Sound Structures and Naked Fire Gestures in Cecil Taylor’s Solo Piano Music

Abstract

Analyses of Cecil Taylor’s music are understandably scarce. Very few of his scores exist, and transcriptions are even harder to come by. The music itself is often blindingly fast, unremittingly dissonant, and rhythmically elusive, further discouraging attempts at comprehension. This article aims to fill this analytical void, demonstrating that Taylor’s music is not nearly as intimidating as it at first would seem. Using my own transcriptions of Taylor’s music as a guide, I argue that Taylor’s music is best understood not as abstract relationships between pitches (“sound structures”), but rather as the formal organization of physical movements (“naked fire gestures”). Such a hypothesis comports with Taylor’s own explanation of his music—“I try to imitate on the piano the leaps in space a dancer makes”—and thus demands that questions of physiology and physicality be considered under the umbrella of music theory. Furthermore, this movement-first analytical approach complicates traditional understandings of the autonomous musical “work”: while Taylor’s music could be understood as distinct, individual performances, it is also worthwhile to consider his overarching musical practice as an analytical object in and of itself. Finally, I trace the sounds and gestures of Taylor’s music back to their roots in blues and jazz, reinforcing Taylor’s own understanding of his music as a continuation of Black music tradition.