A classic Cecil Taylor moment occurred at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1978. That summer, the iconoclastic pianist – who died Thursday at the age of 89 – performed for Jimmy Carter at the White House Jazz Festival. The commander-in-chief was so taken with what he heard that he chased Taylor down afterward and cornered him. "The first thing the president said to me," Taylor
This article originally appeared on www.rollingstone.com: Cecil Taylor: Remembering the Ultimate Piano Radical