifestation of the dignity in the life that has always been present.

What I am doing is creating a language. A different American language.

Mother, being a pianist, told me how to play with my fingers on the piano.

When I came out of the conservatory, the first thing I did was to go see Thelonious Monk.

Someone once asked me if I was gay. I said, 'Do you think a three-letter word defines the complexity of my humanity?' I avoid the trap of easy definition.

The first record I made, when I listen to it, I understand. I understand perfectly well why certain musicians were unhappy with me. I had to decide: was I unhappy with me? I liked it. If they didn't like it, it was on them.

I've always tried to be a poet more than anything else. I mean, professional musicians die.

Fats - very funny man, but every note that he played was like a pearl.