Cecil Taylor on NPR + Poem

Cecil Taylor (from All About Jazz)

Via his Twitter feed and New Black Man's blog, a very appropriate tribute for today, International Day Against Homophobia, one of jazz's and contemporary improvisatory music's greatest living and rare out queer figures, one of my heroes, Cecil Taylor (1929-). Over the last two weeks he's been honored with a series of concerts in New York City, and was the focus today of a segment NPR's All Things Considered. As someone posted today on Twitter, honor folks while they're still with us. So I am. For those in New York City, he'll be giving a rare solo concert at Harlem Stage tonight. I've seen him play and there's nothing like it.



Here's a poem I wrote about him (and of course, more broadly, all innovative artists), that appeared in Jazz Poems, edited by Kevin Young (Everyman's Library, 2006), and which cultural worker Fred Joiner featured on his blog. Thanks so much, Fred!