The Cecil Taylor Unit

The Cecil Taylor Unit was the name pianist Cecil Taylor (1929-2018) used for his working groups in concert and on record from the early 1960s, with a changing line-up around a few long-serving players. Taylor, alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons and drummer Sunny Murray formed its early core, Andrew Cyrille later took the drum chair, and Lyons remained Taylor's main partner in the group until his death in 1986. The 1966 Blue Note album Unit Structures had Lyons, Cyrille, Eddie Gale, Ken McIntyre and bassists Henry Grimes and Alan Silva.