Cecil Taylor discusses 'starving artists'.

Listen Now Add to Play List Read Transcript (File Size: 0.48MB)

Cecil Taylor discusses musical integrity versus commercial success.

Listen Now Add to Play List Read Transcript (File Size: 0.66MB)

Cecil Taylor discusses his original style and his influence on other players.

Listen Now Add to Play List Read Transcript (File Size: 0.21MB)

If you are experiencing problems playing audio on this site,
please update to the latest version of Flash.

Transcription

Q: “So you don’t believe in the ‘suffering artist’ kind of thing, eh?”

A: “Well, you see, but, you know, to be specific about it. It was an environment of great ... I said Morreau [ph] was his patron. Shegall [ph] was it, well, he has 90 per cent of the world’s Yakameti [ph] sculpture. He’s made … He is a businessman. His business is art and he has a certain area that he is involved with. He, fortunately, was involved with men as painters that the Western world considered genius. So, in that environment, if you can’t work and when you get in that environment, there's nothing else for you to do. There’s everything, you know. Plus, he also was maybe the last of the old style, because he was a man of about 67 or 68, which, man, he was, you know, coming out of out of the 19th century. So that he was really the closest, I think, I've that ever, or will ever get to European patron.”