Glenn Gould was also a fan of the iconoclastic free-jazz pianist Cecil Taylor (along with Arnold Schoenberg, as I mentioned yesterday). In fact, Gould was enamored by his music to such a degree that I keep coming back to Taylor's recordings to try to identify what it was that Gould liked so much. I do enjoy them, don't get me wrong, but they don't stay on my CD player for as long as, say, a McCoy Tyner album might. But I'm also left with the feeling that the deficiency is mine, not Taylor's, and that I still have some catching up to do in regards to hearing him properly.

I was fortunate enough to see Taylor at the Montreal Jazz Festival a few years back, and remember that a large segment of the audience didn't share my sentiment: A good quarter of the crowd walked out during the first tune. I don't know if this kind of reaction bothers Taylor or not (my guess is that it doesn't), but I do know that it hasn't stopped his pursuit of his very specific form of musical expression. He's been playing this way for over sixty years now, and whatever one thinks of the music, that fact alone commands respect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP5L8tjnB6w&feature=related