Cecil Taylor vs. Francois Truffaut in: Conquistador!

It’s 1980. Shoot the piano player.

More on Tay­lor’s Unit Struc­tures, the new Rudy Van Gelder edi­tion of Con­quis­ta­dor!, and Stu­dent Stud­ies to come.

[Freak­out bop pianist apoc­rypha in brief: Alone in a hotel room, some­where in New York, jour­nal­ist inter­view­ing Thelo­nius Monk asks “Why don’t you play more like Bud?” Monk spazzes on piano in the room, room hush­es and Monk turns to jour­nal­ist and says “Now don’t tell any­body what you just saw me do.”]