''Looking Ahead!'' is the second album by

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Cecil Taylor, recorded for the

Contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

label in June 1958. The album features performances by Taylor with

Buell Neidlinger Buell Neidlinger (March 2, 1936 – March 16, 2018) was an American cellist and double bassist. He has worked with a variety of pop and jazz performers, prominently with iconoclastic pianist Cecil Taylor in the 1950s and '60s. Biography Neidli ...

Denis Charles Denis Alphonso Charles (December 4, 1933 – March 26, 1998) was a jazz drummer. Biography Charles was born in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, and first played bongos at age seven with local ensembles in the Virgin Islands. In 1945, he moved to Ne ...

, and Earl Griffith.

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

review by Brian Olewnick states: "''Looking Ahead!'' does just that while still keeping several toes in the tradition. It's an amazing document of a talent fairly straining at the reins, a meteor about to burst onto the jazz scene and render it forever changed... ''Looking Ahead!'' is a vital recording from the nascence of one of the towering geniuses of modern music and belongs in any jazz fan's collection".Olewnick, B.

AllMusic Review AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

accessed July 9, 2009. The authors of ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'' awarded the album 3½ stars, commenting: "the most pensive of Taylor's early recordings may be the best place to start in appreciating his music," and noting that "Toll" "embarks on a new journey towards his own territory."

Track listing

:''All compositions by Cecil Tayor except as indicated'' # "Luyah! The Glorious Step" - 6:25 # "African Violets" (Griffith, Taylor) - 5:12 # "Of What" - 8:18 # "Wallering" - 5:22 # "Toll" - 7:38 # "Excursion on a Wobbly Rail" - 9:04 :*Recorded at Nola's Penthouse Studios, NYC, June 9, 1958

Personnel

* Cecil Taylor -

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

- bass *

- drums *Earl Griffith - vibes

References

{{Authority control 1959 albums Cecil Taylor albums Contemporary Records albums